U081 – Scoring policy in multiple choice

How many points does a student get when they mark certain answers in a multiple choice question with multiple correct answers? What is the total score of your question? You'll find out how it works in this article.

This article specifically applies to the following question types of a Quiz, Worksheet, Video Quiz and Split Worksheet widget types:

• Text multiple choice / multiple answers question
• Picture multi select question

Why isn't the Wrong answer weight available for normal multiple choice?

In BookWidgets, it is never possible for students to obtain a score below 0 for any given question. This is important. If a multiple choice question has only one correct answer, then there are only two possible outcomes for the student:

• the correct multiple choice option is selected and points are obtained;
• the correct multiple choice option isn't selected and points aren't obtained.

There is no in-between. If the correct answer isn't provided, the score will be 0, which already is the lowest score for the question. Obtaining a score below 0 isn't possible.

Working example

Let's assume an exercise where the question is: 'Which of the following are mammals?', and where the multiple choice options are:

• cat
• dog
• monkey
• goldfish
• mosquito

Assume a student correctly marks "cat" and "dog", and incorrectly marks "goldfish". The scoring weight is set to 1. The wrong answer weight, if applicable, is set to 0.25.

Now, both the question's total score as the points your students will be awarded for their answers depend on the scoring policy you configure for the widget. The setting you're looking for is Scoring options > Scoring policy. You can select one of three settings. In the working example described above, the results will be as follows in accordance to the policy you select.

Score points when all answers are correct

Description	This is an "all or nothing" setting: a student is either awarded the maximum only when all answers are correct, or otherwise nothing at all.
Max. score	The question's score equals the set scoring weight. In our working example, this is /1.
Pros and cons	There is no room for nuance; a partial score is not possible. A students obtains either all points or no points.
Student obtains	• cat ✅ • dog ✅ ◦ monkey ❌ • goldfish ❌ ◦ mosquito ✅	Not all answers are correct, student obtains 0/1.

Score points for each correct answer

Description	Students are allotted points according to the answers they've marked. BookWidgets distinguishes 4 outcomes for each multiple choice option: ✅ the answer is correct and the student marks it. ✅ the answer is not correct and the student doesn't mark it. ❌ the answer is not correct but the student marks it. ❌ the answer is correct but the student doesn't mark it.
Max. score	The question's score will equal the scoring weight multiplied by the number of multiple choice options. In our working example, this is 1 x 5 = /5.
Pros and cons	An advantage of this option is that students don't know how many answers they have to mark. A disadvantage is that the scoring calculation may quickly lead to a high scoring total, which may skew (overstate) the importance of this MC question within the bigger picture of a test. Note that if a student fully ignores the question, i.e. doesn't mark any of the answers, then this setting will still award them a part of the full score points (namely for all the options they weren't supposed to mark and didn't).
Student obtains	• cat ✅ (+1) • dog ✅ (+1) ◦ monkey ❌ (+0) • goldfish ❌ (+0) ◦ mosquito ✅ (+1)	Student made 3 correct judgements on whether to select the option or not, and therefore obtains 3/5.

Add points for each correct answer, deduct points for each wrong answer. Minimum score 0

Description	A policy that discourages guessing behaviour. Next to the normal scoring weight, you can also set a wrong answer weight here. Please make sure to set a positive number. Students can never obtain less than 0 points for the question.
Max. score	The question's total score equals the scoring weight multiplied by the number of correct answers. In our working example, this is 1 x 3 = /3.
Pros and cons	Guessing behaviour is discouraged. This setting usually allows students to deduct how many answers need to be marked, which is beneficial if that is what you'd like. Note that setting the wrong answer weight to 0 will entail that a student may carelessly mark all MC options and they will achieve maximum score.
Student obtains	• cat ✅ (+1) • dog ✅ (+1) ◦ monkey ➖ (+0) • goldfish ❌ (-0.25) ◦ mosquito ➖ (+0)	Student marked 2 options correctly and one wrongly. The obtained result is 1 + 1 - 0.25 = 1.75/3.

Limit number of answers

The aforementioned information only applies if you have not checked the box for the setting Limit number of answers further up in the editor. If you do limit the number of answers, students will only be able to select as many options as there are correct answers. The maximum score for the multiple choice question will then always equal the amount of correct options times the scoring weight. In our example, the student would obtain 2/3. The setting Scoring policy won't be available.

---