Assignment Settings

Before generating assignments, you can configure settings that control how the algorithm distributes students across classes. These settings affect class size limits and gender balance targets.

Max Students per Class

This setting defines the maximum number of students that can be placed in any single class. The algorithm will not exceed this limit when distributing students.

The default value is calculated automatically based on your total student count and number of classes, ensuring an even split.
You can increase the cap to give the algorithm more room to optimize for other factors like preferences and scale balance.
Setting the cap too low may prevent the algorithm from finding a valid assignment, especially when combined with pre-assignments.

Gender Balance Threshold

The gender balance threshold controls the maximum allowed difference between the number of boys and girls in each class. A lower threshold means stricter gender balance enforcement.

Example: A threshold of 3 means no class can have more than 3 more boys than girls, or vice versa.
A threshold of 0 requires perfectly equal gender distribution, which may only be possible when total boy and girl counts divide evenly across classes.
Setting the threshold too low with an uneven overall gender ratio can cause generation to fail. If this happens, try increasing the threshold.

How Settings Affect the Algorithm

The algorithm uses your settings as boundaries during generation:

Max students per class acts as a hard cap — no class will have more students than the specified limit.
Gender balance threshold is enforced as a constraint — the algorithm rejects arrangements that violate the threshold.
Together with restrictions and pre-assignments, these settings define the feasible solution space. The tighter your constraints, the fewer valid arrangements exist.

Recommended Defaults vs. Custom Tuning

For most schools, the default settings work well out of the box. Here are guidelines for when to adjust:

Start with defaults. Run a generation first with the default values and review the results. Only adjust if the output doesn't meet your needs.
Increase the class size cap if you have many pre-assignments or restrictions that limit flexibility.
Relax the gender threshold if your student population has a significant gender imbalance — requiring strict balance with uneven numbers is often impossible.
Tighten settings gradually. If you want stricter constraints, adjust one setting at a time and re-generate to see the effect.