WeBWorK is online mathematics and science assessment software. If you are being directed here it is because you are using it with one of your courses. This page provides some basic information for all students for WeBWorK.
Your instructor will provide one or more tool links to WeBWorK directly on the UR Courses page for your course. Your instructor will set things up in one of two ways:
Note that the only way you can log into the WeBWorK platform is through UR Courses. If you go directly to the WeBWorK server it will not let you log in. If your instructor is making individual links within UR Courses to your assignments or exams do not try to access them in any other way than UR Courses since clicking on a link may set up mark entries in the UR Courses gradebook for the assignment or exam. Alternatively your instructor may download marks directly from WeBWorK and upload them later to UR Courses. Your grades are visible directly within the WeBWorK system so you can check them there if you click on the appropriate button.
WeBWork comes with several sample homework assignments and orientations to help you learn how to use the system. Your instructor may have set up one of these to help you try out the system before doing a real assignment. Alternatively your instructors may have created their own sample assignments or exams to learn the system. Or finally your instructor may provide an introduction with their first actual assignment. Clicking on these links, even if they are of no grade value, will often set up connections between UR Courses and the WeBWorK system so it is important that you click on these even if ultimately you choose not to do the sample work.
For documentation on how to write your answers in WeBWorK, consult:
WeBWorK has a fairly intuitive interface for inputting your answers. First click on the box and start typing your answer. For more complicated entry (like fractions, exponents, and roots) there are buttons on the righthand side of the page you can use to help you. To leave an entry box, say in an exponent or a fraction, you can press tab or the space bar on your keyboard to do so. You can also click outside the box to do this.
If you do not want to use those buttons you can use * for multiplication and / for division. (In many situations the multiplication symbol is not required.) Note exponentiation is written with ^ like 2^5 for two raised to the fifth power. Functions typically are written like sqrt(x) for the square root of x. Using special characters for square root found on some keyboards to represent square root will not work. If you need to enter vectors in a single blank these are denoted by angled brackets, for example, <5,-1,2>, or, with a parameter, <2t-1,5t,1-3t>. Points written in a single blank use the usual notation (1,-1,0), for instance. Often WeBWorK will provide the vector or point notation already and you need to just fill in the coordinates.
Exact answers are preferred whenever possible, for example sqrt(3) for square root of 3 or (7/2)*pi for seven halfs time pi. When numerical answers are provided, they should be entered with at least 5 significant digits. If you enter fewer digits your answer may differ too much from the exact answer and be marked wrong.
Previewing your work (see below) allows you to ensure that you are writing something that WeBWorK recognizes and that you are not, for instance, missing parentheses that are required to make your mathematical expressions mean what you want.
Depending on how your instructor has configured the assignment or exam there will be various possibilities.
In the case of a homework assignment you may be allowed several attempts to succeed at a problem. The problem will tell you how many attempts you will get on the problem. Alternatively, if your instructor has assigned you a quiz or test with WeBWorK the behaviour is slightly different than a homework assignment. Multiple questions may appear on the same page (depending on how the exam has been configured). If there are multiple pages you can navigate between them at the top of the exam. For a quiz/exam format you will enter your answers and then at the end you must submit the exam for grading.
Also the homework or exam will have time constraints of when it is available and how long you have to write it. This information will be visible in WeBWork but you should consult any instructions your instructor has given in UR Courses or by email as well. If you get errors when you try to access an assignment or exam directly from UR Courses it is possible it is not open yet within WeBWorK or it has already closed. You do not need to complete an assignment all at once. For an assignment that is open for an extended period of time you can go in and out of the assignment throughout that time to work on the assignment. As long as the assignment is still open and you have attempts left on a problem you can keep working on it.
In general proceed as follows:
Note: WeBWorK will store your answers as you complete the work, especially if you hit the Preview My Answers button. In this way if you lose your connection you should be able to reconnect and not lost any of your input.
Also note that if you are being given an exam the exam is only submitted once you have finally hit the Grade Test button. After that changes cannot be made to the exam. If you do not hit the Grade Test button before your exam time expires you will receive no marks on the exam. You will be given warnings to enter Grade Test as you are running out of time. Finally it may be that your instructor will want you to submit written work for your exam to UR Courses. You must follow the instructions given to you by your instructor.
Additional documentation can be found at
Some of this documentation may not apply to you as WeBWorK is directly integrated into the UR Courses system.