Agent Evaluation Metrics and Testing Strategies: NCP-AAI Guide

Exam Weight: Agent Development (15%) | Difficulty: Core Concept | Last Updated: December 2025

Introduction

Evaluating AI agents requires different metrics than traditional software. The NCP-AAI exam tests your understanding of evaluation frameworks, testing strategies, and performance benchmarks.

Core Evaluation Metrics

1. Task Success Rate

Definition: Percentage of tasks completed successfully

Formula:

Success Rate = (Successful Tasks / Total Tasks) × 100%

Exam Tip: Success rate is the primary metric for production agents (target: >95%).

2. Tool Call Accuracy

Definition: Percentage of correct tool selections and parameters

Components:

• Tool selection accuracy: Right tool chosen?
• Parameter accuracy: Correct arguments provided?
• Execution success: Tool executed without errors?

Exam Question: "Agent selects correct tool 90% of time, correct parameters 85%. What's overall accuracy?" Answer: 0.90 × 0.85 = 76.5% (multiplicative, not additive).

3. Latency Metrics

• P50 latency: Median response time
• P95 latency: 95th percentile (SLA compliance)
• P99 latency: Tail latency (worst-case scenarios)

Exam Benchmark: Production agents should target P95 < 2 seconds.

4. Cost Efficiency

Formula:

Cost per Task = (LLM API costs + Tool API costs) / Total Tasks

Optimization Strategies:

• Caching: Reduce redundant LLM calls (40% savings)
• Smaller models: Use task-appropriate model size
• Prompt optimization: Reduce token usage (20-30% savings)

Testing Strategies

1. Unit Testing

Test individual components (tools, memory, planning):

def test_weather_tool():
    result = get_weather(location="Paris")
    assert result["temperature"] > -50  # Sanity check
    assert result["temperature"] < 60
    assert "conditions" in result

2. Integration Testing

Test end-to-end agent workflows:

def test_flight_booking_workflow():
    agent = create_agent()
    response = agent.run("Book cheapest flight NYC to SF Jan 15")
    assert response["status"] == "booked"
    assert response["price"] < 1000

3. Regression Testing

Ensure new changes don't break existing functionality:

regression_tests:
  - input: "What's the weather in Paris?"
    expected_tool: get_weather
    expected_params: {location: "Paris"}
  - input: "Book flight to London"
    expected_tool: search_flights
    expected_params: {destination: "London"}

4. A/B Testing

Compare agent versions in production:

Version A (baseline): 85% success rate
Version B (new): 91% success rate
→ Deploy Version B

NVIDIA Evaluation Tools

NeMo Agent Toolkit Evaluation Module

from nemo_agent import Evaluator

evaluator = Evaluator(
    metrics=["success_rate", "latency", "tool_accuracy"],
    test_dataset="ncp_aai_benchmark.json"
)

results = evaluator.evaluate(agent)
print(results)  # {"success_rate": 0.91, "avg_latency": 1.2s, ...}

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Key Takeaways

1. Success rate is the primary metric (target: >95%)
2. Tool call accuracy is multiplicative (selection × parameters)
3. P95 latency < 2s is the production standard
4. Cost per task should decrease with optimization
5. Regression testing prevents breaking existing functionality

Next Steps:

• NCP-AAI Study Plan →
• Common Exam Mistakes →
• Take NCP-AAI Practice Test

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