Negative Marks Calculator
Work out your exam score with negative marking in seconds. Enter the total questions, marks per answer and how many you got right — see your score, percentage, accuracy and how many marks guessing cost you. Everything runs in your browser; no signup, no data leaves your device.
By UpnixTools · Calculator and figures last reviewed November 2026
Exam Details
Enter as a positive number, e.g. 1 for −1.
Wrong answers are worked out automatically: attempted − correct.
Score = (correct × marks) − (wrong × negative marks)Percentage = score ÷ maximum possible score × 100
Your Score
Total score
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out of —
Percentage
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Accuracy
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Max possible
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Marks lost
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Score vs. maximum—
Correct answers—
Wrong answers—
Unattempted—
Marks earned—
Accuracy counts only the questions you attempted. A high accuracy with many unattempted questions means you played it safe — sometimes a calculated guess scores more.
How negative marking works
Many competitive exams deduct marks for wrong answers to discourage blind guessing. The usual formula is:
Total score = (correct × marks per correct) − (wrong × negative marks)Unattempted questions score 0 — no reward, no penalty.
Should you guess or skip?
- Can you eliminate one option? Guessing becomes profitable — with +4 / −1 marking, eliminating one of four options makes a guess worth +1 on average.
- No clue at all? A random guess is roughly break-even at +4 / −1, but with a steep penalty (e.g. −1 for +1) it loses marks on average — skip it.
- Two options left? Almost always guess — a 50/50 guess at +4 / −1 is worth +1.5 on average.
- Check the scheme: some exams floor the total at zero, others let scores go negative. Always read the official marking rules first.
Negative Marks FAQs
How is negative marking calculated?
Total score = (correct answers × marks per correct answer) − (wrong answers × negative marks per wrong answer). For example, in a 100-question exam with +4 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong one, getting 70 right and 20 wrong gives 70×4 − 20×1 = 260 marks out of 400.
What happens if I leave a question blank?
Nothing — unattempted questions score 0 and carry no negative marking. That is why skipping a question you are unsure about is often better than guessing: a wrong guess loses marks, while a blank loses nothing.
Can my score go negative?
In theory yes — if you get far more questions wrong than right, the penalties can exceed your earned marks. In practice most exam boards floor the total at zero, so you cannot score below 0. This calculator shows the raw score, even if it is negative, so you can see the true cost of guessing.
Which exams use negative marking?
Many competitive exams use it, including India's JEE, NEET and UPSC exams, Pakistan's CSS and entry tests, and various medical, engineering and civil-service tests worldwide. The usual pattern is +4 for correct and −1 for wrong, or +1 and −0.25 — but always check your exam's official marking scheme.
Should I guess or skip a question I am unsure about?
It depends on the odds. With +4 and −1 marking, a random guess among 4 options has an expected value of 0.25 × 4 − 0.75 × 1 = +0.25, so pure guessing is roughly break-even. If you can eliminate even one wrong option, guessing becomes profitable. If you have no clue at all and the penalty is steep, skipping is safer.