You add source materials to Examplary by uploading a document, scanning pages with your phone or pasting text. Examplary writes questions from them, uses them when grading and builds practice spaces on them. You add a material once, then use it in as many tests and practice spaces as you like.
Source materials are what your students have studied: the textbook chapter, your slides as a PDF, a course reader or your own notes. They're the basis of Examplary's AI test generator, so the questions cover what you taught in class, using the terms your students know.
What Examplary does with your source materials
- Writing questions: the AI works from your source materials, for a whole test and for single questions. An image from your material can end up in a question as a clipping.
- Grading: for each question, Examplary looks up the relevant facts in your source materials. The AI uses them when it suggests a score for an answer.
- Practice spaces: the topics and questions of a practice space come from its source materials.
Students never see your source materials themselves, at most a clipping of a page inside a question. To learn how the AI uses your materials to write questions, see How Examplary generates AI test questions.
Adding source materials
There are a few places to add source materials:
- When you create a new test or practice space, under Source materials.
- Later in a test or practice space, under Settings → Source materials.
- On the Source materials page in the menu on the left, with Add source material or by dragging files onto the page.
- Through Create new → Only upload source material.
In a test or practice space, you get four options. The Source materials page and Only upload source material leave out Existing material, since they're for adding new material.
| Button | What you do |
|---|---|
| Upload document | Choose one or more files, or drag them into the box. |
| Scan paper | Photograph pages from a book with your phone. |
| Paste text | Paste some text and click Save text. |
| Existing material | Use material you've added before. |
Examplary reads PDF, Word (.docx), text files, HTML, images (PNG and JPG), audio and video, up to 50 MB per file. PowerPoint, Excel, older Word files (.doc) and links to websites don't work. Save a presentation as a PDF and it will.
Scanning pages with your phone
- Click Scan paper. A QR code appears.
- Scan the code with your phone's camera.
- Take a photo of each page with the big round button, or pick photos with the photo icon next to it.
- Tap Add file.
The pages are combined into one PDF, which appears on your computer by itself.
The code is linked to your account. Don't share it, and only scan it with your own phone.
What happens after you add a material
Examplary processes the material in the background. It writes a summary, counts the pages and looks for chapters. While that's going on, you'll see Processing in the background....
The material also gets a readable name, such as Biology notes instead of biology_notes.pdf. To change it, open the material on the Source materials page and choose Actions → Rename.
Using one chapter of a book
If you've added a whole book or a long course reader, you can pick one chapter per test. In the test or practice space, click Select chapter... under the material and choose the chapter. Examplary then creates a new source material with only those pages, and it takes the place of the full document in that test. The full document stays where it is.
You'll see this option for a PDF of at least ten pages in which Examplary has found at least two chapters, once processing is done. A chapter you've already picked can't be split up further.
Organizing materials with labels
Labels keep your materials tidy, for example by class or by term.
- Click Add label on a material.
- Type a label, such as Grade 9, and choose Use 'Grade 9'.
- Click Confirm.
On the Source materials page, you can then filter by label under Filter → Labels.
Managing and deleting source materials
The Source materials page lists everything you've added. Click a material to see its summary, its chapters, and the tests and practice spaces it's used in. You can also download, rename or delete it there. Your source materials are yours: the list only shows what you added yourself.
- To take a material out of one test, go to Settings → Source materials in the test and click the cross. The material itself stays.
- To delete it altogether, open the material on the Source materials page and choose Actions → Delete.
Examplary doesn't warn you when a material is still used in a test. Once it's deleted, the AI no longer uses it for new questions. So open the material first and check which tests and practice spaces it belongs to.
Troubleshooting
I get the message "File is too large". Files can be up to 50 MB. Upload only the chapters you need from a book, or make the PDF smaller.
It says "Failed to process file". Upload the file again. If that doesn't work, save it as a PDF and try once more.
My material isn't listed under Existing material. Only materials that have finished processing show up there. Wait until Processing in the background... has gone.
I don't see the option to select a chapter. The option only appears in a test or practice space, for a PDF of at least ten pages with at least two chapters Examplary recognized.