diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_base.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_base.py
index 97abc3b4e9..97e9a665fc 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_base.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_base.py
@@ -1216,7 +1216,9 @@ class CapaMixin(ScorableXBlockMixin, CapaFields):
                 }
 
         try:
-            self.lcp.context['attempt'] = self.attempts + 1
+        	# expose the attempt number to the python custom grader
+        	# self.lcp.context['attempt'] is 1 based, but the self.attempts is 0 based
+            self.lcp.context['attempt'] = self.attempts + 1 
             correct_map = self.lcp.grade_answers(answers)
             self.attempts = self.attempts + 1
             self.lcp.done = True
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/tests/test_capa_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/tests/test_capa_module.py
index 15cb781cf7..f5930f078b 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/tests/test_capa_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/tests/test_capa_module.py
@@ -1116,7 +1116,8 @@ class CapaModuleTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(result['success'], 'incorrect')
         self.assertEqual(module.get_score(), (0, 1))
         self.assertEqual(module.correct_map[answer_id]['correctness'], 'incorrect')
-        # Expect that the number of attempts is incremented, still same attempt
+        
+        # Expect that the number of attempts is not incremented
         self.assertEqual(module.attempts, 1)
         self.assertEqual(module.lcp.context['attempt'], 1)