Exam Configuration
Set up the marking scheme
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Quick Answer
Set your own marking scheme for any competitive exam. Enter total questions, marks per correct answer, and the negative marking deduction. Works for UPSC, NEET, JEE, SSC, RRB, banking exams, and any custom test format.
↓ Use the free calculator below
Set up the marking scheme
Standard generic template.
Enter your attempt details
Ready to calculate
Enter your exam details to see the score breakdown.
Not every exam fits a fixed template. State PSCs, banking exams (IBPS, SBI), insurance recruitment, defence entrance tests, and university entrance papers each carry their own marking scheme, and those schemes change from one cycle to the next. The custom calculator above lets you reproduce any of them: set the total number of questions, the marks awarded per correct answer, and the negative-marking deduction, then enter how many you got right and wrong to see your exact net score.
This page does not assume a single official rule because there is no single rule for “any exam.” Instead, it explains how negative marking is structured in general so you can plug in the correct numbers for whichever test you are preparing for.
Almost every Indian competitive exam expresses its penalty as a fraction of the marks awarded for a correct answer. The most common fractions are one-fourth (for example, +1 correct, −0.25 wrong — widely used in banking exams), one-third (used by UPSC and RRB), and one-half (used by SSC CGL Tier 1 at +2 / −0.50). To model any of them, enter the marks per correct answer and the matching deduction.
Suppose your exam has 1 mark per question with a one-fourth penalty (−0.25 per wrong), and you get 70 correct and 20 wrong.
Marks for correct: 70 × 1 = 70. Penalty for wrong: 20 × 0.25 = 5. Final score: 70 − 5.
Your net score is 65.
Whatever the scheme, the decision rule is the same: weigh the marks you would gain against the marks you would lose. With a one-fourth penalty on a four-option question, a pure random guess breaks even on average; with a one-third or one-half penalty it loses money on average. The heavier the penalty, the more confident you must be before attempting. The practical test is option elimination — if you can rule out two of four options, almost any standard penalty makes the guess worthwhile.
Focus your review on accuracy per section rather than raw attempts. Two candidates with the same number of attempts can finish far apart purely because of their wrong-answer counts, and the calculator above makes that trade-off concrete: change only the “wrong” field and watch how quickly your net score falls.
One caution when modelling an unfamiliar exam: confirm the marking scheme from the official notification rather than from coaching summaries, which can lag a cycle behind rule changes. Penalties are sometimes stated as a fraction (“one-fourth”) and sometimes as an absolute value (“0.25 marks”), and a few exams vary the deduction by section or waive it on certain question types. Once you have the correct figures, enter them once and the calculator will hold them, so you can re-run different attempt-and-accuracy scenarios as you plan your exam-day strategy. The goal is always the same: know, before you sit the paper, roughly what net score a given accuracy will earn you.
Multiply your correct answers by the marks per question, then subtract your wrong answers multiplied by the deduction. For example, with +1 per correct and −0.25 per wrong, 80 correct and 20 wrong gives 80 − (20 × 0.25) = 80 − 5 = 75.
Most IBPS and SBI exams use a one-fourth penalty: 0.25 marks deducted for each wrong answer on 1-mark questions. Always confirm the exact value in the official notification for your exam, as it can vary by section.
Multiply the fraction by the marks awarded per correct answer. A 1/3 penalty on a 2-mark question is 0.66 marks; the same 1/3 penalty on a 1-mark question is 0.33 marks.
No. Only attempt when the expected gain outweighs the expected loss. The heavier the penalty, the more certain you should be. When you cannot eliminate at least two options, leaving the question blank usually protects your score.
In the overwhelming majority of Indian competitive exams, unattempted questions score zero with no penalty. Negative marking applies only to wrong answers. Always verify against your exam’s official notification.