New York State Mathematics Assessments: Clarification on Scoring

General – Use of Trial and Error on New York State Mathematics Assessments

Students who use trial and error to solve a problem must show their method. Merely showing that the answer checks or is correct is not considered a complete response for full credit. In order to receive full credit, the student must show more than two trials with appropriate checks. The student will receive full credit if one of the following trial-and-error methods is used.

• The student shows a developing pattern that progresses towards the solution, correctly identifies the solution, and provides appropriate checks.
• The student "guesses" the solution with the first guess, provides an incorrect answer less than the solution and an incorrect answer greater than the solution with appropriate checks.

Awarding Credit for Student Work – Elementary and Intermediate Mathematics Assessments

• If the question does not specifically direct students to show their work, teachers may not score any work that the student writes.
• If the question requires students to show their work and a student shows appropriate work and identifies a correct answer, but fails to write that answer in the answer blank provided, the student should receive full credit.

• If the question requires students to show their work and a student shows appropriate work and arrives at the correct answer, but writes an incorrect answer in the answer blank, the student should not receive full credit.