Negative Marking Calculator

In an exam with negative marking, every correct answer adds marks and every wrong answer takes marks away; questions you leave blank score zero. Your score is: correct answers × marks per correct − wrong answers × marks lost per wrong. With the common +4 / −1 scheme, 60 correct and 20 wrong answers give 60 × 4 − 20 × 1 = 220 marks. Many objective tests use schemes like +4 / −1, +1 / −⅓, +2 / −⅔ or +1 / −¼; enter the scheme of your exam to calculate your expected score from an answer key.

It depends on how sure you are. With +P marks for a right answer and −M for a wrong one, an answer is worth giving on average when your chance of being right is higher than M ÷ (P + M). For +4 / −1 that is 20%, so with four options a pure random guess (25%) is still slightly positive on average, and eliminating even one option makes it clearly worth it. For +1 / −⅓ the break-even is 25%, so a blind guess between four options is worth zero on average. The calculator shows this break-even for the scheme you enter. It is an average – single guesses can still cost you marks.

Accuracy is correct answers ÷ attempted answers. Two candidates with the same number of correct answers can end up with very different scores if one of them attempted many more questions and got them wrong. Compare 'score without negatives' with your final score to see how much your wrong answers cost you, and use it when planning how many questions to attempt in the next mock test.

Some exams use different marking for different sections or question types – for example no negative marking for numerical answers. In that case calculate each section separately with its own scheme and add the results. Always check the official notification of your exam for the exact rules.