An optimized BERT fine-tuned model using an artificial bee colony algorithm for automatic essay score prediction.

Background: The Automatic Essay Score (AES) prediction system is essential in education applications. The AES system uses various textural and grammatical features to investigate the exact score value for AES. The derived features are processed by various linear regressions and classifiers that require the learning pattern to improve the overall score.

Issues: Moreover, the classifiers face catastrophic forgetting problems, which maximizes computation complexity and reduce prediction accuracy. The forgetting problem can be resolved using the freezing mechanism; however, the mechanism can cause prediction errors.

Method: Therefore, this research proposes an optimized Bi-directional Encoder Representation from Transformation (BERT) by applying the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm (ABC) and Fine-Tuned Model (ABC-BERT-FTM) to solve the forgetting problem, which leads to higher prediction accuracy. Therefore, the ABC algorithm reduces the forgetting problem by selecting optimized network parameters.

Results: Two AES datasets, ASAP and ETS, were used to evaluate the performance of the optimized BERT of the AES system, and a high accuracy of up to 98.5% was achieved. Thus, based on the result, we can conclude that optimizing the BERT with a suitable meta-heuristic algorithm, such as the ABC algorithm, can resolve the forgetting problem, eventually increasing the AES system's prediction accuracy.