Answer Keys and Scoring

Answer Keys and Scoring

The detailed reference is docs/scoring.md.

Answer keys

One key per question-paper set, on the Answer Key stage.

1. Select the set under Question-paper set.
2. Enter the answers, or use Read From Solution Sheet… to recognise them from a filled-in sheet — the same recognition path as a candidate's sheet.
3. Save As New Revision. Keys are versioned; saving does not destroy the previous one.
4. Verify Answer Key.

Verification is required

Results cannot be calculated from an unverified key. A wrong key mis-marks an entire cohort silently and plausibly, so OMRFlow insists on a deliberate confirmation step. The Validation panel reports what is wrong — a missing answer, an answer outside the available choices, the wrong number of questions.

Defective questions

Under Wrong questions (full credit for everyone), mark a question that should not count against anyone. Every candidate receives credit for it. This is recorded with the key rather than applied by editing marks afterwards, so the reason survives a recalculation.

Scoring

On the Results stage.

1. Scoring Configuration… — marks for a correct answer, for an incorrect one and for a blank, and whether negative marking applies.
2. Check Before Scoring reports what is not ready: an unverified key, an unreconciled roster, unresolved conflicts, candidates without scripts. Read it before continuing; it is the cheapest check available.
3. Calculate Results.

How marks are decided

A blank and a wrong answer are different things and are scored separately — which is what makes negative marking meaningful. A multiple mark is not a correct answer.

Ranking

Standard competition ranking: equal scores share a rank and the next rank skips. 90, 88, 88, 85 gives 1, 2, 2, 4.

Reviewing and recalculating

• The Results summary lists candidates with marks and ranks.
• Select a candidate for their per-question detail.
• Review Answers… shows their answers against the key.
• Recalculate This Candidate re-scores one person after a correction, without re-scoring the cohort.

Changing a key or the scoring configuration and recalculating is a supported path, and the stages downstream are told that stored results are no longer current.

Verify before you publish

Whatever OMRFlow computes, check a sample by hand before acting on it. Real-data qualification is incomplete — see Known Limitations.

Related

• Results & Reports
• Answer Key Format
• Recognition Symbols