Check The Scoreboard: An Analysis of Scoring Schemes on Multiple-Choice Evaluation
Multiple-choice question answering (MCQA) benchmarks in NLP use number-right scoring (accuracy), but in educational testing, the scoring scheme, the combination of the response mode models follow and the rule for grading responses, is a key design choice that dictates which abilities to reward. We examine how alternatives to number right change what MCQA measures with six education-inspired schemes that assess abilities beyond accuracy: distractor elimination, abstention, confidence calibration, and self-correction. On LLM benchmarks, these schemes: 1) shift rankings of 31 LLMs beyond rephrased number right prompts; 2) better predict the LLMs users prefer in LLM Arena; and 3) reveal disti...
| Authors | Nishant Balepur, Paiheng Xu, Wei Ai et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.CL |
| Published | 30 August 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 30 August 2026 |
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