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How does a student earn "Proficient" on a practice exercise?

Updated

There are two ways to earn “Proficient” in a Khan Academy practice exercise:

✅ Answer all the questions correctly

This one’s simple: get every question right, and they'll earn “Proficient” and energy points.

🌟 Use the bonus question 

At the end of the exercise, if they only answered one question incorrectly, they’ll have a chance to make up for it with a bonus question. 

Here’s how it works:

  • If, while at the end of the exercise, they have only 1 incorrect answer. The student will be offered a bonus question. Clicking on "Bonus question" will display it for them.
  • If they answer the bonus question correctly, their previous mistake is erased. They'll get the maximum possible score and earn “Proficient.”

  • If they answer the bonus question incorrectly, their original score stays the same.

  • If they skip the bonus question, that’s treated the same as getting it wrong. Their original score stands.

⚠️ Heads up: If a bonus question is offered, the student must either answer or skip it. If they leave it unanswered, the exercise will not count as completed and they won’t get credit for it.

Are there times students won’t get a bonus question?

Yes, there are a few exceptions where students wouldn't be offered a bonus question, even if they only missed one:

  • Some reading comprehension exercises with long passages don’t offer bonus questions.

  • If the teacher assigns an exercise and chooses that all students will see the same set of questions, bonus questions won’t appear.

  • A small number of exercises don’t have enough questions in the bank to offer a bonus question.

In these cases, the student's original score will stand, no matter how well they do—and there's no way to know ahead of time if a bonus question will be available.

As of this article’s publish date (April 21, 2025), this feature will be available to all users within the next 1 to 2 weeks.