Why don’t posted WebAssign answers match mine?
Because your version may not be theirs. Cengage’s Randomization page says randomizing values “helps give every student a fair opportunity to succeed on coursework, and it allows for practicing alternative versions of the question if enabled.”
The instructor side shows how far it goes. In WebAssign’s Cheating Deterrents settings, an instructor can turn Randomize Question Values on to “deter cheating by giving each student a different version of the assignment,” or off, so “All students are given the same version of the assignment.” Cengage adds that “Randomized values are not available for all questions.”
So whether two students ever see the same numbers depends on settings you can’t see. That is our reading, not Cengage’s wording.
When does WebAssign show the answer key?
Only when your instructor’s settings allow it. Cengage’s student page on Answer Keys lists when a key can appear, and the instructor page on Student Feedback settings shows the choices behind it:
| When | What Cengage says | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| In a tutorial question | “if you skip a step, the answer key is displayed for that step before the due date. This allows you to continue with the tutorial.” | Built in |
| After your first attempt | For keys “After their first attempt,” the instructor selects Always Show. | Your instructor |
| After some submissions | “answer keys might be displayed automatically before the due date, usually after a specified number of submissions.” The instructor setting runs from 2 to 5. | Your instructor |
| After the due date | “the View Key button might be displayed after the assignment due date has passed. Click this button to see the answer keys for all questions on the assignment.” | Your instructor |
| With a worked solution | “Some questions provide a worked solution that shows how the correct answer is obtained.” It “cannot display without the answer key.” | Your instructor |
Two cautions from the same pages. A key “indicates a correct answer provided by the question, but might not be the only acceptable answer.” And: “If you view the answer key, your instructor will probably not grant you an extension for the assignment.” For how submissions and the due date work, see Does WebAssign automatically submit?
Macmillan Achieve can show you a solution inside an assessment too, but clicking Skip And View Solution there forfeits your points (see Is there a Macmillan Achieve answer key?).
What are Practice Another, Watch It and Master It?
WebAssign’s built-in help, mostly practice with new numbers. Cengage’s pages for instructors say learning resources such as Read Its and Watch Its “are available for select questions by enabling learning tools.”
| Tool | What Cengage says |
|---|---|
| Practice Another | Lets you “work on a differently randomized version of the question. No credit is awarded for practice questions.” It “might be available only after a certain number of submissions, only after the due date, only before the due date, or not at all.” After you attempt it, Show Answer may show its key, and Try Another gives a new version. Instructor settings call it Practice Another Version. (Practice Another) |
| Watch It | Cengage calls them “narrated and closed-captioned videos that will walk your students through the proper steps to solve a similar problem.” (webassign.com) |
| Master It | Cengage calls it “an optional help tool that students can access at the question-level,” a tutorial “in a separate window that will bring your student through each step in the problem-solving process.” (webassign.com) |
| Read It | Read Its “provide direct links to the section of their eBook where the topic is covered.” (webassign.com) |
| Hints and feedback | “Some questions display hints after a specific number of submissions, or if your answer demonstrates a partial understanding of the question.” (Feedback and Hints) |
| Student Assistant | A generative AI assistant that “will not reveal answers, but it can provide you with step-by-step help, study strategies and supplemental resources.” (Student Assistant) |
| Ask Your Teacher | “You can send an Ask Your Teacher message to your instructor for any assignment question.” (Ask Your Teacher) |
Two notes. Cengage says “Your instructor will be able to view your chat logs with the Student Assistant.” And you can’t send Ask Your Teacher messages if your instructor turned the feature off or “if your assignment was opened with LockDown Browser.”
What is a new randomization in WebAssign?
A fresh set of numbers after you use your tries on one. The Randomization page says some assignments make you request one “after a specified number of submissions,” and “If enabled by your instructor, you might be shown the answer key or worked solution for a problem after you have used all your submissions for a particular randomization.” Its advice: “If the answer key or solution are shown, try to use those to understand how to solve the problem.” Then New Randomization gives you a differently randomized version to answer.
Mastery question sets work the same way. If you miss the minimum, Cengage’s Mastery Question Sets page says to “click New Attempt to try again with different versions of each question.”
zyBooks does something similar on some auto-generated challenge activities, which show the solution after a wrong answer and then give you a different problem (see Is there a zyBooks answer key?).
