WebAssign Answers: Submissions, Answer Keys & Practice Another
WebAssign shows correct answers in a few specific places, all controlled by your instructor: a View Key button that can appear after the due date, worked solutions on some questions after the due date or once your submissions run out, and the Show Answer option inside Practice Another, which gives you a new, ungraded version of a question. While an assignment is open, your tools are your submissions, the help links built into questions (Read It, Watch It, Master It) and Ask Your Teacher. This guide explains each of those, why WebAssign marks some correct-looking answers wrong, and how to get an extension the right way.
Last verified: October 12, 2026 against the official documentation linked below.
What WebAssign is
WebAssign is Cengage's online homework platform, used mostly in math, physics, chemistry, statistics and engineering courses. Your instructor builds assignments from questions that come with your textbook (or writes their own), and many questions are randomized: the numbers, and sometimes the wording, differ from student to student. Many schools open WebAssign from Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace or Moodle, but the assignment itself runs on WebAssign's pages with WebAssign's rules, so your LMS's quiz settings do not apply. If your course uses Cengage MindTap instead, see our companion guide to Cengage MindTap answers.
Two things make WebAssign feel different from an LMS quiz. First, almost everything is graded by a machine that parses what you type: numbers, expressions, units, significant figures. Second, you usually get several submissions per question, so the platform is designed for you to try, see whether you are right, and try again before the due date.
Submissions: how your tries are counted
Cengage's student guide, Submit Your Answers, sets out the basics. Answers are saved automatically as you type, but saving is not submitting: only submitted work receives credit. Each submission uses one of your allowed submissions, and once they are used up you cannot change your answers, even if the due date has not passed. Untimed assignments are not submitted automatically, while timed ones submit your answers when time runs out. Due dates follow WebAssign's server clock, not your computer's.
Your instructor picks one of three submission rules, shown at the top of the assignment:
| Submission rule | What a click on Submit sends | How the limit is counted |
|---|---|---|
| By question part | Only the answer boxes you changed | Separately for each answer box (the Details link shows the counts) |
| By question | The whole question, including blank parts, if you changed anything in it | Separately for each question |
| Entire assignment | Every answer on the assignment, changed or not | Once for the whole assignment |
The rule matters more than most students realise. Under the question submission rule, submitting a question with one part still blank uses a submission for that blank part too. Under the entire-assignment rule, one early click on Submit Assignment counts against every question. Cengage also notes that some questions add bonus or penalty points based on when or how often you submit, and that changing a correct answer and then changing it back can cost points.
Practical rule of thumb: finish every part of a question before you submit it, and on an entire-assignment rule, do a full pass before your first submission.
Practice Another: a new version, with the answer, for no credit
Practice Another is the closest thing WebAssign has to an answer key while an assignment is open, and it is there on purpose. Clicking it at the top of a question opens a differently randomized version of the same question above the original. You attempt it and click Check Score. After you have made an attempt you can click Show Answer to see the key for that version, or Try Another for a fresh randomization. Cengage states plainly that no credit is awarded for practice questions.
If you do not see the button, that is expected behaviour, not a bug. Cengage's help explains that, depending on how the assignment was set up, Practice Another may be available only after a certain number of submissions, only before the due date, only after the due date, or not at all, and it is not offered on every question.
Used well, Practice Another is the best study tool in WebAssign: work the practice version all the way through, look at the answer if you are stuck, figure out where your method went wrong, then return to your own graded version (which has different numbers) and solve it yourself.
Read It, Watch It and Master It
Many textbook questions carry built-in help links. Cengage describes them on its WebAssign discipline pages for engineering and developmental math:
| Resource | What it gives you | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Read It | A direct link to the section of the eBook where the topic is covered | Available on select questions; the instructor enables learning tools |
| Watch It | A narrated, closed-captioned video that walks through the steps of a similar problem | Available on select questions; the instructor enables learning tools |
| Master It | An optional step-by-step tutorial inside the question, with different numbers, that then returns you to the original problem | Available on select questions in some titles |
| Practice Another | A new randomized version, ungraded, with Show Answer after an attempt | Instructor sets when it appears |
| Ask Your Teacher | A message to your instructor tied to the exact question | Instructor can switch it off; not available in LockDown Browser |
Watch It is the right tool when you do not know where to start: the video solves a similar problem, so you still have to transfer the method to your numbers. Master It is the right tool when you know where to start but keep getting lost halfway, because it breaks the problem into steps and checks each one.
