How grounding brings your course materials into Rounds

Give your questions the context of your course

Two courses can cover the same subject while emphasizing different definitions, examples, or levels of detail. Your lecturer may explain a relationship through a particular table, or your assigned chapter may use terminology that appears again in the exam. That context is useful when you are working through a past paper.

With grounding, Rounds has an uploaded source to consult alongside the question. Its grounded-answer workflow is instructed to prioritize explicit statements in that material over broad general knowledge, including relevant tables, captions, and figure legends. The aim is an explanation that connects the question back to what you have been learning.

Choose material that represents what you are learning

Start with a relevant course handout, lecture document, or assigned chapter that you have permission to upload. The best starting source covers the topics in the paper and includes enough explanation to show how the ideas relate. A document with clear headings and readable text makes that context easier to use.

Rounds accepts text-based PDF, TXT, and Markdown source files. An exam paper and a grounding source have different roles: the paper supplies the questions you want to attempt; the source supplies the course context for answering them. Keep both in the path for that course.

• Use the version of the material assigned for your current course.
• Choose a source covering the topic of the exam you want to practice.
• Include explanations and relevant tables, rather than only a list of topic names.
• Give the file a recognizable name, such as “Physiology — course handout.”

Add the source before importing your exam

Open your course path in My Paths, go to Sources, and upload your course file. Wait for source processing to finish, then import the exam into the same path. Having the source ready first lets the exam workflow use the available grounding material while preparing its answers and explanations.

Review the imported questions, approve the practice set, and start a round. You can now study the exam questions with the context you supplied. The source stays in the path until you remove it, so you can keep the relevant material ready for later exam imports within your plan allowance.

What course alignment looks like in practice

Imagine a question asking you to distinguish two processes. Your course handout explains them through a comparison table: where they occur, what each requires, and how their outcomes differ. Grounding gives Rounds that table to draw on when preparing an explanation of the distinction.

The value is continuity. You meet a concept in your course material, apply it in a past-paper question, and revisit it in an explanation informed by the same source. That can make a study session feel more connected than moving between resources that introduce different terminology or levels of detail.

Grounding works with the material you provide; it does not add course coverage that the source does not contain. Choosing a relevant source is how you give the practice session the right scope.

Make the next round part of the same learning process

Try a short paper from a topic you have recently studied. Upload the corresponding course source first, then work through the questions. When an explanation highlights a useful distinction, return to that section of your material and explain the idea in your own words.

Start with one course, one relevant source, and one paper. It is a simple way to bring your reading and your exam practice together: the material provides the context, and each round gives you another opportunity to use it.