Figure 8.2: Knowledge State

The knowledge state of a student is represented by the set of items in the domain that he or she is capable of solving under ideal conditions (Fig. 8.2). This means that the student is not working under time pressure, is not upset or impaired in any way, etc. In reality, careless errors may arise. Also, the correct response to a question may occasionally be guessed by a subject lacking any real understanding of the question asked. (This will occur very rarely when using the ALEKS system, because multiple-choice answers are not used.) An individual's knowledge state is not directly observable and has to be inferred from responses to questions.