EdTech · EXP #02
Assessly
A lightweight exam platform where teachers create mixed-format tests and distribute them by invite code, with multiple-choice questions graded automatically and submissions organised clearly for manual review.
All experimentsProblems solved
- Creating and marking simple tests takes me too long
Context
Teachers running tests in a classroom or remote setting typically juggle spreadsheets for rosters, paper or PDF exports for grading, and no easy way to see who has actually attempted a test. Assessly set out to replace that patchwork with a single, lightweight platform built around how a teacher actually runs a test day.
The challenge
The core tension was keeping setup effortless for teachers while keeping access frictionless for students, without requiring every student to create an account. Grading also needed to feel instant for objective questions while still leaving room for manual judgement on written answers.
Research
Mapped the end-to-end lifecycle of a classroom test — creation, distribution, attempt, grading, review — and audited existing tools to find where they added friction teachers didn't need, like mandatory student sign-up before a test even started.
Insights
The key findings that shaped the direction.
Sign-up was the single biggest drop-off risk
Requiring students to register before taking a test added friction at exactly the moment engagement mattered most — an invite code removed that step entirely.
Teachers and students needed different dashboards, not different apps
The same underlying data — tests, attempts, results — needed to be scoped completely differently depending on who was looking at it.
Grading needed two speeds
Multiple-choice and short-answer questions can be scored the instant a student submits; long-answer questions need a teacher's judgement — the product had to support both without making either feel like an afterthought.
How decisions were made
- 01
Design around the test lifecycle. Structured the whole product around four stages — create, distribute, attempt, grade — so every screen maps to a moment a teacher actually experiences.
- 02
Remove sign-up from the critical path. Replaced student registration with an 8-character invite code, so a class could start a test in seconds instead of managing a roster of accounts.
- 03
Grade what can be graded instantly. Built automatic scoring for multiple-choice questions so results are ready the moment a student submits, while routing written answers to a clear manual review queue.
- 04
Scope every dashboard to its audience. Gave teachers and students separate, purpose-built dashboards instead of one shared view with permission toggles, so neither audience sees controls that aren't theirs.
Solution
A lightweight exam platform where teachers create mixed-format tests and distribute them by invite code, with multiple-choice questions graded automatically and submissions organised clearly for manual review.
- Invite-code access that skips student sign-up entirely
- Instant automated scoring for multiple-choice questions
- A submission tracker showing who's attempted, submitted, or still pending
- Separate role-scoped dashboards for teachers and students
Keep exploring
More experiments worth trying.
More time for what really matters.