Stuck on a maths question?

Don't just get the answer. Find out why you're stuck.

You can get the answer to any question in about four seconds. That is not the problem. The problem is the next question, which looks different and gets you again.

Almost every maths question sits on top of something else. When you can't do one, it's usually not the topic on the front of the exercise — it's something further down that nobody checked.

What actually happens

How it works

1. Send the question you're stuck on

   A photo of the page is best — typing maths out loses the powers and the fractions. If you tried something and it didn't work, send that too. It helps.

2. Answer a few short ones

   Usually about six, multiple choice. They get simpler, not harder — each one checks something the last one sat on. "I don't know" is always there, and picking it is more useful than guessing. Nothing is marked and nothing is saved against you.

3. Find out what's in the way

   One thing, not a list of twelve. What it is, in plain words. A worked example. What people usually get wrong about it — which is often the bit that makes it click. And every step between it and the question you came in with, each one you can open and read.

4. Come back and run it again

   Once you've worked on it, put the same question in again. It starts from scratch, so if you've fixed it, it goes straight past and finds whatever is next. That's how you know it worked.

It won't do your homework

It never gives you the answer to the question you came in with. That's on purpose. It tells you what's in the way and what to do about it, and the question stays yours to finish.

If you want the answer, there are plenty of places to get one. This is for when you're tired of needing them.

Before you start

What it covers

A-level Pure — differentiation, integration, logs, sequences, quadratics, functions, indices and surds, binomial expansion, coordinate geometry, polynomials. And the GCSE underneath all of that: linear equations, simultaneous equations, inequalities, standard form, expanding and factorising, ratio and proportion, and fractions, decimals and percentages — which is where an A-level question surprisingly often turns out to fail.

Not trigonometry, statistics or mechanics yet. If it can't work out what your question is asking, it says so instead of guessing.

Find my gap

If you try it

Tell me if it got you wrong

This is new, and it's built by one maths tutor. If it told you the wrong thing, or couldn't read your question, or just felt useless — say so. It goes straight to me and it's the most useful thing you could send.