Calculate a mark

The formula option allows you to create a mark calculation based on two parameters:

• Points: the number of points earned by the student
• Total: the total amount of points that a student can earn for the assignment

There are multiple functions and operators available which can be used to set the formula:

• Math operators: + , - , * , / , ^
• Logic functions: IF, AND, OR
• Comparison operators: <, >, <=, >=, !=, =
• Numeric functions: MIN, MAX, ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN
• It's possible to insert parentheses to determine the order of (parts of) the formula

The default formula used by Ans is 1 + 9 * points/total. This translates the score into a mark on a scale of 1 to 10.

Use the formula in Ans

If you choose to use the formula in Ans, you need to fill in the following fields:

• Rounding: choose the desired rounding of the mark. This can be either two decimals, one decimal, halves or whole numbers. A formula rounds to the nearest mark, this can be rounded up or down, depending on the mark and your choice in this dropdown menu. For example, if you decide to round to one decimal and a student has a mark of 5.44, this will be rounded down to 5.4. If a student has a mark of 5.45, it will be rounded up to 5.5.
• Marking formula: you can insert your formula here, based on the parameters, functions and operators mentioned above.
• Guess correction: select the guess correction checkbox to take the guess correction as explained in the guess correction article into account for this assignment. The checkbox is only visible in case you have a question in your assignment for which Ans takes the guess correction into account.
• Limit the lowest mark: In case you select this checkbox, you can insert the lowest mark for the test. The default is set to 1. In case the limit is disabled, it could happen for students to receive negative marks. This can occur when students scored negative points for questions, or in some specific situations when the guess correction is enabled.
• Limit the highest mark: In case you select this checkbox, you can insert the highest mark for the test. The default is set to 1. In case the limit is disabled, it could happen for students to receive higher marks than desired. For example, if the contribution for a question is changed into a bonus this can happen. It can also occur if a student gets a higher amount of points for a question than the question's maximum amount of points (if this option is enabled for the question).
• Pass mark: The pass mark is the mark which counts as the threshold of passing the assignment. All students with a rounded mark lower than the pass mark have not passed the assignment. This information is used to determine the pass rate for the assignment.

Always click on update to save your progress.

The second option in the dropdown menu is the table. Within the table, there are actually two different possibilities to insert a table in Ans. The first option is to manually insert or import a table, the second option is to let Ans create a table based on the cut-off score.

Table option 1: manually create a table

The first option is to manually create a table by either adding each row by hand or by importing a table from a .csv file. On the screen, you will see the following buttons and fields:

• Rounding: choose the desired rounding of the mark. This can be either two decimals, one decimal, halves or whole numbers. A table always rounds down. Every row in the table can be seen as a threshold. A student needs to score the number of points or a row in order to receive the corresponding mark. In the example below, a student that has got 2.5 points, will receive a mark of 2 as the number of points in the next row has not been scored.
• Import: it's possible to import a table that you created outside Ans. A table can be imported via a .csv file, with at least the columns 'Points' and 'Marks'. Additionally, you can add a letter grade as a third column. A template can be found when you click on Import.
• Export: in case you have a table created that you want to reuse for other purposes or other assignments, you can export it. This button is not clickable when there is not a single row.
• Add row: to add a row to your column manually, you can click the button and insert the number of points with the corresponding mark. Optionally you can add a letter grade, such as sufficient, or insufficient. To edit or delete a row, you can press the more_vert- icon.
• Determine cut-off score: this is the second way to create a table. This option is described below.

Note: if you only enter 1 row into the table, every result will have this mark. For example, if you enter one row in which the number of points is set to 5 with a mark of 5.5, no matter the amount of points a student receives they will always be assigned the 5.5 mark. To differentiate you will need to at least enter two rows in your table. 

Table option 2: automatically generate a table

When grading with a table, you have the option to determine the grading of the results using the cut-off score. By determining the minimum grade, pass grade, maximum grade, maximum points and cut-off percentage, you can create a grading table that supports a cut-off score. Click on Determine cut-off score to start. If you want to edit an existing table, you can also click on this button. Ans will show the previously entered information which you can adjust.

In the pop-up that appears, you can enter the following information:

• Minimum mark: The minimum mark is the mark a student gets when scoring the minimum amount of points.
• Pass mark: The pass mark is the mark which counts as the threshold of passing the assignment. All students with a rounded mark lower than the pass mark have not passed the assignment. This information is used to determine the pass rate for the assignment.
• Maximum mark: The maximum mark is the mark a student gets when scoring the maximum amount of points.
• Minimum points: This is the number of points a student needs to score to get the minimum mark.
• Maximum points: This is the number of points a student needs to score to get the maximum mark. Ans shows the maximum amount of points that can be scored for the assignment. Ans also provides information that can be used to apply the caesura method of Cohen-Schotanus*. Based on this method you adjust the maximum score for an assignment after taking the assignment. The new maximum score is then equalled by the score of either the 95th or 90th percentile. 
• Cut-off (%): In this field, you fill in the score (in percentage) that equals the pass mark. As an example, we take an assignment with a maximum amount of points of 100 points, a pass mark of 5.5 and a cut-off of 70%. In this scenario a student needs to score at least 70% of 100 points (= 70 points) to get a 5.5. This would create a non-linear caesura. 
• Mark rounding: The mark rounding needs to be determined in this menu, as Ans (re)calculates the table once you click on Save. You have the option to set the mark rounding to whole numbers, halves and one decimal.

To find more information on how to apply the guess correction within the table mark calculation, please go to the Guess Correction article. 

The third and most easy option to explain is the option None in the dropdown menu. When using no mark calculation, the score will not be translated into a mark. The mark is not visible in other parts of the platform where the mark is visible when using the formula or the table method. Examples are the Results menu and the publication of an assignment.

There are differences in using the table versus the formula as a mark calculation method. For some reason, it's better to use the table and vice versa. In this section of the article, different situations are explained.

• Randomized assignments. For randomized assignments, the formula is almost in all cases the best way to calculate the score. Because each student can get different questions, the guess score for an assignment can be different for each student. Also, the maximum amount of points can be different per student as well. The formula uses the variable 'total' as the maximum amount of points for a student. Therefore, the formula can deal with the fact that there is a different amount of points per student. Also, the guess correction is calculated per student by using the checkbox.
• Rounding off the mark. For the rounding of the mark, the table works differently compared to the formula. It depends on your preference and what you need to use. The table always rounds down. You can see each row of a table as a threshold. In case a student hasn't scored the number of points in the row, Ans always rounds down to the previous row. For the formula, you can indicate the behaviour of rounding using the Rounding dropdown.
• Guess correction. The guess correction can be used for both the table and the formula method. However, for the formula, it's easy to turn the guess correction on. This is done by using the checkbox. For the table, you will need to enter either an adjusted lowest amount of points or an adjusted cut-off percentage. This can be more complex to explain to teachers.