Socratic mode changes how a tutor responds. Rather than handing over an answer, it guides a student towards it with questions. There are four levels, so you can pick how much of the thinking the student does.
Setting a level
1. Open your tutor from My Library (or Tutors in the sidebar).
2. Click Tutor settings in the top right.
3. Scroll to Socratic mode and choose a level. Each tab shows a one-line summary and a tick list. Treat the tick list as a rough guide: the descriptions below are what the tutor is actually told to do.
4. Click Save changes in the top right.
The four levels
Off. Direct answers and full solutions, with no Socratic questioning.
Guided. Gives part of the answer, or does part of the working, then asks a question so the student fills in the rest. It never does a whole calculation, and when a student offers an answer it checks it without giving away the correct one. (The tick list on this tab says it does calculations and answers directly. In practice it stops partway.)
Adaptive. Our recommendation for most tutors. It starts with questions only. If a student is trying but stuck, it moves to partial answers, then back to questions once they are moving again. It never gives a full solution, and if a student just keeps asking for the answer it stops giving hints and encourages them to have a go.
Socratic. Purely Socratic: one question per reply. It never answers directly or does calculations, though it will give a fact, formula or definition the student could not work out alone.
For help choosing, see Which Socratic Mode is right for me? For every other setting on the page, see Tutor Settings Guide.
Test it
Go back to the tutor and click New chat. Settings changes do not apply to a conversation that is already running, so always start a fresh chat to see them.