The answer key after the due date: View Key and worked solutions
Cengage's page on answer keys is short and precise. If your instructor allows it, a View Key button may appear after the assignment's due date has passed; clicking it shows the keys for all questions on the assignment. Two details are worth knowing:
- The key shows a correct answer, which might not be the only acceptable one. If your answer was mathematically equivalent and was still marked wrong, take it to your instructor.
- Cengage warns that if you view the answer key, your instructor will probably not grant you an extension for that assignment. Decide whether you need an extension before you open the key.
Worked solutions, available on some questions, show how to reach the answer. Your instructor decides whether they appear after the due date or once you have used all your submissions, and a solution can never appear before the answer key does. On tutorial questions, Cengage notes that skipping a step reveals the key for that step even before the due date.
If none of these appear, your instructor has not enabled them for that assignment. That is a common choice for quizzes and exams, and it is the instructor, not Cengage support, who can tell you whether keys will be released later.
Why a right answer gets marked wrong
Most "WebAssign is broken" moments are input problems. WebAssign grades what it can parse, so the format of your answer matters as much as the maths.
Symbolic and calcPad syntax
Cengage's list of calcPad syntax errors covers the usual culprits:
- No commas in numbers: 5000, not 5,000.
- Exponents use
^(2^3), not**. - Variables are case-sensitive:
xandXare different. - Scientific notation uses a lowercase
e: 1.2e15. - Parentheses only (no brackets or braces), and every opening one needs a closing one.
- No incomplete expressions (
50*), stacked operators or unrecognised symbols such as$. - Do not paste copied text into answer boxes; type it or use the pad's buttons.
When WebAssign cannot parse an answer it says the answer "cannot be understood or graded". Whether that costs a submission depends on the rule: Cengage's instructor guide on counting syntax errors says syntax errors always count as submissions under the question and assignment rules, while under the question-part rule the instructor chooses (the default is not to count them). Use the preview to check your expression before you submit.
Significant figures
Some numeric questions check significant figures, so the value and the number of digits both have to be right. WebAssign's rules: every non-zero digit counts; zeros between non-zero digits count; trailing zeros count only if you type a decimal point (500 has one significant figure, 500. has three). To give 1000 to two or three significant figures, use scientific notation (1.0e3 or 1.00e3), and do not use commas when sig figs are checked. Carry full precision through intermediate steps and round only the final answer.
Other usual suspects
- Units and signs. Read whether the question already shows the unit after the box, and whether a direction is implied by the sign.
- Your numbers are not your classmate's. Randomized questions mean comparing final answers rarely helps; compare methods instead.
- Mixed numbers. Enter them as decimals or improper fractions unless the question gives a dedicated format.
What your instructor sees and controls
WebAssign is a gradebook first. Your instructor can see each submitted response, your score per question and how many submissions you used. They control almost every behaviour described above:
| Setting | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Submission rule and limit | Whether tries count per part, per question or per assignment, and how many you get |
| Practice Another availability | Before the due date, after it, after a number of submissions, or never |
| Answer key and solutions | Whether View Key and worked solutions appear, and when |
| Learning tools | Whether Read It and Watch It links are shown |
| Syntax-error counting | Whether a malformed answer uses a submission (question-part rule only) |
| Extensions | Automatic, manual, or none, per assignment category |
| LockDown Browser | Whether an assignment must be taken in Respondus LockDown Browser |
Proctored assignments: LockDown Browser
Instructors can require Respondus LockDown Browser for an assignment, marked with a special icon. Cengage's guide to working on an assignment with LockDown Browser says these assignments open on Windows, macOS or Chromebook, but not on an iPad or a Linux/UNIX computer. While the assignment is open you cannot use other applications, visit other websites, copy or print; the restrictions end when you close LockDown Browser. Some assignments also use Respondus Monitor, the webcam add-on. Ask Your Teacher is not available in LockDown Browser, so raise questions about the format before you start.
