| Sumario: | A study examined the level to which an undergraduate math curriculum matched the item difficulty levels of representative mathematics problems based on that sequence. An item bank of 120 items was created for placement testing at undergraduate levels. Data were gathered from five instructors from the mathematics department at a large Midwestern university who helped rate and evaluate objectives that spanned the institution's math sequence. In addition, data were collected from tests administered to 423 undergraduates as part of a final exam and to 937 high school seniors participating in a Math Day competition. Results illustrate a strong association between curricular sequence and item difficulty levels of problems based on that sequence. Thus, the linear or hierarchical assumption concerning the undergraduate level sequence seems to be reasonable. If the hierarchical assumption of the mathematics curriculum is tenable, placement recommendations resulting from this area of computer adaptive testing will most likely be more precise than in areas that are nonlinear in nature.
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