CBA Scoring Criteria
Screen prompts such as "REDUCE FRACTION", "WRONG NEG SIGN", "WHOLE EQUATION", "COMBINE TERMS", etc, do not count the answer as wrong, if it is otherwise correct. In most cases where the value of the answer is correct but a different form is required, a prompting message such as "COMMON FRACTIONS" appears and the student is given another chance to enter the answer with no penalty.
In those cases where exact answers are required, the screen instructions make that clear (but who bothers to read instructions?) For example, when exact answers are required, then in solving for the missing leg of a right triangle with leg 1 and hypotenuse 2, the answer, Ö(3) , is accepted; the answer, 1.732, is not. In other cases, the number of required decimal places is indicated.