Scoring

How points, complexity, and RPM are calculated.

Points countdown

While you are looking at a problem, a live countdown shows how many points it is currently worth. Points start at the problem's complexity value and decay at a fixed rate of 0.1 points per second. The faster you answer, the more you earn.

points available = max(0.5, complexity − 0.1 × seconds on question)

The floor of 0.5 means every solved problem is worth something no matter how long it took. Complexity itself has a floor of 1, so even the simplest problems start the countdown at 1.0 and decay to 0.5 after 5 seconds.

In sync mode the countdown freezes while you are waiting for the teacher to advance — the wait time is excluded from scoring so you are not penalized for it.

Score

Your score is a running total. Every correct answer adds however many points were showing on the countdown at the moment you answered — it only ever goes up.

Complexity

Each problem is assigned a complexity score based on the programming concepts it contains — loops, function calls, conditionals, operators — weighted by difficulty. The complexity readout in the stats panel shows your running average across all problems attempted so far.

A snippet with only variable assignments scores low (roughly 1–3). A snippet with nested loops and function calls scores much higher (roughly 8–15+). In a race, everyone works through the same problems, so everyone ends up with the same average complexity.

RPM

RPM is a display-only indicator of your pace — it does not feed into your score. It is calculated as 60 divided by the average number of seconds between consecutive correct answers.

RPM = 60 ÷ average seconds between correct answers

A faster solve pace pushes RPM up; long pauses or wrong answers that make you linger on a question pull it down.

Wrong answers

Wrong guesses are not penalized directly, but they waste time on the current problem. The countdown keeps ticking while you work out the correct answer, so the points on offer when you finally get it right will be lower than if you had answered immediately.

Bonus problems

In a sync-mode race, while you are waiting for the teacher to advance, you can attempt bonus problems for extra credit. Bonus problems use the same countdown formula but are worth ¼ as much — a meaningful bump if you are quick, but not enough to overturn the main-track standings. See Race Participant for more on how bonus problems work.

Leaderboard ranking

The race leaderboard ranks everyone by their running total score — highest wins. Because your score only grows as you solve more problems, finishing more of the workout is automatically rewarded alongside speed.