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This page walks you through your first session with Polya: signing in, bringing in a course, and asking a question. It takes about five minutes, plus the time Polya needs to read your materials.

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Before you begin

  • You need a Google account. Polya saves your courses and study sessions under it.
  • Have one of these ready:
    • A Canvas course you’re enrolled in.
    • The address of a class website, like ds100.org/fa26.
    • PDFs of course materials, like lecture slides or a textbook chapter.

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Sign in

1

Open Polya

Go to askpolya.com and select Get started, or go straight to askpolya.com/login.
2

Continue with Google

Select Continue with Google and choose the Google account you want your courses saved under.If you haven’t added a course yet, you see Bring in your first course. Otherwise, you see Your courses.
Polya signs you in with Google. The Sign in with email and password link is only for accounts that already have a password. You can’t create a new account with an email and password.
Your Polya account is your Scope account. If you already use Lectra or the Scope extension with the same Google account, you’re signed in to the same account. See Your Scope account.

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Add your first course

1

Open Add a course

Select Add a course.
2

Choose how to bring the course in

Pick the option that fits your class:
  • Use the Scope extension: if you use Canvas in Chrome and have the Scope extension.
  • Paste a Canvas access token: works with any Canvas school and any browser.
  • Add your course website: if your class keeps its materials on its own public website.
For full steps for each option, see Add a course.
3

Let Polya read your materials

Polya brings in your materials in the background. A progress box in the sidebar shows how many items are ready. You can start asking questions while the rest finishes, and you can close the tab.
You upload your own PDFs on a course’s Materials tab, so the course needs to be in Polya first. You can’t start a new course from uploaded files alone. See Upload your own files.

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Choose a study mode

Each course starts in Guided mode: hints and steps first, with the full solution after you’ve had a go. To change it, open the course, select the Materials tab, and choose a mode under How much help do you want? For what each mode does, see Study modes.

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Ask your first question

1

Open the course

Select the course under Courses in the sidebar, or select its card on Your courses.The Chat tab opens with What are you working on?
2

Type a question

In the box at the bottom, type a question about the course, like “What’s the difference between variance and standard deviation in Lecture 4?” Press Enter to send.Polya shows Reading your course materials…, then writes its answer.
3

Check a source

Select a numbered citation in the answer, like [1], to open the source it came from.
To learn more about chat, see Ask questions and read cited answers.

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Use Polya on your phone

Polya works in your phone’s web browser. On narrow screens, the sidebar moves into a menu button at the top right, and sources open in a sheet from the bottom of the screen.
To open Polya like an app, add it to your home screen. On an iPhone or iPad, open askpolya.com in Safari, tap Share, then tap Add to Home Screen.

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Sign out

To sign out, select Sign out under your name at the bottom of the sidebar. On a phone, open the menu button at the top right first.

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Next steps

Prepare for an exam

Use the Study tab to map an exam and practice.

Connect ChatGPT or Claude

Use your Polya courses inside another AI assistant.