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Using Alternate Exercises
Using Alternate Exercises

Use different versions of CodeHS assignments in your courses

Sara Jenis avatar
Written by Sara Jenis
Updated over 5 months ago
Free Feature

Alternate exercises are different versions of existing assignments in CodeHS courses. These assignments are changed in subtle ways so that the core concept and difficulty are not altered, but a different solution is required. You can switch out assignments while keeping the layout and numbering of your course the same.

Alternate exercises are available in the following courses:

  • Introduction to Computer Science in JavaScript

  • AP Computer Science A (Nitro)

  • AP Computer Science Principles in Python

  • AP Computer Science Principles in JavaScript

  • Intro to Programming with Karel the Dog (Ace)

  • Web Design

  • Intro to Computer Science in Python 3

Example Exercise

Below is an example of an original and alternate problem description from the AP CSA (Nitro) course:

Original Exercise

Alternate Exercise

Your task is to write a program that takes the month of the year as an integer and output if it is "Spring spawning season", "Fall spawning season", or "Not spawning season".

The spring spawning season lasts from March to June (months 3 - 6). The fall spawning season lasts from September to November (months 9 - 11).

Your task is to write a program that takes the month of the year as an integer and output if it is "Spring spawning season", "Fall spawning season", or "Not spawning season".

The spring spawning season lasts from April to June (months 4 - 6). The fall spawning season lasts from October to December (months 10 - 12).

Applying Alternate Exercises

  1. Navigate to the Assignments app for your Course or Section.

  2. Click the three dots "..." next to the assignment you would like to apply an alternate exercise to.

  3. Choose Use Alternate Exercise. If the exercise does not have an alternate, the option will not be displayed.

  4. A window will pop up with a description of the alternate exercises available. Select Use Alternate Exercise to change the assignment or click the eye icon to preview the new exercises.

gif shows selecting alternate exercise pop up

Note: If students have completed the original version of an assignment before an alternate is applied, their grade will still appear in the Gradebook. However, if the student revisits the assignment, they will see the alternate version.

Still have questions? Contact our team at hello@codehs.com to learn more!

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