Section scoring rules: "Every question counts" vs "Best of group"
Some assessments have sections where every question must be answered, and others where students get a choice — “answer two questions from this section”. Marking.ai handles both through a per-section scoring rule, so the totals and each student’s score come out right no matter how the paper is structured.
This article explains the two rules, when to use each, and how they affect marks.
The two scoring rules
Every section has a scoring rule. You’ll find it in the Scoring rule dropdown when you edit a section (see How to set it below).
Every question counts
This is the default. Every question in the section counts toward the total. If a section has three 10-mark questions, the section is worth 30 marks and all three are scored for every student.
Use this for standard sections where all questions are compulsory.
Best of group (student picks a subset)
Use this for “answer X of Y” sections — for example, a section with three essay questions where the student only has to answer one, or four questions where they pick two.
When you choose this rule, a How many answers count? field appears. Enter how many answers should count toward the total (the “N” in best N of the group).
For each student, Marking.ai:
- marks every question the student attempted in that section,
- keeps the N highest-scoring answers, and
- excludes the rest from the total.
This means each student automatically gets their best result, without you having to decide by hand which of their answers to count.
How it affects the total
The section total reflects only the questions that count. In a section of three 25-mark questions set to best 1 of 3, the section is worth 25 marks, not 75 — and the assessment total is the sum of every section’s total calculated this way.
A few rules worth knowing:
- Fewer answers than N. If a student answered fewer questions than N, all of their answers count (they’re not penalised for the questions they didn’t reach).
- Ties. If two answers score the same and only one can be kept, Marking.ai keeps the one that appears earlier in the paper.
- The choice is per student. Which questions count is decided when each student’s work is marked, so different students in the same class can have different questions counted.
How to set it
- Open the assessment, then open a submission to the review screen (or use the assessment detail view).
- Find the section header and click the settings (gear) icon on the right of it to open the Edit Section dialog.
- Under Scoring rule, choose Every question counts or Best of group (student picks a subset).
- If you chose Best of group, enter a number in How many answers count? — e.g.
1if students answer one of two. - Click Save.
You can also edit the section title and add Instructions here (e.g. “Answer either Question 02 or Question 03”), which are shown alongside the section.
Tip: You can also ask Marko, the in-app assistant, to set up a section’s logic for you — it’ll open this exact dialog pre-selected on the right section.
What you’ll see after saving
- The section header shows a “Best N of M count” chip so the rule is visible at a glance.
- On the submission review screen, questions that didn’t make the cut for a student appear collapsed and greyed out with an Excluded chip. They’re never hidden or locked — you can expand any excluded question to inspect the student’s attempt and its tentative mark, so nothing about the scoring is a black box.
When to use which
| Situation | Rule |
|---|---|
| All questions in the section are compulsory | Every question counts |
| Students choose which questions to answer (“answer 2 of 4”) | Best of group, with N = the number they must answer |
| A section has alternative questions (“either Q2 or Q3”) | Best of group, N = 1 |
Need help?
Click the chat icon in the app or email connect@marking.ai.
FAQs
What happens if a student answers more than N questions?
Marking.ai marks them all and keeps the best N. The extra answers are excluded from the total but stay visible (greyed out) on the review screen so you can still see them.
Does “best of group” change the marks I can edit?
No. Every attempted question is still marked, and you can still review and override any mark — including on excluded questions. The scoring rule only decides which marks add up to the official total.
Why did my assessment total go down after setting a section to “best of group”?
That’s expected. A best of group section only counts N questions, so its total is the marks for those N questions rather than for every question in the group. This is a correction so the paper totals match the real maximum a student can score.
Can different students have different questions counted?
Yes. Because Marking.ai keeps each student’s own best answers, the specific questions that count can vary from student to student within the same class.