Scoring Factor dialog - Score Profile

This dialog is used when creating or editing a score profile. It applies to an individual subtest, and is accessed when the magnifying glass cursor appears over the text line Scoring Factor under the Subtest heading. It allows you to select whether or not to use formula scoring.

Formula scoring lets you deduct points from the subtest scores for wrong answers according to the following calculation:

Number Correct - (Number Incorrect ÷ Scoring Factor) = Total Score

Formula scoring ignores items that are left blank, it does not count them as incorrect. Formula scoring is often used to discourage guessing, since it only deducts responses that are incorrectly marked. Because of the scoring factor used, the total can be a fraction. In that case, you can define whether or not the fraction is used and rounded, or just truncated (dropped).

Do not use Formula Scoring

Selecting this causes formula scoring not to be used and No Formula Scoring appears in the score profile under the Scoring Factor heading for the subtest.

Use Formula Scoring

Selecting this causes formula scoring to be used on the subtest. Additionally, you can select the scoring factor, and whether to round or truncate fractional scores.

Factor

You can enter a number between 1 and 99 for the scoring factor. The number calculates how many points to deduct for each wrong answer in this subtest. The formula used to deduct points is: 1/n, where n is the number you select as the factor.

Normally, to balance scoring properly, the number you select should be one less than the number of possible choices for the answer to each question in the subtest. For example: If this subtest has questions that have 6 possible choices for each answer, you would enter 5; 1/5 of a point would be deducted from the score for each wrong answer.

The default is 4. The number selected appears in the score profile as the Scoring Factor for the subtest.

Round fractional scores

Because the scoring factor can result in total scores being fractions, ScanTools software gives you the option to round or truncate fractional total scores. If you select this option, the total score after the calculation is performed is then rounded. Rounding is performed to the nearest whole integer using the following criteria:

.000001 to .499999 is rounded DOWN

.5 to .999999 is rounded UP

Truncate fractional scores

If you select this option, total scores are truncated. All fractional scores are truncated to zero. For example, both 3.2 and 3.9 become 3.0.

Formula Scoring Example

Assume that in a test with 100 questions, there are 5 choices for the answer to each question with a scoring factor of 4. Assume 85 questions were answered, 15 left blank. Of the 85 answered, 75 were correct and 10 were incorrect. The total score calculated using formula scoring is:

75 - (10/4) = 72.5

or

75 - 2.5 = 72.5

If you round the score, the total is 73. If you truncate the score, the total is 72.