Prepare for an exam

Use the Study tab to map an exam’s topics from your course and practice exam-style questions until each topic is solid.

The Study tab helps you prepare for a specific exam in a course. You tell Polya what the exam covers. Polya suggests a list of topics from your course materials and writes practice questions in the style of your instructor’s. You answer first, then see a worked solution with the pages it comes from. Topics you’re shaky on keep coming back until they stick.

Before you begin

• Add the course and wait for most of its materials to be ready. Practice questions are written from your materials, so the more Polya has read, the better they match your class.
• Optional: upload the exam’s formula sheet and past exams if they aren’t in Canvas or on the course website.
• Optional: have your instructor’s description of what the exam covers, and a few past quiz or homework questions, ready to paste.

Add an exam

1. Open the Study tab

   Open the course, then select Study. You see Prepare for an exam.

2. Name the exam and set the date

   Under What are you studying for?, enter a name in Exam, like “Final” or “Midterm 2”. Optionally, pick a Date.

3. Paste what it covers

   In What it covers, paste your instructor’s announcement or list the chapters. This is optional, but it keeps practice on what matters.

4. Paste example questions

   In Example questions, paste a few past quiz or homework questions. This is optional. Practice questions then match how your instructor asks.

5. Add the exam

   Select Add exam.

   The exam’s page opens. Polya has already marked files in the course that look like a formula sheet or a past exam, based on their names.

Your exams are listed on the Study tab under Your exams, each with how far away it is, like In 12 days, and how many topics it has.

To change an exam’s name, date, scope, or example questions later, open the exam and select Edit details. Then select Save changes.

Mark the formula sheet and past exams

Practice follows your formula sheet’s notation and your past exams’ style. Check that Polya marked the right files.

1. On the exam’s page, find Formula sheet & past exams.
2. To add a file, select + Mark a file. Choose the file in Choose a file…, choose Formula sheet or Past exam, and then select Mark.
3. To remove a file from the list, select Unmark next to it.

Only files that are ready on the Materials tab can be marked. Marking a file doesn’t change or move it.

Build the topic map

1. Suggest topics

   On the exam’s page, under Map out this exam, select Suggest topics.

   Polya shows Reading your course… while it reads your scope note, formula sheet, past exams, and course files. It then lists the topics to study, in order, each with a short summary and its key formulas.

2. Edit the map

   The map is yours to change. Select Edit next to Topics, then:

   • Rename a topic by editing its name.
   • Reorder topics with the up and down arrows.
   • Remove a topic with Remove.

   Select Done when you’re finished.

3. Add your own topics

   In Add a topic, type a topic name, like “Poisson approximation”, and select Add. You can add topics without asking Polya to suggest any.

Suggest topics is available only while the exam has no topics. If you want Polya’s suggestions, ask for them before you add your own.

If Polya says Polya couldn’t find clear topics for this exam. Try adding the scope or marking the formula sheet., select Edit details and fill in What it covers, or mark the formula sheet. Then try again.

Practice

You can practice your weakest topics across the whole exam, or one topic at a time.

• To practice your weak spots, select Practice my weak spots. Polya starts with the topics you’re shakiest on, then moves to topics you haven’t started.
• To practice one topic, select Practice next to that topic.

1. Read the question

   Polya shows one question at a time. A question can have several parts, labeled (a), (b), and so on.

   If Polya has no unanswered questions left for the topic, it writes new ones. You see Writing new questions from your course materials and checking every answer. This takes about a minute.

2. Answer every part

   Each part is one of three types:

   • Number: type a number or an expression, like C(10,3)*0.5^10. Polya shows what an expression works out to as you type, like = 0.1172.
   • Multiple choice: pick one option.
   • Select all that apply: pick every option that’s true. The right answer can be none of them.

   When every part has an answer, select Check my answer.

3. Read the result and the worked solution

   Each part shows Right or Not quite. For a number, Polya shows the answer. For choices, it marks the Correct option and Your pick.

   Below that, the Worked solution explains the answer with citations to your course materials. Select a citation to open the source.

4. Move on

   Select Next question. To skip a question without answering, select Skip for now. To return to the exam page, select ← Topics.

How answers are checked

Polya checks your answer with fixed rules, not with AI, so the same answer always gets the same result.

• A number is right if it’s within 1% of the answer.
• A multiple-choice part is right if you picked the correct option.
• A select-all part is right only if you picked exactly the correct options.

A question with several parts counts toward your progress by the share of parts you got right.

How questions are written

Polya writes each question from your course materials and the exam details you gave it. Before showing you a question, Polya checks its answer with fixed rules and solves the question a second, separate time. It keeps the question only when both answers agree. Questions can still have mistakes, so report any that look wrong.

Writing expressions

In a number answer, you can use the following:

Use	Write
Add, subtract, multiply, divide	+, -, *, /
Powers	^ or **, like 0.5^10
Factorial	5! or fact(5)
Combinations	C(10, 3), choose(10, 3), or binom(10, 3)
Permutations	perm(5, 2)
Square root, absolute value	sqrt(2), abs(-3)
Natural log, exponential	ln(2) or log(2), exp(2)
Standard normal probability	Phi(1.96)
A sum	sum(k, 0, 3, k^2) adds k^2 for k from 0 to 3
Constants	pi, e

Use * between numbers and names, like 2*pi. If Polya can’t work out your expression, it says why under the box, for example Check the parentheses.

Get help with a question

After you answer, you have two options below the worked solution:

• Talk it through with Polya → opens the course’s Chat tab with the question and your answer already in the box. Edit it if you like, then send it. Polya chats under the course’s study mode.
• Report a problem with this question lets you say what’s wrong, for example that the answer looks off or that it isn’t on the exam. Add an optional note and select Send report. Polya shows Thanks — this question won’t come up again.

Track your progress

Each topic on the exam page shows a status:

Status	What it means
Not started	You haven’t answered a question on this topic yet.
Needs work	You’ve gotten less than half of your recent answers right.
Getting there	You’re in between.
Solid	You’ve gotten at least 80% of your recent answers right, across at least three answers.

“Recent” means your last six answers on that topic. Below each topic, Polya shows how many questions you’ve answered and your recent accuracy. The top of the exam page shows how many topics are solid and how many questions you’ve answered in total.

Missed questions come back

When you miss a question, it comes back for another try after at least a day, so you practice it after some time has passed. Polya serves missed questions that are due before it writes new ones.

Limits

Writing questions and suggesting topics take the most work, so they have daily limits. Answering questions doesn’t.

Message	What it means
That’s today’s limit for new questions. Questions you missed will still come back for review.	You’ve asked for new questions about eight times today. Try again tomorrow.
You’ve set up topics several times today. Try again tomorrow, or add topics yourself.	You’ve selected Suggest topics about six times today.
You’re going quickly. Take a short break and try again in a little while.	You’ve done a lot in the last hour.
Polya can’t write new questions right now. Things are busier than usual, so try again in a little while. Questions you’ve already started are still here.	Polya is under heavy use. Try again later.
Polya couldn’t write a question it was sure of for this topic. Try again, or practice another topic.	No new question passed Polya’s checks. Select Try again, or pick another topic.
Writing questions took longer than expected. Please try again.	Select Try again.

You can’t delete an exam yet. To remove a course’s exams, you’d need to remove the whole course, which also removes its materials and conversations. See Remove a course.

Related

Manage materials

Upload formula sheets and past exams.

Ask questions

Talk through a practice question in chat.