---
title: How scoring works
description: Rubrics, criteria, anchors, weights, the 0–100 total; fully worked example.
---
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# How scoring works
## ImpactHire scores applications, written assessments, and AI interviews against rubrics defined for the job or question. Each score shows the criterion levels, the candidate's words behind those levels, and the reason for the match, so a person can see how the result was produced. Scores can move candidates forward when your company configures a threshold. A score does not reject a candidate or decide who should be hired.
**Rubrics**
A rubric defines the standard used to score evidence.
For an application, the rubric belongs to the job and applies to every application for that job. It can use evidence from the candidate's resume, cover letter, and screening answers.
For a written assessment or AI interview, each scored question carries its own rubric. The same scoring approach therefore applies whether the candidate writes or speaks their answer.
A rubric contains criteria, a scale, an anchor for each level, and weights.
**Criteria and anchors**
A **criterion** is one quality being measured.
An **anchor** describes what an answer at a particular level looks like. Levels begin at 0 and run to the top level chosen for that rubric.
When ImpactHire scores a criterion, it:
1. Finds the positive and negative signs in the candidate's answer.
2. Matches the evidence to the closest anchor.
3. Quotes the candidate's words that support that level.
4. Gives the reason the level fits.
A second reader audits every criterion. It checks whether the level matches the anchor, whether the reason is supported by the quoted words, and whether the first scorer missed a negative sign. The second reader can lower the level or leave it where it stands.
**Weights**
Weights determine how much each part contributes to the score.
Within a question, each criterion has a weight. The criterion levels are combined according to those weights to produce the answer score.
Questions also carry weights within a scored template. Those weights determine how much each question contributes to the overall evaluation.
A question still carries its share if the candidate leaves it unanswered. An unanswered question contributes zero for that share.
**The 0–100 total**
The total is the score for one completed written assessment or AI interview, expressed from **0 to 100**.
ImpactHire first scores each criterion, combines the criteria using their weights, and then combines the questions using their weights.
The anchor match is the judgement. The calculations after that are arithmetic that can be followed from the levels and weights.
An **application score** is also expressed from 0 to 100, but it measures something different. It shows how closely the evidence in an application matches the job's application rubric. A **total** measures a candidate's answers to a scored assessment or interview.
**Worked example**
Suppose a question has two criteria on a 0–4 scale:
| **Criterion** | **Level** | **Weight** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Problem solving | 3/4 | 60% |
| Communication | 2/4 | 40% |
First convert each level to its weighted contribution:
**Problem solving:**3 ÷ 4 × 60 = **45**
**Communication:**2 ÷ 4 × 40 = **20**
The answer score is:
**45 + 20 = 65 out of 100**
If this were one question in a larger assessment, its result would then contribute to the assessment total according to that question's weight.
The important part is the level behind each number. A recruiter can open the criterion, see the anchor the answer matched, read the quoted evidence from the candidate, and read why that evidence produced the level.
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