# Mortarboard: Isn't “at least” the daily maximum redundant?

Nitpicking here: The Mortarboard badge description says:

Earn at least 200 reputation (the daily maximum) in a single day.

Given you can't earn more than 200 points, wouldn't it be less confusing to simply say,

"Earn 200 reputation in a single day"

or, "Earn the daily maximum reputation"?

• Take a look at my rep history for examples of the below in action. Most I managed in one day was 285 and popped above the 200 a few times after that. – Snow Jan 18 '17 at 15:40

There are actually multiple ways to surpass this 200 rep limit, each with different results:

Earning more than 200 rep with upvotes and such, you can surpass the 200 rep limit. You will only get a maximum of 200 rep attributed to your overall rep, but if you do donwvote - or get downvoted, you will still be in the green.

Any rep earned through rewards also does not count against the 200 rep limit.

Have a look at this question on the SE Meta: How does "Reputation" work?

Non-exhaustive quoting of the list from the referred SE Meta question:

### You gain reputation when:

• one of your questions is voted up/useful: +5
• you accept an answer written by someone else to one of your own questions: +2
• a downvote on one of your questions or answers is removed: +2
• you suggest an edit and it is accepted: +2
• you remove a downvote from an answer: +1
• an answer you downvoted is removed: +1
• one of your answers is awarded a bounty by the user offering the bounty: + full bounty amount
• one of your answers is awarded a bounty automatically: +½ of the bounty amount (see bounty FAQ for details)
• you associate accounts of two or more Stack Exchange network sites, and at least one of those accounts already has 200 or more reputation: +100 on each site (awarded a maximum of one time per site)

### You lose reputation when:

• one of your questions or answers is voted down/not useful: −2
• a post where you had successfully suggested an edit has been deleted (reputation page shows the cause as “removed”): −2
• the account of a user who was the final approver of a suggested edit you made has been deleted (reputation page shows the cause as “User was removed”): −2
• you vote an answer down/not useful: −1
• an upvote on one of your questions is removed: −5