T$^2$: An Adaptive Test-Time Scaling Strategy for Contextual Question Answering

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhao, Zhengyi, Zhang, Shubo, Wang, Zezhong, Wang, Huimin, Zhao, Yutian, Liang, Bin, Zheng, Yefeng, Li, Binyang, Wong, Kam-Fai, Wu, Xian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Zhao, Zhengyi
Zhang, Shubo
Wang, Zezhong
Wang, Huimin
Zhao, Yutian
Liang, Bin
Zheng, Yefeng
Li, Binyang
Wong, Kam-Fai
Wu, Xian
author_facet Zhao, Zhengyi
Zhang, Shubo
Wang, Zezhong
Wang, Huimin
Zhao, Yutian
Liang, Bin
Zheng, Yefeng
Li, Binyang
Wong, Kam-Fai
Wu, Xian
contents Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable performance in Contextual Question Answering (CQA). However, prior approaches typically employ elaborate reasoning strategies regardless of question complexity, leading to low adaptability. Recent efficient test-time scaling methods introduce budget constraints or early stop mechanisms to avoid overthinking for straightforward questions. But they add human bias to the reasoning process and fail to leverage models' inherent reasoning capabilities. To address these limitations, we present T$^2$: Think-to-Think, a novel framework that dynamically adapts reasoning depth based on question complexity. T$^2$ leverages the insight that if an LLM can effectively solve similar questions using specific reasoning strategies, it can apply the same strategy to the original question. This insight enables to adoption of concise reasoning for straightforward questions while maintaining detailed analysis for complex problems. T$^2$ works through four key steps: decomposing questions into structural elements, generating similar examples with candidate reasoning strategies, evaluating these strategies against multiple criteria, and applying the most appropriate strategy to the original question. Experimental evaluation across seven diverse CQA benchmarks demonstrates that T$^2$ not only achieves higher accuracy than baseline methods but also reduces computational overhead by up to 25.2\%.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_17427
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle T$^2$: An Adaptive Test-Time Scaling Strategy for Contextual Question Answering
Zhao, Zhengyi
Zhang, Shubo
Wang, Zezhong
Wang, Huimin
Zhao, Yutian
Liang, Bin
Zheng, Yefeng
Li, Binyang
Wong, Kam-Fai
Wu, Xian
Computation and Language
Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable performance in Contextual Question Answering (CQA). However, prior approaches typically employ elaborate reasoning strategies regardless of question complexity, leading to low adaptability. Recent efficient test-time scaling methods introduce budget constraints or early stop mechanisms to avoid overthinking for straightforward questions. But they add human bias to the reasoning process and fail to leverage models' inherent reasoning capabilities. To address these limitations, we present T$^2$: Think-to-Think, a novel framework that dynamically adapts reasoning depth based on question complexity. T$^2$ leverages the insight that if an LLM can effectively solve similar questions using specific reasoning strategies, it can apply the same strategy to the original question. This insight enables to adoption of concise reasoning for straightforward questions while maintaining detailed analysis for complex problems. T$^2$ works through four key steps: decomposing questions into structural elements, generating similar examples with candidate reasoning strategies, evaluating these strategies against multiple criteria, and applying the most appropriate strategy to the original question. Experimental evaluation across seven diverse CQA benchmarks demonstrates that T$^2$ not only achieves higher accuracy than baseline methods but also reduces computational overhead by up to 25.2\%.
title T$^2$: An Adaptive Test-Time Scaling Strategy for Contextual Question Answering
topic Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.17427