When Learners Push Back on Tassomai: How to Respond
If your child, or one of your students, has ever said, “Tassomai’s just quizzing!” or “It keeps asking the same questions!”, they’re not alone — and they’re not entirely wrong. But as Tassomai’s creator Murray explained in a recent webinar for parents, those frustrations often mean the system is working exactly as it should.
“Quizzing is the best way to learn anything — it’s retrieval practice that builds knowledge.”
Tassomai’s questions aren’t there just to test recall. Many are written in a way that teaches as well as tests. There are also links to tutorials and “Mai Explains” to provide guidance and support learning. Every response, right or wrong, helps the algorithm adapt the next quiz uniquely for that learner.
And yes, it can sometimes feel repetitive but that’s part of the learning process. Students will see a question until the algorithm is confident they’ve mastered it. Once they start answering a question correctly the interval between each repetition increases until we’re confident not only that the student can get it right, but that they can remember it weeks and months after they last saw it. That’s how real learning works: practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent.
Some students also notice questions about things they “haven’t been taught yet.” Murray explained that this can actually help — it’s called the pre-testing effect, where exposure to new ideas before formal teaching primes the brain to remember them later. Still, if it ever causes stress, teachers can adjust the content.
Finally, when students feel disheartened by mistakes, remind them that Tassomai’s quizzes are designed for learning, not judgement. Errors are the most powerful part of the process.
“Winners practice until they get it right; champions practice until they can’t get it wrong.”
Parents… try this with your child: open the app together and look at their Tree — the colourful map of what they’ve mastered and what still needs work. Clicking red or orange leaves lets them revisit questions and use Mai Explains to see detailed guidance. It’s a great way to turn frustration into progress.
The Tassomai Tree lets students see progress and where they need to focus their efforts. Click on red and orange leaves to see recent errors, then get mistakes explained by Mai, Tassomai’s AI-powered tutor.
Learn more: Explore the Tree and Mai Explains on your Parent Dashboard to see how Tassomai helps students learn from mistakes. Or read more about the science of learning and why Tassomai works.