When Learned Context Planning Fails to Beat Strong Retrieval: A Controlled Study of Planning, Routing, and Reranking for Long-Context QA

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retrievalQAplanningevaluation

2609.26976

Builder Relevance

30%

1d ago

Abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of learned context planning in improving long-context multiple-choice QA compared to strong retrieval methods.

Core Claim

Learned context planning is a weak relevance signal and does not outperform strong retrieval methods in long-context QA tasks.

Method / Result

Anchored hybrid retrieval achieved 36.18% accuracy, outperforming the best planner-guided method which reached 34.19%.

Limitations

The analysis includes transductive elements as it uses questions from the training set, raising concerns about generalizability.

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