Partial credit
How a partly-right answer earns a partial score.
A multiple-choice question is either right or wrong: the learner picks one answer and either it’s the correct one or it isn’t. Most other question types have more than one part — multiple correct answers, an order to put items in, several blanks to fill. For those, partial credit recognises that a learner can get some of it right.
This page covers how partial credit is calculated for each question type and how to switch it off when you want all-or-nothing scoring.
How each question type scores
Multiple choice and dropdown. No partial credit. One answer is correct; everything else is wrong. The learner earns full points or zero.
Multi-select. The score is the number of choices marked correctly — both the right answers selected AND the wrong answers left unselected — divided by the total number of choices. A learner who selects all the right answers and only the right answers scores full points; selecting one wrong answer or missing one right answer reduces the score.
Sequencing. The score is the number of items the learner placed in their correct position, divided by the total number of items. Placing an item one slot off counts as wrong; it has to be in the exact correct position to count.
Matching. The score is the number of items the learner matched to the correct partner, divided by the total number of items.
Categorise. The score is the number of items the learner placed in the correct category, divided by the total number of items.
Fill in the blanks. The score is the number of blanks filled correctly, divided by the total number of blanks.
Image hotspot. Each correct region marked counts as right; each miss or each incorrect region click counts as wrong. The score is the number of right answers divided by the total, similar to multi-select.
The fractional score is multiplied by the question’s point value, so a 4-point sequencing question with three items in the right position out of four awards 3 points.
Why this matters for what you author
Partial credit means a question with several parts is more forgiving than one with a single answer. A learner who knows three of the four steps of photosynthesis earns three-quarters of the points; they aren’t written off because they got the order slightly wrong.
When you’re authoring a multi-part question, the partial credit mechanic does the pedagogical work for you. You don’t need to write extra rules; you just write the right answers and let the grading work itself out.
What’s next
- Building a quiz explains how to group several questions into a single assessment with a shared timer and attempt count.