In Examplary, you can put formulas in your questions, have students show their working step by step with Math notebook, and let them type an answer as a formula with Formula. The AI checks calculations with a calculator and suggests points, including partial credit for correct steps. You review those suggestions and decide.
It's built for math, physics and chemistry, where the final answer isn't the whole story.
Almost everything in this guide works on every plan. Javascript needs to be turned on by an admin first. Scanning paper tests is available on Teacher and Organization.
Put a formula in a question
There are three ways to add a formula to a question's text:
- Choose Add formula in the question's menu, or press Ctrl+Shift+F (⌘⇧F on a Mac).
- Select some text and choose Formula in the formatting menu.
- Type the formula between double dollar signs, like
$$x^2 + 1$$.
Click a formula to edit it. That opens a formula editor with a keyboard for math symbols. Press Enter to close it. The AI uses formulas too, in the questions it writes and in its feedback to students.
Images, such as a circuit diagram or a graph from your textbook, can be dragged or pasted straight into the question. To have students point something out in an image, use Select point. You make those questions yourself: the AI doesn't generate them.
Have students answer with a formula
With Formula, students type their answer as a formula. When it suggests a grade, the AI checks whether the answer means the same thing mathematically as the correct answer, so 2/4 and 1/2 are usually both marked correct.
Add the correct answer on the question's Scoring tab, with Add model answer. There are no settings for units, rounding or significant figures. Put requirements like that under Additional grading guidance, for example "The answer must be in m/s, rounded to two decimal places."
With the Exact values rubric, Examplary compares the answer character by character, without AI. Then 0.5 is wrong when the correct answer is 1/2.
Have students show their working with Math notebook
With Math notebook, students write out their calculation line by line. Each line is a step, and the last line is the answer. Add more lines gives them extra lines. Under the question's Settings, choose how many lines they start with (Initial number of lines, 4 by default). A printed test shows exactly that number of lines.
In its suggestion, the AI looks mainly at the final answer, but it also suggests partial credit for correct steps. With Math notebook and Long answer, students can also photograph their working on paper with their phone: they click Scan answer and scan the QR code. The photo then replaces anything they had typed.
How does the AI check a calculation?
The AI is instructed not to do arithmetic in its head. When it has to check a calculation, it uses a calculator that also handles units. That's how it checks, for example, whether a kinetic energy of 14.9 J fits the mass and speed given in the question. It uses the same calculator when it writes questions.
The calculator works out numbers. Whether an algebraic derivation holds up is something the AI weighs up itself for its suggestion, as with any other open question. So review its suggestions carefully before you accept them, especially on your first test. How AI-assisted grading works in Examplary has more on AI grading.
If students are allowed to use a calculator, arrange that yourself.
Programming questions with Javascript
With Javascript, students write a piece of code. Under Assertions, you set the checks the code must pass, and under Initial value, the code students start from. This question type is off by default, see Managing question types in Examplary. The AI doesn't generate these questions or grade them: you grade the answers yourself.
Have the AI draw graphs
The AI can also draw graphs in the questions it writes: line graphs, bar charts and pie charts. This is still in beta and off by default. Email hi@examplary.ai to try it.
Scan handwritten answers on paper
If you give a test on paper, scan the answer sheets under Grade test, through Scan or import. Examplary then reads handwritten formulas and calculations as formulas too. This feature is still labeled Experimental, so check the answers it reads in. Scanning paper tests in Examplary explains how it works.
Troubleshooting
A correct answer in a different notation is marked wrong. The question probably uses the Exact values rubric. Pick another rubric so the AI looks at the meaning.
The AI accepts an answer without a unit. You haven't said the unit is required. Add that under Additional grading guidance.
I don't see Javascript in Add question. It's off by default. Ask an admin to turn it on.