"If" formula not bringing up correct outcome

I am grading some papers....
I must admit I am a newbie...

Column D is my data entry column -my students answers
Column C has the correct answers

For each question, I would like to be able to know whether it was answered right, wrong or left blank and tally the answers that way.

Therefore, Cell D3 (answers) can be either
1. the right answer and be equal to C3 ($D3="$C3") ----- I would like to have a 1 in this cell then
2. an incorrect answer ($D3<>$C3,-----------------------I would like to have a 2 in this cell
3. a blank answer ($D3=" " ------------------------------I would like to have a 3 in this cell

I am having a bit of a problem putting together an IF formula that makes the distinction between #2 and #3...
I am thinking that <> automatically includes #3 as well.


I want the formula to put in the cell...
1 if Correct answer
2 if Incorrect answer
3 if blank

any ideas? I know this is super easy for you guys but I have been tweaking this formula to no end...
=IF($D3=$C3,"1",IF($D3<>$C3,"2",IF(D3=" ","3")))



thanks

The problem is that if it is blank, then it is also not equal to the answer, so your D3<>C3 check is always true. Just change the order to check for the blank first (and you can remove an IF statement).
=IF($D3=$C3,"1",IF($D3=" ","3","2"))
Some comments:
1) is your blank a space (" ") or an empty cell ("")?
2) why are you using text "1", "2", and "3" instead of the numbers 1, 2, and 3? Your choice, just be aware that if you want to do math, you should use numbers.
3) not sure if you need the $ referencing or not. You intermittently used it for D3. Just make sure it is working as you wish.

=if(c2="",3,if(c2<>d2,2,1))

Hi, try

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Hi, thanks for the feedback