Reporting Total Scores

Brilliant Assessments allow you to show a percentage score or an Average Likert score.

If you want to show a total or sum score (also called a raw score, that is, the actual points earned rather than a percentage or average) you need to use a calculation that will place the result into a segmentation you have created for this purpose. An example is if you wanted to show they scored 189 out of the 220 points rather than showing 85.9% or the average likert score.

In this example we only want to show the assessment total score - the technique is the same for subsection/section and segmentation scores too; you just need a segmentation to hold each score and a calculation to populate the segmentation.

Step 1 - Create a Segmentation to hold the total

Go to Assessment Settings > Segmentations and add a new Segmentation. Give it a descriptive name (for example, "Total Score") and note its Segmentation Number. You will use this number in your report merge string.

This segmentation acts as the container that holds the calculated total. You will link it to the Calculation in Step 2.

For full details on segmentation setup, see Setting Up Segmentations.

Step 2 - Create a Calculation to populate the Segmentation

The Calculation takes the assessment's percentage score (stored internally as a decimal, e.g., 0.859) and multiplies it by the total possible points to give the raw score.

Place the Calculation in a separate section with Section Type set to Individual Report. This keeps the calculation's value out of the normal scoring of your assessment, so it does not affect your section or assessment scores.

1. Create a new section at the end of the assessment.
2. Open the new section's Options tab and set Section Type to Individual Report.
3. Inside that section, click Add Calculation.
4. In the Calculation dialog (numbers match the screenshot below):
   1. Max Points: the total possible score (in our example, 220).
   2. Calculate After Scoring: ticked.
   3. In the Score Calculation field, enter the formula: [Assessment.Score] * 220. This multiplies the percentage score (as a decimal) by the maximum possible points.
   4. Link to Segmentation: select the segmentation created in Step 1.
5. Save.

Step 3 - Recalculate any existing test responses

When you add or change a Calculation, existing responses do not automatically pick up the new calculation. You need to re-finish the response so the system runs the new formula against it.

1. Open your test response from the Responses screen.
2. Click Finish on the response again. The system recalculates the response with the new Calculation in place.

To confirm the calculation is now populated, open the response, click the hamburger menu at the top left, and choose Show Calculations. Your calculated total should be listed there.

Step 4 - Show the total score in the report

In your Word report template, use a score merge string that pulls the Average Score (Actual Points) from the segmentation. Because the segmentation is linked to only one calculation, the "average" is simply that single calculated value, the total.

Example merge strings

Assuming your Total Score segmentation is the first one created (SegmentationNo=1):

{RatingScore.ActualPoints[SegmentationNo=1]}

This pulls the total score, in our example, 189.

To pull the segmentation's name (e.g., "Total Score") for use in a label:

{Name[SegmentationNo=1]}

A complete report line

A common pattern is "Total Score: 189 out of 220". Combine the merge string with static text:

Total Score: {RatingScore.ActualPoints[SegmentationNo=1]} out of 220

Showing the total on a chart

If you have multiple total-score segmentations (for example, a Total Score per section), you can chart them together:

{Bar[SegmentationNo=ALL ShowActual=Y Label=Y]}

This produces a bar chart of every total-score segmentation, each showing its calculated total.

FAQs & Troubleshooting