Do students need an account?
It depends on the licensing model chosen by the instructor. On the student-pay model, students need to create accounts in order to acquire Workbook licenses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers regarding how MATCHA works in classrooms and supervised writing labs.
How many credits does correcting an essay cost?
AI credit charges directly reflect the costs charged to us by AI model providers, which are a direct function of token usage. The credit cost for correcting an essay depends on multiple factors, including the model and reasoning level selected, the number of words, and the number of corrections to make.
As a very rough estimate, asking the medium-level assistant with no reasoning to correct a 500-word essay that is riddled with errors can cost about 25 credits. The cost goes down to about 7 credits if there is only a mistake or two. This is because output tokens are much more expensive than input tokens, and few output tokens are required for essays with few errors.
Can I use MATCHA without proctoring?
Yes. MATCHA can be used as a local text editor with editing history. Stronger integrity guarantees require supervised workflows.
Why am I seeing "This version of MATCHA can no longer be used to edit documents"?
This message appears when your installed version of MATCHA is older than the minimum version currently required to keep editing documents. This can happen after a MATCHA update rolls out and older versions are retired. To continue editing, update MATCHA from the MATCHA menu and then reopen your project.
What file formats are supported?
MATCHA saves projects using its own .mcha file format. Documents can be exported as signed .docx files and (unsigned) PDFs (via LaTeX). MATCHA can also import .docx and LaTeX files (imperfectly).
What is the LaTeX document type used?
MATCHA uses memoir if the document contains chapters or parts; otherwise, it uses article. We plan to add support for other types in the future.
What are the .mcha-wal and .mcha-shm files I see in my project directory?
These are recovery files used by MATCHA. You should keep them because MATCHA can use them to recover changes that are not fully committed to the project file if the project is not saved properly. After closing MATCHA normally it is safe to delete any remaining wal and shm files.
How do I validate a certified .docx?
Use the "Verify .docx" feature from the File menu or the Instructor menu (on the start screen). As a convenience you can also verify an entire directory of .docx files.
Where do I create activities?
Use the MATCHA Dashboard to create, configure, and manage activities.