Marking

Credits, penalties & points

The scoring rules for a question — the credit for a correct answer, any penalty for a wrong one, and how points are weighted.

What are credits, penalties and points?

These are the building blocks of how a question is scored. Credit is the mark awarded for a correct (or partially correct) answer. A penalty is a deduction for a wrong answer — sometimes used to discourage guessing. Points determine how much a question is worth relative to others, so harder or more important questions can carry more weight.

Together they let you tune an exam's scoring to match its purpose — from straightforward one-mark-per-question quizzes to negatively-marked or weighted papers. Synap supports credit, partial credit and penalties per question as part of its marking model.

See rigorous assessment in action

Book a tailored demo and we’ll show you how Synap puts these concepts to work in real exams.