---
title: Grade an Exercise
description: Review student submissions, move them through the grading workflow, score answers, and leave feedback.
---

When students submit exercises, their work appears in the **Submissions** tab of the course dashboard. Exercises move through a three-stage workflow: **Submitted → In Progress → Graded**.

## Grading workflow

| Stage           | Meaning                                      |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Submitted**   | Student has submitted; not yet reviewed      |
| **In Progress** | You have opened the submission for review    |
| **Graded**      | Review is complete and the grade is recorded |

Submissions are displayed as cards on a board. Drag a card between columns or open it to change its status manually.

:::info[Auto-graded exercises]
Exercises that use only objective question types (multiple choice, etc.) are auto-graded when submitted. They move directly to **Graded** without manual review. Exercises with open-ended or video questions require manual review and are flagged **Manual grading required**.
:::

## Grade a submission

### 1. Open the Submissions tab

From the course dashboard, click **Submissions** in the top navigation.

### 2. Open a submission

Click any card in the **Submitted** column. The grading modal opens showing the student's answers, a score breakdown, and a comment field.

### 3. Review and score

Each question shows the student's answer alongside the expected answer or rubric. Scores are calculated automatically where possible. Adjust individual question scores if needed.

### 4. Leave a comment (optional)

Type feedback in **Add comment**. The student can see this after grading is complete.

### 5. Submit the grade

Click **Submit Grades**. The card moves to **Graded** and the student's score is recorded.

## Grade with AI

Click **Grade with AI** inside the grading modal to get an AI-suggested score and rationale for open-ended answers. Review the suggestion and click **Accept** to apply it or **Reject** to discard it and grade manually.

:::warning[Review AI grades before submitting]
AI grading is a suggestion. Always review the reasoning before accepting, especially for nuanced or context-dependent answers.
:::

## Related guides

- [Create an Exercise](/create-and-deliver/create-exercise) — create and configure exercises
- [Create Certificates](/create-and-deliver/certificates) — certificates that depend on exercise scores
- [Course](/reference/course) — course overview including the Submissions tab