# Assign past papers as homework or class assignments > Assign official or custom papers as homework or an assignment to students or groups, set start and due dates, and track completion by marked questions with per-student task reports. - Canonical HTML: https://www.examsci.com/for-teachers/task-assignment/ - Markdown mirror: https://www.examsci.com/for-teachers/task-assignment/index.md --- For teachers · Task assignment · Homework · 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. *Task lifecycle on Exam Science* | 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](https://www.examsci.com/tasks) ## Related pages - [Custom paper builder](https://www.examsci.com/for-teachers/custom-papers/) - [How to build a custom paper](https://www.examsci.com/guides/how-to-build-a-custom-paper/) - [Worked example paper](https://www.examsci.com/for-teachers/example-custom-paper/) - [Practice Hub](https://www.examsci.com/papers) --- Full page with native tables, bar charts and Practice Hub links: https://www.examsci.com/for-teachers/task-assignment/