What can your instructor grade in ALEKS?
Any mix of the assignment types below. McGraw Hill’s ALEKS gradebook guide shows them as filter categories (Objectives, Scheduled Knowledge Checks, Homework, Quizzes, Tests, Pie Progress Goals, Time Goals and Topic Goals), and it calls Gradebook Setup the place “where you can set up your categories and weighting.” Two classes that both use ALEKS can grade it very differently, so your syllabus is the final word.
| Assignment type | What it measures | How the score works |
|---|---|---|
| Time goal | Time logged in ALEKS over a period | Time logged ÷ the goal. McGraw Hill’s example: 126 of 180 minutes is 70%. |
| Topic goal | Topics learned over a period | Topics learned ÷ the goal. McGraw Hill’s example: 11 of 12 topics is 92%. |
| Pie Progress Goal | How full your pie is by the due date | Partial credit by percentage, or all or nothing. It keeps the highest level you reached. |
| Objective | The goal topics in that Objective | Goal topics count toward the grade. ALEKS may route you through prerequisite topics first. |
| Homework, quizzes, tests | Assignments your instructor builds | Scored per assignment, then weighted by category. |
| Scheduled Knowledge Check | What you know on the day you take it | Set by your instructor. See how ALEKS Knowledge Checks work. |
One detail in the gradebook trips people up. McGraw Hill’s guide says scores in italics mean “the due date hasn’t passed yet, therefore they aren’t part of the grade.”
How do ALEKS time goals work?
Your instructor sets a number of hours for a period, and your score is the share of it you log. In McGraw Hill’s grading sheet for schools, the goal is 3 hours a week and the student logged 2 hours 6 minutes:
- Convert both to minutes: 3 hours is 180 minutes, and 2 hours 6 minutes is 126 minutes.
- Divide the time logged by the goal: 126 ÷ 180 = “70% or 7 points.”
The sheet then adds the caveat quoted at the top of this page: time doesn’t show how much you got done, so it suggests grading progress as well. McGraw Hill’s time goal setup guide makes the same point. It tells instructors to consider assigning topic or Pie Progress goals alongside time goals, and it warns that “students may not receive full credit for time goals if they work too far ahead in the class.” It also notes that “Time goals cannot be edited after the start date.”
ALEKS records the time either way. Our post on what ALEKS records about your work answers “Does ALEKS track how long I spend?” To plan a week, McGraw Hill’s student deck points you to Reports, then the Progress History tile and View All, where a “Topics Learned per Hour” column shows your own rate. Its general FAQ says most students “should plan to spend at least 40 hours in ALEKS to complete a course.”
How are topic goals and Pie Progress Goals scored?
A topic goal is a count, and a Pie Progress Goal is a snapshot. In McGraw Hill’s grading sheet, the instructor sets a goal of 12 topics for the week and the student learned 11, so “11 ÷ 12 = 92% or 9 points.”
A Pie Progress Goal works differently. A McGraw Hill implementation manager, writing on the company’s higher-ed blog in May 2024, calls it “a snapshot of the student’s progress in the adaptive content of your course.” What that post says about it:
- You don’t open it. The post says “students can’t click on a Pie Progress Assignment to begin like traditional assignments.” It grows as you learn topics.
- It keeps your best level. Your mastered count can go up and down after a Knowledge Check, but “Pie Progress reports the highest water mark for learning.”
- It counts learned and mastered topics. The post’s sample scores are “the combined total of learned and mastered topics.”
- It is scored on the due date. “At the due date, a score will be recorded.”
McGraw Hill’s setup guide lets the instructor choose a Grading Policy of “Partial Credit by Percentage or All or Nothing,” so a 70% pie against an 80% goal could earn partial credit or none, depending on that setting. The blog post adds one contrast: “Module grades only include learned topics that occur before the due date.”
Some schools also grade retention. McGraw Hill’s sheet describes a Progress Retention Grade: topics mastered on the latest Knowledge Check, divided by those mastered on the previous one plus topics learned since. Its example is 275 ÷ (259 + 21), a 98% retention grade.
How are ALEKS Objectives graded?
On the goal topics in that Objective. McGraw Hill’s student deck, Managing your Time with ALEKS, says goal topics “are the topics that count toward your current Objective assignment grade,” and it shows how to list them:
- In Learning Mode, click the blue tab to open the topic carousel.
- Click Filters in the upper-right corner.
- Tick the Goal Topic box. Goal topics carry a diamond icon.
The deck adds a warning: “There may come a point where ALEKS will want you to work on essential, prerequisite topics first before finishing up goal topics.” Those prerequisite topics are the usual reason an Objective grade stalls.
Why is my ALEKS pie or grade not moving?
Usually because the topics you are learning don’t count toward the assignment you are watching. McGraw Hill names this case in its student deck as Situation Two: “You are working in ALEKS and learning topics, but your grade for your current Objective assignment doesn’t seem to change.” Its answer is that “you may have some essential, prerequisite topics from a previous Objective assignment that you need to complete first.” Other causes McGraw Hill documents:
- Locked topics. McGraw Hill’s student FAQ says topics “remain locked until the necessary prerequisite topics have been learned.” A slice can show 8 of 10 topics learned with nothing left to work on, because “the two remaining topics have prerequisite topics in other slices that must be learned first.” Work in other slices.
