Send Math Homework as a Link: Students Answer Online, the Checking Is Done for You
Turn any saved worksheet into a link your student can answer on a phone or laptop. No login, answers checked automatically, and the results land in your marking page.
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Homework between tutoring sessions is where good intentions go to die. The sheet goes home in a backpack and comes back crumpled, or not at all. A blurry photo of it arrives by text late on Sunday night. Or the student shows up, sheet in hand, and the first ten minutes of a paid session go to you marking it while they wait.
Answer links fix the logistics. You send a worksheet as a link, the student types their answers on whatever device they have, most answers are checked the moment they press Submit, and the results are waiting in your marking page before the next session starts.
How an answer link works
- Save a worksheet to the student's profile as usual and open it from their history.
- In the Answer online panel on the marking page, choose which version to send if the sheet has a Version A and B.
- Press Create answer link, then Copy link, and send it however you already reach the student or their parents: text, email, your messaging app.
- Watch the status. The panel shows whether the link has not been opened yet, when it was opened, and when the answers came in.
Each worksheet has one link. It stays open for 30 days and accepts one set of answers. If you need to send the same sheet again, or you sent it to the wrong person, press Stop link and create a new one.
What the student sees
The student opens the link and sees the questions with an answer box under each one. There is nothing to sign up for and no password to forget, which matters a lot when your students are eleven. The page works on a phone as well as a laptop, and a one-line hint at the top shows how to type the tricky formats: fractions like 3/4, mixed numbers like 1 3/4, negative numbers like -5.
- Drafts are kept on the device. If they close the tab halfway through, their answers are still there when they come back.
- A confirmation before sending. The student is told how many questions are still blank before they commit.
- Instant feedback. After submitting, each question shows Right, Not quite, or Your tutor will check this, along with a count of how many checked answers were right.
That last point is a quiet win for learning. On paper, a student finds out what they got wrong days later, by which time they have forgotten how they approached it. With a link, they know within seconds, while the problem is still fresh in their mind.
The answer key never reaches the student's browser
Self-checking worksheets have an obvious weakness: if the answers are on the page, a curious student will find them. Answer links are built so that is not possible. Only the questions are sent to the student's page; the answers and the step-by-step working stay on the server, and the checking happens there after the student submits. There is nothing to find by scrolling, printing or poking at the page source.
The same server-side design is what makes the link single-use. Submitting claims the link in one step, so a double tap or a second attempt from another device cannot send a second set of answers.
What gets checked automatically
Because every question is generated from numbers, the checker knows exactly what the right answer is and what form it should take. It can reliably check whole numbers, decimals, fractions and mixed numbers, solutions like x = 4, inequalities, coordinate pairs, quotients with remainders, times, scientific notation, factor pairs, simplified expressions and powers, multiples of π, and answers with units.
It is forgiving about typing and strict about math. Extra spaces, different minus signs, x or × for multiplication, <= instead of ≤, and leaving off “x =” or the unit are all fine. But when the form is the point of the question, the form counts: on a question that asks for a fraction in simplest form, 2/8 is not accepted for 1/4, and an answer that should be a mixed number has to be written as one. That is the same standard you would apply with a red pen.
Answers written in words, the kind that depend on how a student phrases them, are not guessed at. They are marked Your tutor will check this and left for you. We tested the checker against thousands of generated questions across every question type, and for the large majority of types, every answer can be checked automatically. Whole sheets of proportions, systems of equations or factoring trinomials typically come back fully marked.
Reviewing the results
When the answers arrive, open the worksheet's marking page. A note at the top tells you the sheet was answered online and how many questions were checked automatically. Under each question you see exactly what the student typed next to the correct answer, with the mark already set.
You stay the final judge. Mark the questions left for you, and change any mark you disagree with. If a student wrote something you would accept in class, give them the credit. Your changes never overwrite the student's original answers, so you can always see what they actually wrote.
From there the marks behave like any other marked sheet. They feed the student's skill progress panel and the next review sheet, as described in Mark It, Track It, Review It. Homework stops being something you check and becomes something that plans your next lesson.
Four ways tutors use answer links
- Weekly homework. Send a short sheet after each session. You walk into the next one already knowing what stuck.
- A diagnostic before the first session. Send a new student a ten-question check on the skills their parents are worried about, and plan the first lesson from real answers instead of guesses.
- Check-ins before a test. A few days before a unit test, a short mixed sheet shows which topics still need time while there is time to give it.
- Online tutoring. If you already teach over video, students are on a laptop anyway. The link replaces the awkward step of holding a sheet up to the camera.
When paper is still the better choice
An answer link captures answers, not working. For multi-step problems where you want to see how the student set up the equation or where a sign went wrong, paper and a pencil are still the better tool, and so is sitting next to them. Many tutors settle on a simple split: paper during the session, where you can watch the method, and a link for homework, where what you most need is a quick, honest read on what the student can do alone.
Both routes end in the same place. Whether you mark a paper sheet with quick marking or let a link check it for you, the result is a marked sheet in the student's history, and every marked sheet makes the next one a little better aimed.
Frequently asked questions
Does my student need an account to answer a worksheet online?
No. The student opens the link on a phone or computer and types their answers. There is no sign-up or password.
Can students see the answers before they submit?
No. Only the questions are sent to the student's page. The answers stay on the server, and checking happens there after the student submits.
Can a student submit more than once?
No. Each link accepts one set of answers and expires after 30 days. To send the sheet again, stop the link and create a new one.
What happens to questions the checker can't mark?
Answers written in words are left unmarked and labelled for you to check. You can mark them, and change any automatic mark, on the worksheet's marking page.