diff --git a/src/averaged_perceptron.c b/src/averaged_perceptron.c
index 59a58f2e..4570f73b 100644
--- a/src/averaged_perceptron.c
+++ b/src/averaged_perceptron.c
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ static inline bool averaged_perceptron_get_feature_id(averaged_perceptron_t *sel
 inline double_array *averaged_perceptron_predict_scores(averaged_perceptron_t *self, cstring_array *features) {
     if (self->scores == NULL || self->scores->n == 0) self->scores = double_array_new_zeros((size_t)self->num_classes);
 
-    double_array_set(self->scores->a, self->scores->n, 0.0);
+    double_array_zero(self->scores->a, self->scores->n);
 
     double *scores = self->scores->a;
 
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ inline double_array *averaged_perceptron_predict_scores(averaged_perceptron_t *s
             uint32_t class_id = indices[col];
             scores[class_id] += data[col];
         }
-
     })
 
     return self->scores;   
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ inline double_array *averaged_perceptron_predict_scores(averaged_perceptron_t *s
 inline double_array *averaged_perceptron_predict_scores_counts(averaged_perceptron_t *self, khash_t(str_uint32) *feature_counts) {
     if (self->scores == NULL || self->scores->n == 0) self->scores = double_array_new_zeros((size_t)self->num_classes);
 
-    double_array_set(self->scores->a, self->scores->n, 0.0);
+    double_array_zero(self->scores->a, self->scores->n);
 
     double *scores = self->scores->a;
 
@@ -108,6 +107,10 @@ averaged_perceptron_t *averaged_perceptron_read(FILE *f) {
 
     perceptron->scores = double_array_new_zeros((size_t)perceptron->num_classes);
 
+    if (perceptron->scores == NULL) {
+        goto exit_perceptron_created;
+    }
+
     uint64_t classes_str_len;
 
     if (!file_read_uint64(f, &classes_str_len)) {