Is a WebAssign class key an answer key?
No. A class key enrolls you. Cengage’s enrollment help says “Your instructor gives you a link or class key to enroll yourself in the class.” It has nothing to do with answers.
What do Cengage’s Terms say about sharing answers?
Cengage’s Terms of Service for its higher-education platforms, last updated November 2025, name WebAssign and MindTap among the services they cover. (How the two platforms differ is in WebAssign vs MindTap.) They bar using the services “in a manner contrary to the educational purpose of the Services, such as by posting answers to test or assessment questions provided through the Services.”
Where Silent Student fits
We make Silent Student, a desktop app for Mac and Windows from El Dorado Ignition LLC. WebAssign has dedicated handling: it opens the assignment from your Canvas course, types each answer into WebAssign’s equation editor or ChemPad with the values on your screen, and presses that part’s own Submit.
- It leaves a part alone once it shows a green check or has no submissions left. A wrong answer costs a submission just as yours would.
- No free-body diagrams, graphing or drawing, and it does not take proctored or LockDown Browser tests.
- On two WebAssign-style replicas we built, not the real site, it got 8 of 8 and 16 of 16 graded parts right and submitted (scored runs, September 22, 2026, benchmark). AI can be wrong.
- Plans are $11.99, $24.99 and $49.99 a month, with no free plan. It runs on a Mac with Apple Silicon or Windows 10 or later, in public beta.
Cengage’s Terms. The same Terms bar access “through any automated means (including use of scrapers, scripts, robots, spiders, or web crawlers)”. In our reading, that reaches Silent Student. We are not lawyers, so read the Terms yourself. Your school’s academic-integrity policy applies too, and under Silent Student’s Terms (section 5) you are responsible for both.
More detail: Silent Student on WebAssign and why WebAssign marks a correct answer wrong.
Questions people ask
Is there a WebAssign answer key PDF?
Not a public one that matches your assignment. Most WebAssign questions use randomized values that, depending on the assignment, differ for each class or each student. The key that exists appears inside WebAssign when your instructor allows it.
Why are my WebAssign numbers different from my friend’s?
Your instructor turned on randomized values. Cengage’s instructor help says that setting gives “each student a different version of the assignment.” Turned off, everyone gets the same version.
Does viewing the WebAssign answer key hurt me?
The Cengage pages we read don’t mention a score penalty, but they do warn: “If you view the answer key, your instructor will probably not grant you an extension for the assignment.”
Does Practice Another count for credit?
No. Cengage says “No credit is awarded for practice questions,” but you can use them to test your understanding with a differently randomized version.
Does Silent Student work on WebAssign?
Yes, on homework. It types each answer into WebAssign’s own fields and presses each part’s Submit, and it does not take proctored or LockDown Browser tests. Cengage’s Terms bar automated access, so read them first.
Sources
All fetched and checked October 20, 2026.
- Randomization (WebAssign student help)
- Answer Keys and Worked Solutions (WebAssign student help)
- Practice Another, Feedback and Hints and Mastery Question Sets (WebAssign student help)
- Student Assistant and Ask Your Teacher for Help With a Question (WebAssign student help)
- Enroll in a Class (WebAssign student help)
- Set Student Feedback Settings by Assignment and Cheating Deterrents Settings (WebAssign instructor help)
- WebAssign for Finite Mathematics and Applied Calculus: content and WebAssign for Engineering: content (webassign.com, for instructors)
- Terms of Service for Cengage Higher Education Platform, last updated November 2025
How this guide was made. We read each Cengage page listed above on October 20, 2026 and quote them directly. The Watch It, Master It and Read It descriptions come from Cengage pages written for instructors, since the student guide doesn’t describe them. We wrote the guide with AI assistance and checked each quote against its source.
Related guides: Does WebAssign automatically submit? · Is there a MindTap answer key? · Is there a McGraw Hill Connect answer key? · Is there an ALEKS answer key? · All guides · WebAssign AI tools compared
Written by the company that makes Silent Student. Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cengage. WebAssign and Cengage are trademarks of their owners.