For teachers · Task assignment · Homework · Assignments
Assign past papers as homework or class assignments
Turn a paper into a dated task (assignment or homework) for individual students or a group, then follow progress question by question.
In short
A task on Exam Science is a dated assignment of one or more papers to individual students or a group; task, assignment and homework all refer to the same feature. The teacher sets a title, optional start and due dates, and whether late completion is allowed; at least one paper and one recipient are required. Students open Start or Continue and choose a paper. Progress counts only distinct questions marked in task context, so free practice and retakes never inflate completion. The task dashboard shows per-student and per-paper progress, and the task report lists every marked question with its score. Official papers and any published custom paper can be assigned; a private custom paper is assignable by its author, and a public one by any teacher.
What a task contains
In the app this feature is called a task. Teachers also describe it as an assignment or homework; both mean the same object: a dated assignment of one or more papers. There is no separate homework module in Exam Science.
A task has a title, an optional description, optional start and due dates, a late-completion setting, one or more papers and one or more recipients. Each paper's composition is anchored when the task is created, so editing a live custom paper later does not change what an in-progress task asks.
Papers can be official, your own private custom papers, or public custom papers from other teachers. In the Create Task dialog, Add from Paper Cart and Add from Bookmark pull in papers you have already collected, and duplicates are removed before the task is saved.
Progress, retakes and free practice
Progress is counted per paper as distinct questions with status marked. Only attempts started from the task entry carry the task id and count towards it; a draft attempt or a paper practised from the normal library does not complete an assignment.
Because the count is de-duplicated by question, a student can retake a question without pushing completion past 100%. The dashboard shows this per student and per paper, and the task report keeps every marked attempt with its score.
Recipients, groups and plan limits
Assignees are individual students from your connections or a group, whose members are expanded when the limit is checked. The Free plan allows 5 open tasks and 10 recipients per task; Pro allows 50 open tasks and 50 recipients per task.
If a start date is set, the task is not shown to assignees until that date. After the due date, late completion follows the task setting: either students can continue or the paper rows are disabled and the task is marked overdue.
Task lifecycle
Each step has a visible record, which is what the dashboard and report read back.
| Stage | Teacher action | What the system records | Edge case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create | Set title, description, dates, late-completion setting and at least one paper. | Task and its settings. | A task without a paper or a recipient cannot be created. |
| Add papers | Pick official papers or published custom papers, including your own private ones. | Attached papers with their composition anchored at task creation. | Drafts cannot be assigned; a private custom paper is assignable only by its author. |
| Assign | Choose individual students or a group. | Assignees by user or group. | The recipient cap depends on the plan. |
| Start | Student opens Start or Continue and picks a paper. | An attempt paper carrying the task id. | A task with no attached paper cannot be started. |
| Mark | Student submits; AI marks against the official mark scheme. | Attempts with status marked, score and maximum score. | Custom marks scale that question's score and add a note. |
| Track | Open the task dashboard or task report. | Distinct marked questions per paper and per student. | Late work follows the task setting and the due date. |
Questions teachers ask
- Is a task the same as homework or an assignment?
- Yes. In Exam Science a dated set of papers assigned to students is called a task. Assignment and homework describe the same object; there is no separate homework module.
- How is task progress calculated?
- Progress counts distinct questions with status marked, and only attempts started from the task entry (the attempt paper carries the task id) are counted. Draft attempts and free-practice attempts are excluded, so practising the same paper outside a task does not complete it.
- Do retakes inflate progress?
- No. The same question counts once per paper, even if a student makes several attempts at it.
- Can students start before the start date?
- If a start date is set, the task is not shown to assignees until that date. Leave the start date empty for immediate availability.
- What happens after the due date?
- If late completion is allowed, students can continue; otherwise the paper rows are disabled and the task is marked overdue.
- How many recipients can one task have?
- The Free plan allows 5 open tasks and 10 recipients per task; Pro allows 50 open tasks and 50 recipients per task. Group assignees expand to their members when the limit is checked.
- How do I add papers quickly?
- In Create Task, use Add from Paper Cart or Add from Bookmark. The selected papers are merged into the task and de-duplicated against papers already chosen.
- Does a task change what students can access?
- No. A task does not change a paper's access tier; Pro content keeps the same entitlement rules as the rest of the library.
Assign your first task
Create a task, choose official or custom papers, and assign it to a student or a group.
Open task assignment