What does WebAssign do with my answers?
It saves them, and it waits for you to submit. Cengage’s student guide, Submit Your Answers, puts the rules in a few lines:
- “Your answers are automatically saved.”
- “Your answers are not automatically submitted for untimed assignments.”
- “You can’t use the Enter key to submit answers.”
- “Each time you submit answers to WebAssign, you use a submission.”
- “After you use all of your allowed submissions, you can’t change your answers, even if the assignment due date has not passed.”
To submit, the same page says: “Click Submit Answer if your assignment is submitted by question or question part. Click Submit Assignment if your entire assignment is submitted at the same time.”
What happens when a WebAssign timer runs out?
Your work is submitted for you. Cengage’s Work on a Timed Assignment page says that when the time remaining reaches zero, “all of your responses are automatically submitted.” The same page sets three more rules:
- “You cannot pause a timed assignment after you start it.”
- Leaving early does not submit: “if you sign out of WebAssign or close your browser, your answers are not automatically submitted.”
- Your time is capped by the due date. Once you start, the due date shown is when the timer expires or the original due date, “whichever comes first.”
What happens at the WebAssign due date?
Submitting stops. Cengage says “You can’t submit work after the assignment due date, regardless of the time displayed on your computer,” because due dates “are determined by the clock of the WebAssign server, not by the clock on your computer.” Its advice: “Don’t wait until the last minute to submit your answers.”
Saved but unsubmitted work is in your instructor’s hands after that. The instructor guide, Submit a Student’s Saved Work, says “After the due date has passed, you can submit your students’ work for them.” For each question part, saved work is submitted and scored only if saved work exists, no answer has been submitted, and at least one submission remains. “Responses that cannot be graded are not submitted.” Cengage’s student pages don’t say instructors will do this, so don’t count on it.
How do WebAssign submission rules work?
Each assignment uses one of three Assignment Submission rules, which you can see under Scoring and Assignment Information. They change what one press of Submit sends and what it costs:
| Rule | Button | What one submission sends | What it costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question Parts | Submit Answer | “Only question parts with new or changed answers are submitted.” | Counted per answer box; “No submissions are used for question parts that you did not change.” |
| Questions | Submit Answer | “The entire question is submitted, including unanswered question parts.” | Counted per question; “No submissions are used for questions that you did not change.” |
| Entire Assignment | Submit Assignment | Every answer, “including unanswered questions and questions for which you did not change your answer.” | “The number of allowed submissions is set for the assignment as a whole.” |
Scoring can also depend on timing. Cengage notes that “Some questions award bonus or penalty points based on when you submit your answers or how many submissions you use,” and that “You might receive fewer points if you change a correct answer, submit it, and then submit your original answer again.”
Can I get more time or more submissions?
Only from your instructor. Cengage’s Ask for More Time or Submissions page says a Request Extension link appears “if your instructor allows you to request more time or more submissions,” and that requests can be automatic or manual, for all assignments, some categories “or for no assignments.” It is blunt about who decides: “Only your instructor can give you extensions, change your score, allow extra submissions, or help you with the content of your assignments, not the Customer Support staff.”
When does WebAssign show the answer key?
Only when your instructor allows it, or in tutorials. Cengage’s Answer Keys page lists three cases: a skipped tutorial step shows its key; “If allowed by your instructor, answer keys might be displayed automatically before the due date, usually after a specified number of submissions”; and “If allowed by your instructor, the View Key button might be displayed after the assignment due date has passed.”
How do I make sure my WebAssign work counts?
- Open Scoring and Assignment Information to see the submission rule and how many submissions you have.
- Press Submit Answer on each question or part, or Submit Assignment once, before the due date. Enter does nothing.
- Go by the due date WebAssign shows, which follows its server clock, not your computer’s.
- Start a timed assignment only when you can finish it in one sitting, because the timer does not pause.
- If you need more time, use Request Extension if your instructor turned it on, or ask your instructor.
Where Silent Student fits
Silent Student is a desktop app for Mac and Windows, made by El Dorado Ignition LLC, that works through Canvas courses and the courseware they link to. WebAssign has dedicated handling: it opens the assignment from your Canvas course, types each answer into WebAssign’s equation editor or ChemPad, and presses that part’s own Submit, so your work is submitted, not just saved.
- It leaves a part alone once it shows a green check or has no submissions left, and retries a wrong part only a limited number of times, so it doesn’t spend every submission you have.
- It cannot win back submissions you have already used. A wrong answer costs a submission just as yours would. AI can be wrong.
- 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, 22 September 2026; benchmark).
- 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 student terms for Cengage’s higher-education platforms (last updated November 2025) bar access “through any automated means (including use of scrapers, scripts, robots, spiders, or web crawlers)”. Read the Terms and your school’s academic-integrity policy before you use any automation; under Silent Student’s Terms (section 5) you are responsible for both.
More detail: Silent Student on WebAssign and Best AI for WebAssign and MindTap.
Questions people ask
Does WebAssign submit when the due date passes?
Not on its own for an untimed assignment. Cengage’s student guide says answers are “not automatically submitted for untimed assignments” and “You can’t submit work after the assignment due date.” After the due date an instructor can choose to use Submit Saved Work, which scores saved parts that have no submitted answer and a submission left.
Does closing WebAssign submit my answers?
No. Cengage’s timed-assignment help says “if you sign out of WebAssign or close your browser, your answers are not automatically submitted.” Your answers are saved, but saved is not submitted.
Does pressing Enter submit in WebAssign?
No. Cengage’s help says “You can’t use the Enter key to submit answers.” Use Submit Answer for a question or part, or Submit Assignment if the whole assignment is submitted at once.
What happens when a WebAssign timer runs out?
Your answers are submitted for you. Cengage’s help says that when the time remaining reaches zero, “all of your responses are automatically submitted.” You cannot pause a timed assignment once you start it.
Can you submit WebAssign after the due date?
Not without an extension. Cengage says “You can’t submit work after the assignment due date, regardless of the time displayed on your computer,” because due dates follow the WebAssign server clock. Only your instructor can grant an extension or extra submissions.
How many submissions do you get on WebAssign?
Your instructor sets it, and it can differ by question or part. Cengage says “Each time you submit answers to WebAssign, you use a submission” and “After you use all of your allowed submissions, you can’t change your answers.”
Do unanswered questions use a submission in WebAssign?
Only under the Entire Assignment rule, where each submission sends every answer, “including unanswered questions.” Under the Question Parts and Questions rules, nothing you did not change uses a submission.
Does Silent Student submit WebAssign for me?
Yes, on homework. It types each answer and presses that part’s own Submit, leaves parts with a green check or no submissions left alone, and does not take proctored or LockDown Browser tests. Cengage’s terms bar automated access, so read them first.
Sources
All Cengage Help pages, fetched and checked 19 October 2026.
- Submit Your Answers (student guide)
- Work on a Timed Assignment (student guide)
- Question Parts Submission Rule, Questions Submission Rule, Entire Assignment Submission Rule (student guide)
- Submit a Student’s Saved Work (instructor guide)
- Ask for More Time or Submissions (student guide)
- Answer Keys (student guide)
- Cengage legal terms, higher-education platform terms last updated November 2025
Related guides: Is there an ALEKS answer key? · How is SmartBook graded? · What happens when a MindTap assignment is late? · What happens when a Canvas quiz time limit runs out? · All guides · Why WebAssign marks a correct answer wrong · Cengage MindTap
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.