- The topic isn’t learned yet. ALEKS uses points: one for a correct answer, two for two correct in a row without the Explanation page, minus one for a wrong answer, never below zero. At five points the progress indicator fills and the topic is learned. Until then the pie doesn’t change.
- A Knowledge Check took topics back. Topics you didn’t retain can return to Remaining, so the counter in the middle of the pie can drop. Our guide on why your ALEKS pie can go down walks through it.
- The score isn’t due yet. Italic gradebook scores are not part of the grade until the due date passes.
How long does ALEKS take to update?
The pie updates as you work, assignment scores are recorded on the due date, and LMS grades move when a sync runs. McGraw Hill’s ALEKS FAQ says pie progress “can be reviewed in real time by selecting a pie slice,” and its student FAQ says the Timeline “is updated with real-time information” as topics are learned or lost. For a Pie Progress Goal, the May 2024 post says: “If you’ve paired with your LMS, the scores will populate in the LMS gradebook.”
The McGraw Hill pages we read give no fixed sync delay. Its gradebook guide says instructors see a sync status that shows “when a sync is in progress and when the last sync occurred,” so your instructor can check that time for you. If an ALEKS score never reaches Canvas or another LMS, McGraw Hill’s February 2025 implementation post names a common cause. For grades to flow over, students “need to have registered for the class by clicking on the ALEKS LTIA link,” and students who signed up “on ALEKS.com with a course code instead of through your LMS” are “unpaired.” The same post says that by default “all ALEKS assignments will send to your LMS as a score out of 10 points.”
For how ALEKS’s adaptive pie compares with assigned problem sets, see MyMathLab vs ALEKS.
Where Silent Student fits
We make Silent Student, a desktop app for Mac and Windows from El Dorado Ignition LLC. On ALEKS it works Learning Mode topics with a general screen-reading agent, does not take Knowledge Checks, and cannot change how your instructor grades. McGraw Hill’s Terms of Use, last updated October 16, 2026, bar using any “AI agent” to “view, complete, answer, or submit any assessment, assignment, or other activity, unless otherwise authorized in writing by McGraw Hill”; in our reading that reaches Silent Student, and your school’s academic-integrity policy also applies. More: Silent Student on ALEKS.
Questions people ask
How is ALEKS graded?
However your instructor sets it up. They choose from time goals, topic goals, Pie Progress Goals, Objectives, homework, quizzes, tests and scheduled Knowledge Checks, and weight the categories in Gradebook Setup.
How is an ALEKS time goal calculated?
Time logged divided by the goal. In McGraw Hill’s example, 2 hours 6 minutes against a 3-hour weekly goal is 126 ÷ 180 minutes, or 70%.
What is an ALEKS Pie Progress Goal?
A snapshot of how full your pie is, scored on the due date. McGraw Hill says it reports the highest level of learning you reach and counts both learned and mastered topics.
Why isn’t my ALEKS Objective grade going up?
You may be working prerequisite topics from an earlier Objective. Only goal topics, marked with a diamond, count toward the current Objective grade. Filter the topic carousel by Goal Topic to see them.
Why are some of my ALEKS scores in italics?
The due date hasn’t passed. McGraw Hill’s gradebook guide says italic scores aren’t part of the grade yet.
Can working ahead in ALEKS cost me points?
On time goals it can. McGraw Hill’s setup guide says students may not receive full credit for time goals if they work too far ahead in the class.
Sources
All fetched and checked October 20, 2026 unless a line says otherwise.
- Grading and Motivation in ALEKS (McGraw Hill, PDF written for schools)
- Managing your Time with ALEKS (McGraw Hill, ALEKS Training Series for students, PDF)
- Ask An ALEKS Implementation Manager: Understanding Pie Progress (McGraw Hill higher-ed blog, May 1, 2024)
- The ALEKS Gradebook (McGraw Hill, ALEKS Training Series, PDF)
- New ALEKS Time Goal (McGraw Hill ALEKS support, PreK-12 instructor guide)
- Set a New ALEKS Pie Progress Goal (McGraw Hill ALEKS support, PreK-12 instructor guide)
- ALEKS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Students (McGraw Hill ALEKS support)
- ALEKS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (McGraw Hill ALEKS support)
- Ask an ALEKS Implementation Manager: Using LMS Grade Sync (McGraw Hill higher-ed blog, February 1, 2025)
- McGraw Hill Terms of Use (last updated October 16, 2026)
How this guide was made. We read each McGraw Hill page and PDF listed above on October 20, 2026 and quote them directly. The worked numbers are McGraw Hill’s own examples. Several sources were written for K-12 schools, and a college course can be set up differently, so check your syllabus. We wrote the guide with AI assistance and checked each quote against its source.
Related guides: Why is my ALEKS class on hold? · How do ALEKS Knowledge Checks work? · Is there an ALEKS answer key? · MyMathLab vs ALEKS · All guides · ALEKS · Weighted grade calculator
Written by the company that makes Silent Student. Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by McGraw Hill. ALEKS and McGraw Hill are trademarks of their owners.