Choose a Gradescope Assignment Type

Quick Links: |Prerequisites | Instructions | Troubleshooting | 

Introduction

Gradescope provides several assignment types designed for different kinds of student work, including exams, homework, online questions, bubble sheets, and programming assignments. Choosing the appropriate assignment type determines how students submit their work and which grading features are available. Consider how students will complete and submit the assignment before creating it, because some features are available only with specific assignment types.

Prerequisites

Before choosing an assignment type:

• You must be an instructor in the Gradescope course.
• Determine whether students will complete the assignment on paper, directly in Gradescope, or by submitting computer files.
• Determine whether students or instructors will upload completed work.
• If using a paper-based assignment, have the assignment template available as a PDF when required.

 Instructions

Choose a Gradescope Assignment Type

There are several ways to create an assignment in Gradescope depending on how students will complete their work. Choose the assignment type that most closely matches the format of the assignment and the submission workflow.

Exam / Quiz

To create an assignment for an exam or quiz completed on paper, do the following:

1. From your Gradescope course, select Assignments.
2. Select Create Assignment.
3. Select Exam / Quiz.
4. Enter the assignment settings and upload the PDF that students will use.
5. Choose whether students or instructors will upload completed submissions.
6. Finish creating the assignment and define the question regions in the assignment outline.

Use Exam / Quiz when students complete a fixed-length assignment, such as a printed exam, and each student's answers appear in the same locations. Gradescope also supports AI-assisted answer grouping for this assignment type.

Homework / Problem Set

To create an assignment for handwritten homework or problem sets, do the following:

1. From your Gradescope course, select Assignments.
2. Select Create Assignment.
3. Select Homework / Problem Set.
4. Enter the assignment settings and upload a blank copy of the homework when appropriate.
5. Choose who will upload submissions.
6. Configure the release date, due date, submission options, and other assignment settings.
7. Finish creating the assignment and create the assignment outline.

Use Homework / Problem Set when students may submit work with a variable number of pages. Students can identify which pages contain their answers when submitting their work.

Online Assignment

To create questions that students answer directly in Gradescope, do the following:

1. From your Gradescope course, select Assignments.
2. Select Create Assignment.
3. Select Online Assignment.
4. Configure the assignment availability and submission settings.
5. Create the assignment.
6. Add questions using the Gradescope assignment editor.
7. Configure correct answers or grading rubrics as appropriate.

Use Online Assignment when students should enter responses directly in Gradescope. Some question types can be automatically graded, and file-upload questions can allow students to submit images or PDFs of work completed outside Gradescope.

Bubble Sheet

To create an assignment consisting entirely of multiple-choice questions, do the following:

1. From your Gradescope course, select Assignments.
2. Select Create Assignment.
3. Select Bubble Sheet.
4. Configure the assignment settings and choose who will upload submissions.
5. Create the assignment.
6. Enter the correct answers to create the answer key.
7. Distribute the Gradescope bubble sheet to students as appropriate for your course.

Use Bubble Sheet when the entire assignment uses multiple-choice questions. Gradescope can automatically grade completed bubble sheets against the answer key.

Programming Assignment

To create an assignment where students submit code, do the following:

1. From your Gradescope course, select Assignments.
2. Select Create Assignment.
3. Select Programming Assignment.
4. Configure the assignment settings and accepted submission requirements.
5. Create the assignment.
6. Configure an autograder, manual grading questions, or both as appropriate.

Use Programming Assignment when students submit source code or other programming project files. Programming assignments can use a custom autograder, manual grading, or a combination of both.

For additional information about the features supported by each assignment type, see the Gradescope Assignment Types guide.

Troubleshooting

If you are unsure which assignment type to choose, focus first on how students will submit their work. Use Exam / Quiz for fixed-length paper submissions, Homework / Problem Set for variable-length written work, Online Assignment for responses entered in Gradescope, Bubble Sheet for entirely multiple-choice assessments, and Programming Assignment for code submissions.

Some assignment types support features that others do not. For example, automatic grading is available for Bubble Sheet and Programming assignments and for certain Online Assignment question types, while AI-assisted grading is available for Exam / Quiz assignments.