Direct application
The rule is applied once, with the numbers chosen to stay clean. This level answers one question: does the student know which rule this is.
ExampleFactorise x² + 7x + 12
Stage three, continued - Calibrate
The level moves while you work, not after you finish.
A practice set at a fixed difficulty is wrong for almost everyone almost all of the time. Too easy and it teaches nothing, too hard and it teaches that the subject is not for you. NYGTLYF adjusts inside the session, question by question, and keeps you at the edge of what you can currently do.
One session, four levelsAdaptive
- Level 4 - multi concept. Not unlocked yet.
- Level 3 - word problems. Recommended next.
- Level 2 - two step rearrangement. Mastered.
- Level 1 - direct substitution. Mastered.
These rungs are difficulty levels inside a single concept, climbed in one sitting.
The four levels
Difficulty here means cognitive demand, not bigger numbers.
Making the arithmetic uglier is not a harder question, it is a longer one. These four levels change what the student has to work out for themselves.
Two step rearrangement
The rule still applies once, but something has to be rearranged or a sign has to be handled before it can be used.
ExampleFactorise 3x² - 10x + 8
Applied in context
The question does not name the method. The student has to recognise the situation and choose the rule themselves.
ExampleA rectangle has area 2x² + x - 15. Find its sides.
Multi concept
Two or more mastered concepts have to be combined. This is the level exam questions actually sit at, and the level mastery is measured against.
ExampleA number and its reciprocal sum to 26/5. Find the number.
Factorising, one real session8 of 10
1Factorise x² + 7x + 12Clean
2Factorise x² - 9x + 20Clean
3Factorise 2x² + 7x + 3Three in a row
4Factorise 3x² - 10x + 8Level raised
5Factorise 5x² + 8x - 4Holding
6Rectangle area 2x² + x - 15, find sidesSign error
7Rectangle area 6x² - 5x - 6, find sidesSame error twice
8Factorise 6x² - 5x - 6Eased back one level
9Garden area 4x² - 9, find dimensionsLevel restored
10Number plus its reciprocal is 26/5Level raised
Session outcomeReached level 4 and held it. Mastery on this sub skill moved from 61% to 79%. Still under the bar, so the rung above stays closed until the next session.
Read the shape of it
The interesting part is questions six to eight, not the score.
Two misses at level 3 with the same sign error is exactly the moment a fixed worksheet would have carried on and produced six more failures. Instead the level dropped one step, the same move was rebuilt on cleaner ground at question eight, and level 3 was reached again two minutes later.
- Ease back, do not restart. The level drops one step, never to the floor. Being sent back to level 1 for two mistakes is demoralising and inaccurate.
- The error type drives the next question. A sign error produces a question where signs are the whole difficulty, not a random question at that level.
- The rung still did not open. 79% is real progress and it is not 85%. The engine does not round up out of encouragement.
The adjustment rules
Four rules, stated plainly, so the behaviour is predictable.
Adaptive systems feel arbitrary when the thresholds are hidden. These are ours.
Three clean in a row raises the level
Not two, because two can be luck. Not five, because five at a level you have already cleared is the boredom that ends study sessions.
The same error twice eases it back
One miss is noise and the level holds. The same class of error repeated is a signal that the level above your current grip was reached too early.
Time on question counts as evidence
A correct answer that took four minutes at level 2 is treated differently from one that took forty seconds. Struggle is recorded even when the answer is right.
Mastery is weighted by level
Accuracy at level 1 barely moves the mastery figure. The bar can only be crossed with work at levels 3 and 4, so a rung cannot be cleared by staying comfortable.
Why mastery is weighted by level
Otherwise the fastest route to a mint rung is to stay comfortable.
If accuracy alone decided mastery, the optimal strategy would be to answer easy questions forever. Weighting fixes that. Level 1 accuracy contributes very little, level 4 contributes most, and the bar is placed where it cannot be reached without doing work at the level exam questions actually sit at.
The practical effect is that a rung turning mint means something specific: you handled that concept inside multi concept questions, more than once, on days that were not the same day.
What the bar will and will not accept
Twenty level 1 answers, all correctRung stays closed
Ten level 2 answers, all correctRung stays closed
Eight level 3 and 4 answers, one sessionRung stays closed
Level 3 and 4 work across three sessions, 85% upRung opens
The spacing requirement is deliberateTwo sessions on separate days is the cheapest available proxy for retention. It is why a rung cannot be cleared in one long evening.
Difficulty adapts to keep you working just above comfortable. That is a deliberately slightly unpleasant place to be, and it is the only place practice actually changes anything.
Find your edge
Your first session will tell you which of the four levels you are really at.
Most students place themselves a level higher than the evidence does, and a level lower than they are capable of reaching by the end of the session. Both of those are worth knowing tonight.
Free tier stays free. One subject, a daily doubt limit, no card.
One evening, start to finishLive
Q1 to Q3Level 1, confirming you know which rule applies
Q4 to Q5Level 2 after three clean answers in a row
Q6 to Q8Level 3, eased back once, then rebuilt
Q9 to Q10Level 4, the level exam questions live at