Update: Mastery Mechanics Changes September 2018

Khan Academy has just rolled out some improvements to our new Course and Unit Mastery system and we're excited to share them with you. 

Changes to the Course Challenge

Before today, learners’ best performance on a Course Challenge counted toward 20% of their overall course mastery points. For example, if someone’s best score was 15/30, or 50%, then they would earn 10% of the course challenge’s mastery points. If that same person had mastered all of the units in the course, their total mastery for the course would be 90%.

As of today, learners can reach 100% mastery from unit mastery alone. The Course Challenge no longer accounts for a separate 20% of mastery points.

Course Challenges remain on the site as an option for learners to accelerate their mastery progress, and an efficient way for a learner with lots of prerequisite knowledge to level up in a course.

The top change shows what it might look like for a learner who has taken and received points from the Course Challenge. The bottom shows what the change might look like for learners who have not taken the Course Challenge. Note that learners who have received points from a Course Challenge may see a decrease!

Changes to Demotion Mechanics

Before, learners could be moved from Mastered to Proficient and from Proficient to Familiar if they got all of the questions about a specific skill incorrect on a Quiz, Unit Test, or Course Challenge. Learners were never demoted from Mastered or Proficient based on their performance on a practice exercise.

Now, learners can be moved down based on their performance on a practice exercise as well. If someone is at Mastered and gets between 70% and 99% on an exercise, they will move down to Proficient in that skill. If a learner is at Mastered and gets less than 70% correct, they will move down to Familiar. If a learner is at Proficient and gets anything other than a perfect score, they will move down one level to Familiar.

Changes to the Struggling Mechanics

The red Struggling indicator was intended to signal to learners and their teachers that they might need help on a specific skill. This indicator was added to a skill only when a learner got less than 70% correct on an exercise when in the Not Started state. The Struggling indicator was removed once a learner got above 70% correct on an exercise, or by getting all the questions about that concept correct on a Quiz, Unit Test, or Course Challenge. Once Familiar status was attained, it was considered a “permanent floor” that would never move down - no matter how a learner performed afterward. They were never demoted from Familiar to Struggling based on their performance on any form of practice.

Now, struggling is considered a state of its own, and has been renamed Attempted. Learners can move from Not Started to Attempted by getting lower than 70% correct on an exercise, or getting a question about a specific Not Started concept incorrect on a Quiz, Unit Test, or Course Challenge. Learners now move from Familiar to Attempted by getting lower than 70% on an exercise or by getting all questions about a specific Familiar or Not Started concept incorrect on a Quiz, Unit Test, or Course Challenge.

As always, if you have any thoughts or feedback, don't hesitate to reach out!