Correct Choices, Failed Sequences: Choice2Seq Benchmarks Correctness Retention Across Output Interfaces

Abstract

A model may select the correct answer yet fail to construct it through a sequence of local decisions. We introduce Choice2Seq, a diagnostic benchmark that measures correctness retention across complete-answer selection and sequential construction in independent runs on the same problems and candidate sets. Sequence Composition Rate (SCR) measures the fraction of correctly selected items that are also answered correctly through local construction. Jev achieves 97.1% and 99.5% selection accuracy on arithmetic and lexical retrieval, yet retains only 33.0% and 2.1% of those correct choices under serial construction, respectively. Substantial gaps also emerge for StartLux and Qwen, including when Qwen emits characters directly. Restricting local options to candidate-supported characters improves construction, while explicit position indexing improves copying fidelity, even for incorrect selections. These interventions distinguish task correctness, plan fidelity, and output compliance. Matched dialogue-state evaluations reveal that local field construction largely preserves Jev's correct states but reduces Qwen's mean-turn accuracy, highlighting task- and interface-dependent differences. Sequence-level confidence and request-cost analyses further characterize completed outputs.