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Score on custom tasks (marking)
Score on custom tasks (marking)

How are marks allocated to question in custom tasks to give the score or grade?

Erin Gallagher avatar
Written by Erin Gallagher
Updated over 3 years ago

Question types

Before talking about marks, it's important to understand the kinds of questions your students are completing in the Workbook.

Each question in Mathspace has one or more parts. Some have only one, while others have multiple - in this case they read (a), (b), (c) and so on.

For the purposes of calculating their score, there are three types:

  • MCQ (Multiple choice)

  • Single step

  • Multiple step

To tell the difference between the last two types, think about what happens when you try the question in the Workbook and immediately click Next step. If the final answer is revealed straight away, it's a "single step", otherwise it is a "multiple step".

Note that "single step" includes our graphing and interactive chart questions.

Calculating marks

A student's score on a part is calculated when they complete it. They begin with full marks, and receive penalties for incorrect responses and the use of Next step. The penalties depend on the subpart type:

  • MCQ: An incorrect response or a next step receives a 100% penalty.

  • Single step: Each incorrect response receives a 25% penalty (so two incorrect steps means 50%), and a next step receives a 100% penalty.

  • Multiple step: Each incorrect response receives a 25% penalty, and a next step receives a 50% penalty.

Each part is weighted equally in the custom task report.

Before the expiry date, the student's overall score is the average of their marks on their completed parts. After the expiry date, the student is given a 100% penalty on questions they didn't complete, and the average is taken over all parts.

Worked example

A task has 4 questions, each with one or more parts:

1. a. MCQ
   b. Multiple step
2. Single step
3. a. Single step
    b. Multiple step
    c. MCQ
    d. Multiple step
4. Single step

A student produces the following scorecard:

1. a. No errors
b. Three incorrect steps
2. One next step
3. a. Two incorrect steps
b. One incorrect step, one next step
c. One incorrect step
d. Incomplete
4. One incorrect step

Before the expiry date, they receive the following penalties:

1. a. 0% (No errors, no penalty)
b. 75% (Three incorrects on a multiple step)
2. 100% (Next step on a single step)
3. a. 50% (Two incorrects on a single step)
b. 75% (One incorrect and one next step on a multiple step)
c. 100% (One incorrect on a MCQ)
d. Not counted (Incomplete)
4. 25% (One incorrect)

The student receives a mark of:

1/7 x ( 1 + 0.25 + 0 + 0.5 + 0.25 + 0 + 0.75 ) x 100% = 39%

After the expiry date, 3. d. receive a 100% penalty. Their mark becomes:

1/8 x ( 1 + 0.25 + 0 + 0.5 + 0.25 + 0 + 0 + 0.75 ) x 100% = 34%

For Pearson users:

When calculating the total mark for homework, we weight each question equally at 1 mark each, regardless of how many subparts each question has. 

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