This article will lead you through some common causes of grade sync failure and how to resolve them.
Grades can fail for a number of reasons, and as a result, we strongly suggest testing before your course goes live to make sure grades sync for at least one item.
That said, sometimes things aren't discovered until later. Here are the most common causes for each set of symptoms.
If no grades are syncing in the course at all
- The tool is not configured to accept grades in the LMS. Check your tool's configuration against our install documentation for your LMS.
- If using Canvas Blueprints, the graded items must be set to 'Unlocked' in the Blueprint before syncing the course.
- Canvas deployment scope problems. This most often applies to Canvas users in a Canvas that is shared between multiple institutions with CertMaster integrations. If you think this applies to you, check with your CompTIA Implementation Manager for guidance.
If some grades are syncing, but some are failing...
...and the problem only affects specific assignments:
- The link, assignment, or activity is not set to active. The terminology differs by LMS. In Canvas, the assignment needs to be Published, in Blackboard, the item needs to be Available, and so on.
- The link was not set to 'Graded' during the LTI tool's link creation dialogue. Rebuild the affected link(s) using the CertMaster LTI Adv tool.
...and the problem only affects specific users, or the missing grades don't seem to have a pattern:
- The user entered CertMaster through either the manual login page, or a different LMS course than intended. A student must start their CertMaster session by clicking an LTI link in the LMS course where the grades are to land.
- The user has multiple accounts (either a personal account and a school/business account, or an integration-created account and a manually created account), and completed their work in an account that isn't tied to the LMS integration. Once again, as long as students start their CertMaster session by clicking an LTI link in the correct course, this will resolve the issue. If needed, duplicate accounts can be merged by CompTIA Support to retain progress attained in another account.
- The work was completed outside the start/end dates of the LMS course.
- The user does not have the Student or Learner role in the LMS course.
Other Issues
Grade sync was not working for a time, so I entered grades (or zeroes) manually. Things were fixed and grades are now syncing correctly for new completions, but a resync does not overwrite the grades I entered previously. Why?
Unfortunately, some LMSes (like Canvas) show this behavior, and technically, it's intended on their part. According to the LTI specification, if a grade exists in the LMS gradebook, then grades achieved before that grade was put there should not overwrite it. This functionality makes sense when everything is working properly, but in cases when grades don't make it to the gradebook right away and need to be re-sent later, it can get in the way of properly remedying grades that weren't syncing for a time.
Currently, there is no workaround, and grades will need to be entered manually. At time of writing (June 2026), we are starting to look into a way to get grades to still sync in this situation, but there is no target date for a solution yet.