A Beginner’s Primer to UTexas Online Homework
1) Getting started:
Get yourself an UT EID account using the instructions at https://quest.cns.utexas.edu
a. Click on I need a UT EID on the right side of the page.
b. You should be redirected to https://idmanager.its.utexas.edu/eid_self_help/
Click on Continue
c. The next page wants to know your relationship with the University of Texas. Choose ‘No’ for all four questions then choose
Continue
d. Fill out ONLY the following personal information. It is a sample form if Matthew Hogan was a student in the class and since he
has a middle name he includes it in the fields. It’s not absolutely necessary, but if you have a middle name I would
recommend you do the same.
i) First Name: Matthew
ii) Middle Name: Temple
iii) Last Name: Hogan
iv) Date of Birth: Jul 3rd 1998
v) City or Town of Birth: Oak Forest
vi) State: IL
vii) Country of Birth: United States
viii) Email Address: OneRepublicBoy@gmail.com
ix) Confirm Email Address: OneRepublicBoy@gmail.com
e. After clicking continue your next page requests three password reset questions.
Answer the following sample questions then hit continue:
1) What was your favorite sport as a teenager?
2) What is your favorite color?
3) How many brothers and sisters do you have?
MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER YOUR ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS!! THIS IS A SECURITY TOOL IF YOU HAPPEN
TO EVER FORGET YOUR PASSWORD IN THE FUTURE!!
f. The next page wants your account password. Create at least an 8 character password and give yourself a password hint
g. We’re finally at the confirmation page! Check all of your personal info to make sure everything is accurate, then hit
Create My UT EID
h. The screen should now display your new EID which contains your initials followed by random numbers. When Matthew did his
with the given information listed above, the system developed the EID login mth987
i. All done!! You should now know your new EID and password. Commit both to memory or write them both down someplace safe
in your notebook RIGHT NOW!! The EID Login and its password controls a part of your grade in Hogan’s Physics class.
2) Add yourself to Mr. Hogan’s online class.
Connect to the UTexas website at: https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/student Click Login to Quest and enter your new EID and
password to the respective fields.
a. The next page is a legal agreement, such that your future actions won’t jeopardize your benefit nor the benefit of your peers or
the Quest community. Click I Agree to continue on.
b. Once connected click on Enroll in new course in the middle of the of the column on the left.
c. For the Unique Course Number, type in the number _______ and click Lookup Course info.
d. Under Courses Found select (OakForest HS) and you should see your respective class, with Mr Hogan’s name and class
hour listed. Click on Request Enrollment.
e. On your screen you’ll notice the message Your instructor will process the enrollment request.
f. When Mr H logs into the system later on he will approve you for the course. He will email you when you are officially in the
course, if you provided the system with an email address. Congrats!
3) Getting a Homework Assignment:
Once you are fully enrolled you may download your assignment [Note: It is best to do this ASAP after any homework is assigned!]
a. Connect to the UTexas Homework service at https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/student using your EID and password.
b. Click on the correct class number in the middle of the web page.
c. Click on your first homework assignment PrePhysics Math. To do this, you’ll need the application Adobe
Acrobat to read the PDF file (Most browsers come with this, if not you’ll have to download it from Google Search).
d. Your assignment should open up automatically. Click on Open in New Window in the top left corner.
e. Print the assignment from your browser, and notice the due date and time at the top of the page.
g. You can log out now (or close your browser as you wish. The only thing you need to be online is for downloading the
assignment and submitting answers.
4) Answering Homework Problems:
This section explains how to submit answers to problems that you think you’ve solved correctly. This will sound really redundant as you have
already been in this area of the website. But practice makes perfect!
a. Connect to the UTexas Homework service at https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/student using your EID and password.
b. Click on the correct class number in the middle of the web page.
c. Click on your first homework assignment PrePhysics Math. To do this, you’ll need the application Adobe
Acrobat to read the PDF file (Most browsers come with this, if not you’ll have to download it from Google Search).
d. Your assignment should open up automatically. Notice now on the right, a section is listed as My Answers.
e. One at a time, type in answers to the problems that you’ve solved in the response section and hit submit. You will be told
immediately which ones are correct by seeing a checkmark and your score will increase. If you are wrong you will see a
notice that says started, but don’t despair. You’ll have more than one attempt on a problem just don’t use all of your
seven tries on a problem at once. Also be confident that you type in answers in the correct form.
(See below about answer format).
f. Log out of the system and continue working on those problems you haven’t finished or that were incorrect upon submission.
You have until the due date listed! This is why you shouldn’t wait until the last minute to submit your answers! Start
working early and see Mr H if you need any help!
Eight General Rules for Problem Solving, and Information About the Web Homework:
1) DO NOT use sig figs. The computer grader doesn’t round as it is solving a problem step by step (it keeps at least six sig figs
throughout its calculations). You shouldn’t round during multiple parts of a problem either.
2) To be scored as correct, a numerical answer must be within 1% of the answer the UTEXAS website computes.
FOR EXAMPLE: Using F=ma, if the force acting on an object is 257.34 N, and the mass is 1.87 kg, what is the object’s
acceleration in m/s2?
[Note: You’ll always be given specific units for an answer.]
Using the equation: The computer grader gets 137.614973262
You might round your answer to 138. Would you be right? Well, the computer will accept between
136.238823529 and 138.991122995, so you’d be OK.
140 would be out of the question (and you should feel bad about rounding that much anyway!)
3) If you’re using scientific notation to answer a question, DO NOT type in something like 3.11*10^7. Use the computerese
notation a lot of calculators use already: +3.11E+07 (You can use a capital or lower case “e” and you should really put
in your plus signs (but not required))
4) Use constants and conversion factors that the homework service uses (constants shouldn’t pose a problem ; conversion
factors may, though). These values may be downloaded for viewing on the student info page (on main menu) or at
https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/student/help/view
5) You have n-1 tries on multiple choice questions (where n is the number of possible answers).
6) You have seven tries on numeric problems.
7) Every students has their own unique homework assignment. Don’t try to copy someone else’s answers.
8) You will receive all the points for a problem if you get it right on the first attempt. You lose points with each attempt until you
get it right. On numeric problems, you cannot go negative. On multiple-choice, if you take over half of the possible
choices you’ll go into the negative on your score for that problem. (e.g. If there are 7 choices, to get positive points for
that problem you need to get it right in your first 3 tries.)
Don’t let this happen to you!
Good luck on all your assignments!