Assigning Points to Answers

When you create a Scorecard in ScoreApp, one of the most important steps is assigning points to each answer. This is what ultimately generates a respondent’s total score or category scores, allowing you to provide relevant feedback, recommendations, or next steps. Below, you’ll learn how to assign points to different question types, best practices for deciding how many points an answer is worth, and how to handle special scenarios like reverse-scored questions.

1. Why Assign Points to Answers?

Assigning points is the mechanism that turns a basic questionnaire into an engaging, interactive assessment. By linking each answer to a numerical value, ScoreApp can:

Calculate an overall (total) score for the entire quiz.
Calculate specific category scores if you group questions into categories (e.g., “Marketing,” “Sales,” “Leadership”).
Provide dynamic results based on how many points someone earns, including different content for low, medium, or high-scoring respondents.
Identify an outcome or “personality” style result if you have multiple categories (e.g., Category A is “Planner,” Category B is “Optimizer,” etc.).

2. Understanding Where to Assign Points

When you build your scorecard, each question has an Answers tab which you can access easily by clicking on an answer via the Scorecard builder. This is where you turn on Scoring and assign a point value for each answer choice (e.g., 0, 1, 2, or more). ScoreApp adds up all the points a respondent accumulates from their selected answers, then calculates a percentage (or raw score, if you choose that display) for your results page.

Open your Scorecard and click on Build.
Choose Questions from the menu on the left.
Select the question you want to work on. This opens a panel on the right side.
Click on a specific answer or on the Answers tab.
Toggle Scoring on (if it isn’t already).
Enter a numeric point value for each answer option.

Depending on the question type, you can choose exactly how many points each answer is worth. For example:

Multiple Choice (Buttons, Radio Buttons, Image Buttons etc): A respondent selects one option. You might set the “best” or “strongest” option to 3 points, a mid-level answer to 2, and a weaker option to 1.
Multi-Select (Checkboxes): A respondent can select multiple answers and ScoreApp sums all chosen answers. If you want to limit how many checkboxes can be chosen, you can use min and max selections.
Slider / Linear Scale: The range you set (e.g., 1-10) represents the maximum points. A user’s selected position is the actual score they receive for that question. (If you set the slider from 1-10, choosing “7” awards 7 points out of 10. If you want to reduce the maximum weight for that question, change the slider to, say, 1-5.)
Open Text: This question type does not contribute to scoring, since it’s typically used for qualitative feedback.

3. Deciding How Many Points to Assign

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to deciding how many points each answer is worth. It depends entirely on the logic and outcomes you want. Here are some guidelines:

Keep It Simple: If you’re new to scoring, start with a small scale like 0, 1, 2, 3 or 0, 1 for yes/no. Too many point increments (like 1 through 10) can make analyzing results more complex.
Use a Consistent Scale: If you have multiple questions in a category, make sure the highest-value answers all carry roughly the same maximum. For instance, if Category A has five questions, each with a max 3 points, the total for that category is 15. Another category with only two questions but still 3 points each would have a total of 6. You can design it that way, but just know it’ll produce very different weighting across categories.
Handle Reverse-Scored Questions: If an answer that sounds more negative or “disagree” should actually give the respondent more points (or be the “better” answer), invert the wording of the question or invert the scoring by assigning the higher point value to the negative-sounding response.
Example: “I often procrastinate until the last minute.”
If you want Agree to yield fewer points (because procrastination is undesirable), give “Agree” = 0 points, “Neutral” = 1 point, and “Disagree” = 2 points.
Another approach is to rephrase the question as a positive statement so that a “high” answer is always high points.
Consider Weighted Categories: If you want certain categories or questions to matter more, you can simply assign larger values. For example, if Category A is “critical,” you might set each of its best answers to 4 or 5 points, whereas a less critical category might max out at 2 or

4. How ScoreApp Converts Points into Percentages

After respondents select their answers, ScoreApp will:

Add up the total points a user earned.
Compare it to the maximum points the user could have earned from the entire Scorecard and each category.
Convert that fraction to a percentage.

For your Score Tiers (found under Build → Settings → Score Tiers), you’ll set percentage ranges (e.g., 0-39% = “Low,” 40-79% = “Medium,” 80-100% = “High”). These tiers provide you a way to easily present different dynamic content on the results page based on how the user performed.

5. Testing & Adjusting Your Scores

Before sending your Scorecard live, thoroughly test it to ensure the results align with your expectations:

Preview in Draft Mode: Switch your Scorecard to Draft mode so you can test multiple times without using up your monthly response limit. (Build → Settings → General → Draft Mode.)
Try Different Answer Combinations: Complete the Scorecard as if you’re a “low” performer vs. “high,” or a brand new vs. advanced user. See if the end results and overall scoring tiers feel correct.
Check Category Weights: If one category is overshadowing the results or if they never reach “High” in your overall, adjust the point values or question weighting.
Refine Score Tiers: If real users consistently score too low or too high, move the tier boundaries (e.g., “Medium” might shift from 33–66% to 20–60%).

6. Common Scoring Scenarios & Tips

Multiple Correct/Accepted Answers: With a multi-select question (checkboxes), each answer the user picks will add to their total. Make sure you don’t accidentally inflate total points.
“Not Applicable” Answers: You could set an answer to 0 points if you want to exclude it from scoring.
Open Text: Because open text is not scored, you can glean qualitative insights but it won’t affect the user’s total or category score.
Date-Based or Weighted by Time: ScoreApp does not currently handle advanced formula logic (like “subtract 2 points if the date is older than X”); you’d typically reword your question or handle that logic externally in your CRM if you need advanced calculations.

7. Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use negative values in my scoring?
Yes. For most question types (Multiple Choice, etc.), you can assign negative points. But remember that negative values still factor into the total. If your overall total cannot go below zero, you may want to rephrase or limit how negative scoring is used.
What if some questions are more important than others?
Simply give higher point values to the important questions. Alternatively, break your Scorecard into categories and weigh entire categories more by giving them more points per answer.
Why am I seeing 0% or very low percentages?
Likely you either have unscored or zero-point answers. If you want users to feel good about partial progress, avoid assigning 0 to almost every answer. Instead, use a small positive scale (1–3) so that even “lowest” answers get 1 point.
How do I display a user’s actual points rather than a percentage?
On the Results Page, select the overall or category score section → display options. You can display “score out of 10,” “percentage,” or the actual point score. If your audience might be confused by a large total (e.g., 163 points out of 250), consider displaying a simpler percentage or a “score out of 10.”

8. Key Takeaways

Turn on scoring in the Answers tab for each question.
Choose point values that reflect how “good,” “strong,” or “correct” that answer is.
For negative or reverse-scoring, invert the question or the point values.
The score tiers you set in Settings → Score Tiers define how you label low, medium, and high ranges.
Always test your score logic in draft mode to ensure the results align with your intentions.

With a thoughtful point system, you’ll produce meaningful feedback for your audience and enable them to take concrete next steps, whether that’s improving, signing up for further training, or celebrating a top-tier score. Once you’re comfortable assigning points to answers, you can expand your Scorecard with dynamic content or advanced scoring techniques to deliver a truly personalized experience.