> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.goguardian.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How Answer Validation and Grading Work in Pear Practice > Understand how Pear Practice evaluates student answers, calculates accuracy, and handles case sensitivity and partial matches. ## How Answer Validation and Grading Work in Pear Practice When you assign a practice set or run a Live Practice, most question types are graded the moment a student submits an answer. Understanding how that evaluation works helps you author questions accurately, interpret reports correctly, and know when to step in and review student responses yourself. ## How Correct Answers Are Determined Pear Practice compares the student's submitted answer against the correct response you defined when authoring the question. The matching logic varies by question type. | Question type | How Pear Practice evaluates the answer | | :-------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Multiple choice | Exact match. The student's selected option must match the marked correct response. If you enabled multiple correct responses, all selected options must match. | | Text response | Flexible match. Pear Practice checks the student's text against the correct response and any alternate correct responses you added. Spacing and punctuation may affect the match (see Case Sensitivity below). | | Numerical | Exact match against the value you entered, including any prefix or suffix you defined. | | Classification | Each item must be assigned to the correct category. Partial credit rules apply if you enabled partial credit. | | Draw | Not evaluated automatically. Draw questions require your manual review. | When you add alternate correct responses to a text response or multiple choice question, Pear Practice accepts any of them as correct. Add alternates when common phrasings or abbreviations are equally valid answers. ## Case Sensitivity Pear Practice is not case-sensitive for text response questions. A student who types "photosynthesis" receives the same result as one who types "Photosynthesis" or "PHOTOSYNTHESIS." Spacing and punctuation, however, may affect the match. If your correct response includes a period, comma, or specific spacing, a student's response without those elements may not match. To reduce unexpected mismatches: * Avoid punctuation in your correct response unless it is part of the answer (for example, a chemical formula with a period is a different case than a sentence-ending period). * Add alternate correct responses to cover common variations in spacing or punctuation. * Use the preview feature to test the question as a student would answer it before assigning. ## Accuracy Calculation A student's accuracy reflects the percentage of questions answered correctly across their practice activity. Pear Practice divides the number of correct answers by the total number of questions the student attempted. A few things that affect how accuracy is reported: * **A score of 0% does not always mean a student skipped questions.** If a student attempts every question but answers each one incorrectly on all available tries, their accuracy shows as 0%. This is the most common cause of unexpected 0% scores in classroom reports. Open the Questions tab in the assignment report to see each student's individual responses and confirm whether they engaged with the content. * **Retries count against accuracy.** When a student answers a question incorrectly and tries again, only the correct answer is credited. The incorrect attempts still factor into the calculation. A student who answers every question correctly on the first try has a higher accuracy score than one who reaches the same correct answers after multiple tries. * **Unattempted questions are excluded from the calculation.** Accuracy reflects only the questions a student interacted with, not every question in the practice set. ## Question Types That Are Not Auto-Graded Draw questions are not evaluated automatically. When a student submits a Draw question response, it is queued for your review before it is included in any report. To review Draw question responses: 1. Open the assignment or Live Practice report. 2. Select the **Questions** tab. 3. Locate the Draw question and click **Review Responses**. 4. Mark each student's drawing as correct or incorrect. Until you review a Draw question, it does not count toward the student's accuracy score. If you do not plan to grade Draw questions, consider whether a text response or multiple choice question better fits your reporting needs for that prompt. Draw questions are available in Live Practices only. They are not included in assignments or standards-based reporting. ## Partial Credit Pear Practice supports partial credit for text response and classification questions. Partial credit is not available for multiple choice or numerical questions. | Question type | Partial credit available | How to enable it | | :-------------- | :----------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Text response | Yes | Select **Enable Partial Credit** when authoring the question | | Classification | Yes | Pear Practice awards partial credit automatically when some items are correctly categorized | | Multiple choice | No | All selected options must match the correct response | | Numerical | No | The answer must match exactly | When partial credit is enabled for a text response question, credit is awarded based on how closely the student's response matches the correct response and any alternates you defined. If you need all-or-nothing grading for a text response question, leave **Enable Partial Credit** unselected. Students will receive full credit for any accepted response or no credit for an unmatched response. To view how partial credit affects a student's score, open the assignment report and check the Questions tab for individual response details. ## Related Articles * [Write Text Response Question in Practice Set](/products/pear-practice/write-text-response-question-in-practice-set) * [Make Multiple Choice Question in Practice Set](/products/pear-practice/make-multiple-choice-question-in-practice-set) * [Create Draw Question in My Practice Set](/products/pear-practice/create-draw-question-in-my-practice-set) * [Review Classroom Reports](/products/pear-practice/review-classroom-reports)