It is very unlikely that "böse" is the correct translation in this context. "böse" is referring to people with an evil nature, whereas "schlecht" describes things of bad quality or eligibility. In the sentence "Is THAT bad?" I assume an object, thing or circumstance is meant, but not a person.

Hope that helps :)

Edit: There is an additional meaning to "schlecht" - you can use it to describe a person. Then it basically has the meaning of "böse".

Is "es" in place of "das" not acceptable? My answer "Ist es schlecht?" got rejected.

Why is "es ist schlecht" not acceptable?

In my opinion "Ist das schlimm?" should also be accepted as a right answer.

What's wrong with "böse"? I thought it meant "evil".

I thought in yes or no questions the verb came first .

Is "ist es schlecht?" an incorrect way of putting it? or is that just duolingo filtering or something