{"about":{"site":"https://codewithpapers.app","non_affiliation":"Code with Papers and Syntology are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Papers with Code, Meta, or the pwc-archive mirror.","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licence_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode","attribution":"https://codewithpapers.app/attribution","modified":"archive material modified by Syntology; see the attribution page"},"url":"/paper/how-far-can-llms-improve-from-experience","title":"How Far Can LLMs Improve from Experience? Measuring Test-Time Learning Ability in LLMs with Human Comparison","arxiv_id":"2506.14448","date":"2025-06-17","proceeding":null,"authors":["Jiayin Wang","Zhiquang Guo","Weizhi Ma","Min Zhang"],"abstract":"As evaluation designs of large language models may shape our trajectory toward artificial general intelligence, comprehensive and forward-looking assessment is essential. Existing benchmarks primarily assess static knowledge, while intelligence also entails the ability to rapidly learn from experience. To this end, we advocate for the evaluation of Test-time Learning, the capacity to improve performance in experience-based, reasoning-intensive tasks during test time. In this work, we propose semantic games as effective testbeds for evaluating test-time learning, due to their resistance to saturation and inherent demand for strategic reasoning. We introduce an objective evaluation framework that compares model performance under both limited and cumulative experience settings, and contains four forms of experience representation. To provide a comparative baseline, we recruit eight human participants to complete the same task. Results show that LLMs exhibit measurable test-time learning capabilities; however, their improvements are less stable under cumulative experience and progress more slowly than those observed in humans. These findings underscore the potential of LLMs as general-purpose learning machines, while also revealing a substantial intellectual gap between models and humans, irrespective of how well LLMs perform on static benchmarks.","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14448v1","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.14448v1.pdf","source":{"archive":"pwc-archive (Hugging Face), CC BY-SA 4.0","snapshot":"2025-07-28","licence_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode","row_kind":"abstracts"},"code_links":[{"paper_slug":"how-far-can-llms-improve-from-experience","repo_url":"https://github.com/alice1998/test-time-leaning","is_official":1,"mentioned_in_paper":1,"mentioned_in_github":0,"framework":"none","reach":null}],"tasks":[],"methods":[],"datasets_introduced":[],"methods_introduced":[],"results":[],"syntology":{"atlas_url":"https://app.syntology.ai/?focus=2506.14448","mcp":{"get_harvested_code_for_paper":{"arxiv_id":"2506.14448"}},"developers":"https://syntology.ai/developers","read_at":"2026-09-24T18:15:14+00:00","read_at_is":"when the build read Syntology's graph, not when any sample ran","claim":"Per-sample execution status on synthesized fixtures; not a correctness claim about the paper. Samples come from repositories linked to the paper, official or community; repo_kind says which.","repos":[{"provenance":"deterministic:regex_extraction","url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","reach":{"status":"ok"}}],"summary":{"ran_draft_wrong":1,"unverified":14},"by_repo_kind":{"found_in_text":{"samples":15,"ran":1,"repositories":1}},"repo_kind_vocabulary":{"official":"The archive marks this repository official for the paper","named_in_paper":"The archive records that the paper mentions this repository; it is not marked official","listed":"In the archive's code links for this paper, not marked official and not recorded as mentioned in the paper","found_in_text":"Syntology found this repository in the paper's own text; whether it is the authors' implementation is not asserted","community":"Not in the archive's code links for this paper; a community repository Syntology harvested"},"n_pointer_only_for_licence":15,"samples":[{"code_sha256_prefix":"1e510c4d97f6bcd0","entry":"read_file","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/run_benchmark.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/run_benchmark.py","link_basis":"plan_row","language":"python","status":"ran_draft_wrong","verification_level":1,"contract_check":"OUTPUT_MISDECLARED","metamorphic_tier":"deterministic","behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"1e510c4d97f6bcd0"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"58e2d070ad8d11a2","entry":"clean_line","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/sonnet_eval.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/sonnet_eval.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"58e2d070ad8d11a2"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"66641b83b667189e","entry":"clean_output_for_GameOf24","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/evaluation.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/evaluation.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"66641b83b667189e"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"e5e3e85a8f617a60","entry":"clean_output_for_arithmetic","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/evaluation.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/evaluation.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"e5e3e85a8f617a60"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"5c4ffbd4430cff7d","entry":"clean_word","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/sonnet_eval.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/sonnet_eval.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"5c4ffbd4430cff7d"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"48d47584ab0a035a","entry":"contains_chinese","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"fixed_setting/agent.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/fixed_setting/agent.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"48d47584ab0a035a"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"e71f3930ff7147c9","entry":"eval_for_GameOf24","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/evaluation.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/evaluation.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"e71f3930ff7147c9"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"522a983b50f7aa01","entry":"execute_code_with_timeout","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/execute_code.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/execute_code.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"522a983b50f7aa01"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"93129978f81cfbaf","entry":"extract_after_think","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"fixed_setting/agent.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/fixed_setting/agent.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"93129978f81cfbaf"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"c49d4f7d77527656","entry":"extract_and_run_python_code","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/execute_code.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/execute_code.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"c49d4f7d77527656"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"ef43d275e410158b","entry":"extract_answer","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/extractor.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/extractor.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"ef43d275e410158b"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"cacddf647d809fdd","entry":"extract_cheatsheet","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/extractor.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/extractor.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"cacddf647d809fdd"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"c24f96833221b2b2","entry":"extract_solution","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/extractor.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/dynamic_cheatsheet/utils/extractor.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"c24f96833221b2b2"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"bb7014cf8fc8729b","entry":"read_file","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"cumulative_setting/run_benchmark_multiRound.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/cumulative_setting/run_benchmark_multiRound.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"bb7014cf8fc8729b"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"d6d54b78fdb02643","entry":"truncate_after_last_period","repo":"Alice1998/Test-time-Learning","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"fixed_setting/agent.py","file_url":"https://github.com/Alice1998/Test-time-Learning/blob/HEAD/fixed_setting/agent.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"d6d54b78fdb02643"}}]},"arxiv_metadata":null,"syntology_extracted_results":null}