Tassomai is so easy and intuitive to use that you probably don’t realise what’s going on behind the scenes to build your quizzes. The truth is that there are lots of clever algorithms based on cognitive and behavioural science deciding what to show you and when… but a lot of that thinking has been hidden.

Tassomai is now going to start to show what’s going on behind the scenes...!

So, here’s a quick guide to what you’re seeing, why you’re seeing it - and how to change what you’re doing to get the most out of the program!

Quiz Selection

Tassomai decides which quizzes to show you based on several factors, for example whether you’re showing some knowledge gaps with recent errors, or showing improvement in the topic. We’re also factoring in other considerations including the date of your exam (if it’s close) and how the questions you’ve got right or wrong relate to each other, or whether there’s a video we can show you that might help. We do all this to make sure that the time you spend quizzing on Tassomai will be as impactful as it can be.

Quiz Spacing

Your performance on past quizzes helps us set the spacing interval for that topic. If you have a weaker topic, the quizzes will be short and their spacing interval frequent, allowing you to focus on a couple of key questions. That topic will repeat more often so that the material can really bed in well. As you improve, the quiz length and the spacing interval will be extended to allow Tassomai to check whether the knowledge is sinking in and you’re able to build on those foundations with new content.

Spacing is a key learning technique that Tassomai uses to build your short-term recall into solid long-term knowledge.

Question Selection

Next, we consider the type of questions to include in your quiz... a major consideration then is to look at the focus of the quiz: whether to concentrate more on repetition of recent material and correction, or whether to widen the field with new “expansion” questions. If you’re trying to complete the course, it’s these expansion questions that are worth the most points, but we release them at the right time for you - and we choose them carefully.

Difficulty

Finally, we have a think about the nature of the content we add and how it should be differentiated. We have material which is easier and designed to scaffold - i.e. help support your learning with extra information, and other content which is designed to stretch and challenge you.

Question Types

We have lots of different ways of measuring and scoring questions, and we’ve broken them into a few simple categories to help you see how and where Tassomai is helping. These questions can give you different amounts of course progress if you get them right (and can cost you different amounts if you get them wrong).

Correction Questions

If you’ve seen a question before and you got it wrong, you’ll have been shown the correct answer. This question is going to come back quite quickly as a correction question to give you the chance to show you’ve learned. These will also inform the algorithm, and may lead us to introduce some more supportive content - easier, related scaffolding questions, or a teaching video.

Confirmation Questions

Once you’ve got something right, we need to check you really know it - so we increase the spacing each time and ask you to get it right three times in a row over ever-extending time intervals. Confirmation questions are somewhere between “you got it right” and “you cannot get it wrong”.

Memory Questions

If you have answered a question enough times to demonstrate that you really know the answer, we’ll leave it in the background, but each quiz will contain one or two questions to just check an old question to make sure you still remember it. Tassomai is built to make sure everything is kept refreshed. Get a memory question right, and you won’t see it again (for a long time, at least). Get it wrong, and we’ll change the quizzes to do a bit of a refresher.

Expansion Questions

These are the ones you want to see in a quiz - Tassomai keeps adding in new content on each quiz. If you’re struggling, we might bring in a few scaffolding questions to help you build your knowledge of the basics; if you show you’re doing well, we’ll build in more challenge. The better you do in a topic, the more expansion questions you’ll see.

Want to find out the tips and tricks to get the most out of your Tassomai time? Read on...

How to interpret what you’re seeing, and work the system to your advantage!

It’s no surprise that, since Tassomai is a tool designed to get you good grades, that reading the questions, thinking, learning from your mistakes etc etc is what’s going to give you the edge. BUT….

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and guess on things you do not know. That helps the system give you feedback and build the program around helping you improve on those weaknesses.
Don’t do tons on one day and nothing else for a week. Doing a bit each day will help Tassomai provide the most efficient learning program for you, and will save you time in the long run.
Don’t make silly mistakes. If you can’t focus, come back when you can - mistakes may cost you time and progress, but beyond that, they limit the release of expansion questions.
Look at the quiz length - that’s the best indicator of how you’re doing long-term on a topic. Short spacing means Tassomai thinks there’s a problem and is making you do a little bit each time. That means short 4-question quizzes. Long quizzes of 10-12 questions means you’re cruising.
Understand the tactics with the question types...
- Correction questions have no risk, but big reward in terms of course progress. Take a second to try to remember what you selected last time and what the feedback was…
- Expansion questions, too, are a big opportunity to make course progress… but mistakes are no bad thing either. Tassomai is testing out your knowledge and if there’s a gap, this is how it works out where to go next.
- Confirmation questions are the real test - don’t mess about with these. If you get them right, you’re on your way to mastery… and they will release more high-scoring expansion questions. However, if you get them wrong and it will cost you progress points and slow down the number of expansion questions.
- Memory questions even more so…. Make a mistake on these at your peril. If Tassomai thinks you might have forgotten an old topic, then it will start testing you more on it. So don’t give it the excuse!

That’s a lot of information…. But the main thing to remember is to try your best at all times. Don’t be afraid of mistakes if you don’t know something, but otherwise, read the question, take care to answer as accurately as you can and do a bit each day, and you’ll fly through it.

Tassomai reveals all… the logic behind quiz and question selection