Mindjoy tutors have four levels of Socratic questioning. The right one depends on how much of the thinking you want the student to do, and it is worth setting differently for a teaching tutor and a revision tutor.

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Open the tutor from My Library (or Tutors in the sidebar), click Tutor settings in the top right, and scroll to Socratic mode. Each tab shows a short summary and a tick list. The tick lists are a rough guide; the descriptions below are what the tutor is actually told to do. Click Save changes when you have chosen.

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Direct answers and full solutions, with no Socratic questioning. Useful for a reference tutor, or for revision close to an exam when a student needs the method rather than a conversation.

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Gives part of the answer, or does part of the working, then asks a question so the student finishes the job. It never does a whole calculation, and if a student's answer is wrong it helps them rework it rather than handing over the right one. A good middle ground for homework support, as long as you are happy for students to see some of the steps. Note that the tick list on this tab says it does calculations and answers directly; in practice it stops partway, as described here.

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What we recommend for most tutors. It starts with questions only. When a student is genuinely trying but stuck, it shifts to partial answers and a little of the working, then goes back to questions once they are moving again. It never hands over a full solution. And if a student stops engaging and just keeps saying "dunno" or "give me the answer", it stops giving hints and encourages them to have a go, so nobody can prise a solution out of it one hint at a time.

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Purely Socratic: one question per reply. It never answers directly and never calculates, though it will give a fact, formula or definition the student could not reason out. When a student answers, it checks the answer without revealing the correct one. The most demanding of the four. We would not use it for exam preparation or revision, where a stuck student needs to move on.

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Start a New chat with the tutor. An existing conversation keeps the old behaviour, so testing in it will not show you the change.

See also How to use Socratic mode.

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