Open a Mastering assignment to start work on it

Updated 29 Aug 2024

You can open and work on most assignments as soon as they appear in the Course Home. Adaptive Follow-Up assignments are available after you submit a parent assignment

Open a standard assignment

Select an assignment title from the Course Home, whether in List View or from the daily agenda in Calendar View.
The assignment summary opens, with the list of items you need to complete.
Mastering assignment categories
Your assignments can include any of the following types:
Homework ()
Scheduled Reading ()
Quiz ()
Test ()
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Adaptive Follow-Up ( )
Dynamic Study Module ()
Interactive Lab () — Best to complete these on a laptop, not a tablet or phone
Instructor custom category, like a lab ()
Offline assignment () — Assignments you complete outside of Mastering
Try Again for Better Score
Select if you’ve completed the assignment before and your instructor lets you work it again to possibly improve your score. “x Attempts Left” also appears.
To see how the assignment will be scored, select Grading Policy (top right).
For example, the policy states how many answer tries you have per question. Details about the grading policy
Select one of the item links in the assignment to work on it. How to submit your answers
- Part questions within an item — Each item you open contains one or more Parts (A, B, etc.) with one or more questions to answer. Some Parts of an item may be unavailable until you have completed previous Parts.
- Different items, different item order or different values — Students in the course may be presented with different items in the same assignment, a different order of the items, or different values within some items. You may also notice such differences if you rework items for practice or redo an assignment for credit.
- Working an assignment online — This lets you take advantage of any available Hints, any answer feedback, and the reporting of your scores in the Mastering Scores area.
- How to print an assignment

Open or work non-standard or special assignments

Scheduled Reading assignments
See instead Scheduled Reading assignments.

Dynamic Study Module assignments
See alternate instructions for opening Dynamic Study Modules.

Freehand Grader assignments
See instructions to Complete a Freehand Grader assignment.

Learning Catalytics sessions
See alternate instructions for Learning Catalytics sessions.

Accessibility for assignments

Screen readers are supported, including JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver.
Check your screen reader settings for how to best set the reading of math and other specially formatted content, like for chemistry.

Keyboard access is available for all question types.
For drag and drop questions, refer to Basic keyboard instructions.

See also: Accessibility help for Mastering

Tips about assignments

First assignment — Your first assignment might be Introduction to Mastering. It helps you to learn how to correctly enter different types of answers in the program, such as to enter * for the multiplication symbol. You can usually refer to this assignment throughout the course. More about the intro assignment
Adaptive Follow-Up assignments — After you complete a prerequisite "parent" assignment, you may be presented with an Adaptive Follow-Up assignment that contains items based on questions you were unable to answer correctly in the prerequisite assignment.
Timed assignments — The time limit to complete the assignment is provided. The timer begins when you select Start. Once you begin a timed assignment, the timer continues to run down. Signing out or losing Internet connectivity does not stop the timer. More on timed assignments
Password-protected assignments — After you (or a proctor in a test-taking environment) enters the password, select Continue to Assignment. You must complete password-protected assignments on a computer, not on a mobile device.

Options (besides Submit) below the answer box

Option	What it lets you do
Previous Answers	Shows all of your previous answers in a new window, along with any helpful responses that the system may have provided. When you're finished, either select Return to Current Item or close the window. Appears only after you’ve submitted at least one answer. More about reviewing your answers The Previous Answers option is not available in Mobile view.
Request Answer	When you choose Request Answer, you’re asked to confirm or cancel in response to the following message: “Are you sure you want to request the answer? If you do, you will not get any credit for it.” See information below to help you decide whether to choose OK or Cancel. Choose Request Answer only as a last resort. Since you won't receive any credit, this option is similar to exhausting all answer attempts for a question. Selecting Request Answer also lets you complete a question so that you can move on to the next one, like to complete an item. Don't choose Request Answer if you can receive credit after the assignment due date. Check for either “Full Credit for Late Work” or “Partial Credit for Late Work” (top right) in the open assignment. If you don't know an answer before the assignment due date, you may be able to answer it later (provided the assignment is still available). It's better to give yourself the chance to get some credit rather than losing all credit on the question by selecting Request Answer. Your ability to view correct answers can vary by assignment. Either "Answer Requested" appears with the correct answer or you may see the message "Completed; correct answer withheld by instructor." For example, your instructor might withhold the display of correct answers on a test until all class sections have completed it.

Option

What it lets you do

Previous Answers

Shows all of your previous answers in a new window, along with any helpful responses that the system may have provided. When you're finished, either select Return to Current Item or close the window.
Appears only after you’ve submitted at least one answer.
More about reviewing your answers
The Previous Answers option is not available in Mobile view.

Request Answer

When you choose Request Answer, you’re asked to confirm or cancel in response to the following message: “Are you sure you want to request the answer? If you do, you will not get any credit for it.” See information below to help you decide whether to choose OK or Cancel.

Choose Request Answer only as a last resort. Since you won't receive any credit, this option is similar to exhausting all answer attempts for a question.
Selecting Request Answer also lets you complete a question so that you can move on to the next one, like to complete an item.
Don't choose Request Answer if you can receive credit after the assignment due date. Check for either “Full Credit for Late Work” or “Partial Credit for Late Work” (top right) in the open assignment.
- If you don't know an answer before the assignment due date, you may be able to answer it later (provided the assignment is still available).
- It's better to give yourself the chance to get some credit rather than losing all credit on the question by selecting Request Answer.

Your ability to view correct answers can vary by assignment. Either "Answer Requested" appears with the correct answer or you may see the message "Completed; correct answer withheld by instructor."

For example, your instructor might withhold the display of correct answers on a test until all class sections have completed it.

Stop work on an assignment to finish it later

The Course Home reports how many assignment items are left to do and the estimated time to complete them. To resume working, open the incomplete assignment and select any item without a check mark in the Complete column. Stopping/restarting work on a Dynamic Study Module

All of your submitted answers are saved (autosaved) and can be seen by your instructor if you sign out before you complete an assignment or if you lose your Internet connection. No submitted work can be “lost”.
You can sign in later to finish the assignment, as long as it is still available on the Course Home. For timed assignments, there must still time on the timer.
When a late penalty is in effect, you may lose credit for any items you submit after the assignment due date and time.

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