WeBWork Cheat Sheet 2026
The 30 highest-yield WeBWork facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.
- Where can WeBWorK community members find release notes and changelogs for new versions? → The GitHub Releases page for the openwebwork/webwork2 repository
- Which WeBWork setting controls whether students can see their score immediately after submission? → Show score checkbox in set configuration
- Which community-recommended practice helps ensure WeBWorK problem randomization is fair across all students? → Setting a unique per-student seed so each student gets a different version of the problem
- A WeBWork linear algebra problem asks for the determinant of the matrix [[3, 1], [2, 4]]. What is the correct answer? → 10
- What is the recommended QA step after importing a new OPL (Open Problem Library) problem set into a WeBWorK course? → Preview each problem and test answer submission before assigning
- Which of the following correctly describes a WeBWorK 'homework set'? → A collection of problems assigned to students with open and due dates
- A WeBWork course is deployed at a K-12 school collecting student login data. Which federal regulation specifically governs the privacy of children under 13? → COPPA
- Which WeBWork report shows how many students answered each problem correctly on their first attempt? → Problem Statistics Report
- When exporting grades from WeBWork to an LMS like Blackboard, which file format is typically used? → CSV
- An instructor notices a problem has a 95% success rate but very low first-attempt accuracy. What does this most likely indicate? → Students are guessing repeatedly until correct
- What is the purpose of the WeBWorK 'Achievements' system? → Gamifying student engagement through badges and rewards
- What does the WeBWorK 'email instructor' link on a problem allow students to do? → Send a message to the instructor about a specific problem
- What is required to host a WeBWorK platform? → A dedicated web server
- In WeBWork, what does the 'reduced scoring' feature allow instructors to do? → Give partial credit for correct answers submitted after the due date
- Which of the following correctly describes the role of 'PGML' in WeBWorK? → A markup language that simplifies writing PG problems with cleaner syntax
- What is 'PG' short for in WeBWorK community terminology? → Problem Generator
- Which WeBWorK feature allows an instructor to send a message to all students enrolled in a course? → Direct email via the Email tool in Instructor Tools
- What is the primary advantage of WeBWorK's randomized problem parameters for large courses? → Prevents answer sharing between students while using the same problem template
- What is the SOAP format used for in documentation? → Organizing clinical notes into Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan sections
- What is the OSHA-required minimum illumination level (in foot-candles) for general office work areas? → 10 foot-candles
- WeBWorK's Open Problem Library (OPL) is valuable primarily because it: → Provides thousands of peer-reviewed, freely reusable math problems
- In WeBWork, if a problem asks for the answer in degrees but you enter the answer in radians, what will happen? → WeBWork will mark it incorrect because the numerical values differ
- A WeBWork problem asks for the inflection points of f(x) = x³ - 6x² + 9x + 1. What are the inflection point(s)? → x = 2
- Which open-source license is WeBWorK distributed under? → GNU General Public License (GPL)
- What is a common use case for WeBWorK beyond standard homework assignments? → Administering gateway exams or practice quizzes with randomized versions
- What is the purpose of the 'seed' value in a WeBWorK randomized problem? → It initializes the random number generator to produce a unique problem variant
- What does a bi-modal score distribution on a WeBWorK problem set typically signal to a QA reviewer? → The student population has two distinct subgroups with different preparation levels
- What PG block syntax is used to define a hint that WeBWork can display conditionally after multiple failed attempts? → BEGIN_HINT ... END_HINT block
- Under FERPA, which action requires written consent from a student before a WeBWork administrator may share their grade data? → Disclosing scores to a third-party tutoring company
- Which WeBWorK Instructor Tool provides a downloadable record of all student scores for external documentation? → Grade Exporter (Scoring Tools)
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