LMS shows “failed” when the learner passed: who decided, and the fix

The course sent “passed”: match the two pass marks

A SCORM course carries two pass marks: the quiz's passing score, which the course uses to tell the learner the result, and the mastery score in imsmanifest.xml (the file that tells the LMS how to launch the course), which the LMS reads. If the mastery score is 90 and the quiz passes at 80, a learner who scores 85 sees “You passed”, and an LMS that goes by the manifest records “failed”.

1. Decide which number is right

   Usually the quiz's. The manifest's number is often left over from an older publish or typed in by hand.

2. Set it in the authoring tool and publish again

   In Storyline, open the quiz's result slide, go to Result Tools—Design → Quiz Settings → Passing Score, then publish again with Publish → LMS / LRS: Storyline writes the same number into the manifest. More on where each number lives, and on Rise and Captivate: mastery score vs quiz passing score.

3. No source file?

   For a SCORM 1.2 zip, Alder's problem card can set the manifest's number to the quiz's (or, for Storyline, change the quiz's Passing Score instead), and you can preview the result for free. Downloading the changed zip is part of Pro. The free path: change the mastery score in imsmanifest.xml yourself, using the exact number Alder's card names.

Testing on SCORM Cloud alone can hide this for SCORM 1.2. We tested it there: by default SCORM Cloud keeps a “passed” the course sends, even with a score of 40 under a mastery score of 80. Other LMSs apply the mastery score. Moodle does by default (its “Mastery score overrides status” setting); see the Moodle guide.

SCORM 2004: the LMS judges the percentage score

In SCORM 2004 the manifest's pass mark is written as a fraction (minNormalizedMeasure, so 80% is 0.8), and the course reports its percentage score as cmi.score.scaled, also a fraction. When both are there, the LMS compares them and records passed or failed itself. We tested this on SCORM Cloud: a course that sent “passed” with a scaled score of 0.4, against a pass mark of 0.8, was recorded as failed.

• The pass marks differ: fix them as in the section above. In SCORM 2004 this shows on SCORM Cloud too.
• The scores look wrong: in Alder's call log, check that the scaled score matches the learner's percentage (0.85 for 85%). If it doesn't, see score not recording or showing 0%.

The course itself sent “failed”

Then the LMS is only recording what it was told. Two situations come up most:

• The learner left before finishing the quiz. Rustici, the company behind SCORM Cloud, has a support article on courses that mark “failed” when the quiz isn't completed. It starts from Captivate content and says the same fix has been used for Lectora and Storyline courses. Course authors on E-Learning Heroes report the same with a SCORM 2004 course.
• The learner failed the first try and passed later. With Passed/Failed, the first try is recorded as failed. Whether the later pass replaces it depends on the course sending it and on the LMS's attempt settings.

If learners who haven't passed yet should stay “not done” rather than “failed”, report Passed/Incomplete instead: in Storyline, the “Report status to LMS as:” drop-down on the LMS tab of Publish → LMS / LRS → Reporting and Tracking. Which option fits which course is in Storyline “Report status to LMS as”. If a retake opens in review mode and can't change the result, see new attempt or review mode.

Check the zip before you upload it again (free)

Alder reads the zip in your browser and plays the part of the LMS, so you can see which of the cases above is yours without a round trip to the LMS.

1. Drop the zip into Alder

   Open Alder and drop the published zip. If the two pass marks differ, a Must fix card names both numbers and the file each came from. Or go straight to the checks for a course marked failed. Pick your LMS under “Uploading to” to add its notes: the Moodle and Workday notes are free.

2. Pass the quiz just above the quiz's pass mark

   Click “Launch the course”, answer enough questions to pass by the course's own pass mark, then press “I’m done”. If an LMS could record that score as failed, Alder says so under “What we found”.

   

3. Read what an LMS would record

   “What an LMS would record” shows completion, pass or fail and score separately. Open the technical log to see the status the course itself sent, which tells you the section above that applies.

   

4. Leave the quiz halfway once

   Launch again, answer one or two questions and press “I’m done”. If the course sends “failed” here, learners who close the course mid-quiz will be recorded as failed.

Why it happens

A SCORM course reports a status and a score, and the LMS stores them. Most of the time the LMS keeps the course's status. But SCORM lets the LMS decide passed or failed itself from the score and the manifest's pass mark. SCORM 2004 LMSs do this whenever the manifest asks for it, and many SCORM 1.2 LMSs do it too. So the learner sees the course's verdict, and the LMS report shows the LMS's. They only agree when the two pass marks agree and the score is sent in the form the LMS expects.

Still not working?

• The LMS shows “incomplete” rather than “failed”: see passed the quiz but the LMS says incomplete.
• Alder and SCORM Cloud show “passed” but your LMS doesn't: see works in SCORM Cloud, not in the LMS.
• Your LMS admin needs evidence: in the test player, “Download log for your LMS admin” saves every call the course made, including the status and score it sent.