Can LLMs Estimate Student Struggles? Human-AI Difficulty Alignment with Proficiency Simulation for Item Difficulty Prediction

arXiv — cs.CLTuesday, December 23, 2025 at 5:00:00 AM
  • A recent study investigates the ability of Large Language Models (LLMs) to estimate item difficulty in educational assessments, revealing a significant misalignment between model predictions and human cognitive struggles. The research analyzed over 20 models across various domains, including medical knowledge and mathematical reasoning, highlighting that larger models do not necessarily improve accuracy in difficulty estimation.
  • This development is crucial as accurate difficulty estimation is essential for effective educational assessment, yet the findings indicate that LLMs may not align with the actual struggles faced by learners, potentially impacting their utility in educational contexts.
  • The challenges faced by LLMs in accurately simulating human cognitive limitations reflect broader issues in AI alignment, where discrepancies between model performance and human expectations persist. This misalignment raises questions about the reliability of AI in educational settings and the need for improved frameworks to enhance the alignment of AI systems with human values and experiences.
— via World Pulse Now AI Editorial System

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