How to change the score-calculating method for a specific course

By default, the course score for users who complete a course is calculated as the average of a Learner's scores in all tests and assignments that they’ve completed.

However, TalentLMS provides additional options to let you customize how your users' scores will be calculated for each course and allow you to define how a specific unit will affect the overall score of a course.

Here's how you can pick your own score-calculating method in a few steps:

1. Sign in to your TalentLMS account as an Instructor and go to Courses (1). Here you will see all the courses that you’re assigned to as an Instructor.

2. Click the Edit button (2) next to the course you wish to update. The course editor page will open.

 

 

3. Select the gear icon (3) to open the Course options drawer.

 

4. Go to the Rules and paths tab (4).

5. Under the Score calculator section, click the Calculate score by drop-down (5). There are three options to choose from:

• All tests & assignments: The default option.
• Tests only: The course score will be the average of a user's scores in all their passed tests (i.e., Assignments are not included).
• Units I choose:  The course score will be the average of a Learner's scores in your specified units (i.e., the ones they’ve passed). This can include any type of learning activity, i.e. tests, assignments, SCORM, ILT. Alternatively, you can assign different weights to different units.

How to assign different weights to your learning activities:

If you want specific units to carry more weight towards the overall score of your course, TalentLMS lets you assign a different weight to each learning activity.

Select Units I choose (1) from the drop-down and pick at least 2 learning activities (2) to reveal the Set unit weights option (3).

Click the Set unit weights button. Each unit can be assigned a weight value from 1 to 20. Toggle the slider for each unit as needed (4).

The percent contribution (5) for each unit will also be shown next to the selected weight.

To calculate the final score, the points each unit awards will be multiplied by the weight you’ve assigned to it. The sum of the recalculated score is then divided by the overall sum of all unit weights (6). 

Select the weight value for each unit and click Save (7) to update your score calculation settings.

Note: Below is the equation used to calculate the course score when different weights apply to your selected units, where T = Test, A = Assignment, and W = Weight.

Score = (T1×W1 + T2×W2 + A3×W3) / (W1 + W2 + W3)

Here’s a quick example:

We chose 2 specific tests (T1, T2) and 1 assignment (A) for a total of 3 learning activities.

We set their weights (W1, W2, W3) as follows:

T1 → W1 = 1
T2 → W2 = 2
A3 → W3 = 1
W1 + W2 + W3 = 4 

A Learner scores 90% and 80% on each test and is graded 100% on their assignment.

The course score would be calculated as follows: (90*1 + 80*2 + 100*1) / 4 = 87,5%

Note: To read about how to include the course score in your notifications and your certifications, see this article.