---
title: "Reporting an outright failure | SCORM Lab"
canonical_url: "https://scorm-lab.com/lint/terminal-failure-reported"
last_updated: "2026-09-06T12:06:01.096Z"
meta:
  description: "The course reported a failed status, which on some systems is final and cannot be retaken."
  "og:description": "The course reported a failed status, which on some systems is final and cannot be retaken."
  "og:title": "Reporting an outright failure"
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---

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# Reporting an outright failure

The course reported a failed status, which on some systems is final and cannot be retaken.

## What you see

A learner fails once and is then stuck. Retaking appears to work — the course runs, the questions answer, the score improves — but nothing is recorded and the result stays failed. Often it surfaces as an administrator being asked to reassign the course to individual learners one at a time.

## What the check looks for

A write of "failed" to cmi.success\_status (SCORM 2004) or cmi.core.lesson\_status (SCORM 1.2).

## Why it matters

The spec treats a failure as an ordinary result that a later attempt can replace. Some systems do not: they take a reported failure as the final word on the attempt, stop accepting further writes, and require an administrator to reassign the course before the learner can try again. A course that offers unlimited retakes and also reports failures is making a promise the LMS may not keep.

## How to fix it

If the course allows retakes, do not report a failure at all — leave the attempt incomplete until the learner passes, and report the pass when it comes. Reserve a failed status for courses where one attempt is genuinely all the learner gets.

## When this is fine

Where a single graded attempt is the intent, reporting the failure is correct and this finding can be dismissed. The question to settle is what the course promises the learner about retaking it.

[Open a package in SCORM Lab](https://scorm-lab.com/) to see whether this applies to yours. It runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded unless you choose to share it.

Stuck on this one, or seeing it only in a particular LMS? That is usually a short conversation — [scormspecialist.co.uk](https://scormspecialist.co.uk/).