Extensions and extra submissions
If you fall behind, WebAssign has a built-in route. Cengage's page Ask for More Time or Submissions explains that your instructor decides whether extension requests are automatic, manual or unavailable, for all assignments, some categories or none. Where allowed, open the assignment and click Request Extension; for a manual request you write a message, and the instructor can approve, deny or ask for more information. Approved extensions show a new due date, and late work may carry a score penalty.
Cengage is explicit that only your instructor can grant extensions, change a score or allow extra submissions; Customer Support cannot. And remember the answer-key warning above: open View Key only once you are sure you will not need more time.
For a question you think is wrong, or one you cannot crack, use Ask Your Teacher in the question header. Refer to the question by its name, shown on the right of the header, not its number, because question order can differ between students.
How to study for WebAssign (and the exams after it)
- Work on paper first. Solve symbolically, then plug in your numbers. It makes errors easy to find and the method reusable for exams.
- Treat each submission as information. If an answer is marked wrong, find the error before resubmitting. Guessing burns submissions you may need on harder parts.
- Use Watch It when you are lost, Master It when you are stuck midway.
- Use Practice Another as your answer key. Solve the practice version, check it, then do your own version with your own numbers.
- Build an error log. Note every syntax or sig-fig mistake. They repeat, and they cost the same points on a test.
- Review with View Key after the due date (if enabled): compare your work to the key on every question you missed and rework them without looking.
Most WebAssign courses share the problem-set style of other publisher platforms; our guides to Pearson MyLab, ALEKS and zyBooks cover how feedback works there, and if you also take online courses, see how attempts work in Coursera quizzes. For study techniques like spaced repetition and active recall, see how to study with AI tools.
Using an AI study assistant with WebAssign material
An AI explanation helps most with WebAssign when you are stuck on the concept: which kinematics equation applies, why a limit needs L'Hôpital's rule, how to set up a stoichiometry ratio. Ask for the method, then do the problem yourself with your own randomized numbers and the input rules above.
To be precise about QuizAce: it is built and tested for Canvas (Classic + New Quizzes), Blackboard (Ultra + Original), Brightspace, Moodle, Google Forms and Microsoft Forms. On other websites, including WebAssign, it falls back to a general page reader that has not been tested on that platform, and interactive formats such as graphs, embedded tools and math input editors like calcPad are out of scope. Whatever tool you use, follow your instructor's rules and your school's academic-integrity policy, and do not use outside tools on assignments that require LockDown Browser.
Practising for the course on your LMS? If your class also runs quizzes in Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, Moodle or Forms, QuizAce explains the question on the page, text and images included. The free plan gives you 5 questions a day with no card. See pricing and the supported platforms.
Sources
- Cengage Help: Submit Your Answers (WebAssign)
- Cengage Help: Questions Submission Rule
- Cengage Help: Practice Another
- Cengage Help: Answer Keys
- Cengage Help: Worked Solutions
- Cengage Help: calcPad answers that cannot be understood
- Cengage Help (instructors): Count responses with syntax errors as submissions
- Cengage Help: Answering numerical questions that check significant figures
- Cengage Help: Ask for More Time or Submissions
- Cengage Help: Ask Your Teacher for Help With a Question
- Cengage Help: Work on an Assignment with LockDown Browser
- WebAssign: Engineering content (Read It, Watch It)
- WebAssign: Developmental Math content (Watch It, Master It)
FAQ
How do you see answers on WebAssign?
During an assignment, use Practice Another: after attempting the practice version you can click Show Answer. After the due date, a View Key button may appear if your instructor allows it, along with worked solutions on some questions.
Why is there no Practice Another button on my question?
Your instructor controls it. It may appear only after a number of submissions, only before or only after the due date, or not at all, and not every question supports it.
Can I get an extension after viewing the WebAssign answer key?
Probably not. Cengage warns that instructors will probably not grant an extension once you have viewed the key. Request the extension first.
Does a syntax error use up a WebAssign submission?
Under the question or entire-assignment rule, yes. Under the question-part rule it depends on your instructor's setting; by default it does not count.
Why was my WebAssign answer marked wrong when it was right?
Usually input format: commas in numbers, the wrong number of significant figures, a capital variable, missing parentheses or a unit mismatch. If it was genuinely equivalent, use Ask Your Teacher and name the question.
Can Cengage support give me more submissions?
No. Only your instructor can grant extensions, change scores or allow extra submissions.
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