The AI tutor

The AI tutor is the part of ShuleOne that explains things. Where a lesson teaches the same material to everyone, the tutor responds to what you are stuck on.

What it does

Explains. Ask it about something you did not follow and it explains it again, differently, at your level.

Gives you practice. Personalised CBC practice, aimed at the topics you keep getting wrong rather than the ones you have already mastered.

Supports you while you work. A nudge when you are stuck on an activity, rather than the answer.

Reads to you. Voice narration for the early years, so a learner who cannot yet read fluently is not shut out.

Talks with a face. Whenever your tutor speaks (in an exam, the coding exam, past papers, assignments, lessons or the games) you see them talking: their mouth follows the words and their hands and head move as they speak. On a page that does not already show your tutor, they appear above the Ask my tutor button while speaking and leave when they finish.

It works at school and at home, on any device you can sign in on.

Generating a practice exam

Choose the subject and available practice settings, then request a paper. A generated paper should match the requested question count and, for a structured mock, its section counts and marks.

What’s new — 4 September 2026: stricter checks prepared for rollout

This update is not yet deployed. After rollout, a new paper must pass the structural, answerability, marking-key and safety checks before it is made available. The tutor also requires a complete review of every question. If a review cannot finish or a problem remains after the retry, generation fails instead of serving a shortened paper with those questions removed.

If you see “I could not build an accurate paper this time. Please try again.”, no new paper was saved. Try again later. A failed check is not a completed practice attempt. A final publication-check failure likewise saves no new paper.

Previously generated papers are reused for a new request only when their verification still matches the current checks and the requested settings. Otherwise, the tutor generates afresh. This update does not rewrite or repair papers already saved in your history. Existing papers without the new structured visual format keep their current access and marking behavior; the separate visual rollout hold below applies to papers using that new format.

Diagram availability — rollout decision pending

The first implementation cannot publish new diagram-bearing questions until their rendering has been verified. Diagram-free text, matching, table and data-response questions remain eligible for the other checks. A request needing a diagram may therefore fail; it is not silently replaced by a different paper. Deployment is held while this availability trade-off and the visual work are reviewed.

These checks reduce avoidable errors; they are not a guarantee that every AI-generated fact or answer is correct. Ask your teacher about a question that appears wrong.

What’s new — 4 September 2026: visual answer marking prepared for rollout

This visual marking update is not yet available. After the visual rollout, follow the answer instructions on each new supported circle or bar-chart question:

• For a labelled circle, write each letter with its part name, for example A: radius and B: diameter, on separate lines. Correct names against the wrong letters do not earn credit. Give only one answer per letter; repeating a letter forfeits credit for that letter. Partial credit is proportional to the correctly labelled parts and rounded down to a whole mark.
• For a chart asking for a value, enter one decimal number. You may omit the unit shown in the question, or write it after a space, such as 20 pupils. Do not enter a calculation, several possible values or scientific notation.
• For a chart asking for the largest category, enter the whole category name as displayed. Capital letters and extra spaces do not affect the match.

Use the same answer box; no new controls are needed. These rules apply only to the new supported visual questions, not a re-marking or repair of saved papers. Visual generation remains unavailable until its separate publication and rendering checks are ready; completion of marking alone does not enable it.

What’s new — 4 September 2026: visual access safeguards prepared for rollout

This safeguard is not yet deployed. Papers using the new structured circle or bar-chart format will remain unavailable until their rendering and result checks are ready, even when the underlying figure and answer key pass construction checks. This includes opening a paper, listening to its audio, starting or resuming a sitting, saving answers, submitting, and opening its attempt history or results. A title or score summary may still appear in your overview; that does not mean the paper is ready to open.

If you see a visual-paper unavailable message, stop that attempt and try later. Do not assume answers have been saved or marked after the error. Rejected visual requests do not change saved papers, answers or results, and this update does not repair or re-mark older papers. A paper without this new visual format continues to use the existing workflow. New diagram-bearing generation still cannot publish; there is no automatic replacement with a text-only paper.

Using it well

Ask it why, not what. “What is the answer” gets you a number you will forget. “Why is it that” gets you something you can use on the next question.

Tell it what you tried. “I got 12 and the book says 15” is a much better question than “I don’t understand”, because it can see where you went wrong.

Do the practice it gives you. It is aimed at your weak spots, which is exactly why it feels harder than the rest.

Check it. It is very good and it is not always right. If something it says contradicts your teacher or your textbook, your teacher is the one to ask.

Caution

Do not use it to produce work you hand in as your own. Your teacher can see what you did in the portal and how long it took, and work that appears out of nowhere is obvious. More to the point, an assignment it wrote teaches you nothing and the exam is still coming.

What your teacher sees

Teachers see who is stuck and exactly where — not a transcript of everything you typed, but the topics learners are struggling with.

This is the point of it. A teacher who knows on Tuesday that eleven learners are stuck on the same step can fix it on Wednesday.

ShuleTab

ShuleTab is an optional dedicated learning tablet, for schools that want the tutor on managed hardware rather than on whatever device each family happens to own.

If your school issues one, everything in this guide works the same on it. It is a device choice, not a different product.

For parents

The tutor is a good thing to have in the house and a bad thing to leave unattended.

Learners who use it as a way of thinking out loud get a lot from it. Learners who use it to produce homework get a term of good marks followed by a bad exam.

The progress view shows which of those is happening — look at whether the practice is being done, not just whether the work is being handed in.

What’s new - 13 September 2026: recommendations and learning plans

Your next learning steps appears on the learning home and within the quest library. It uses your current curriculum and recent scored sub-strand work. Where there is not enough evidence, it suggests a starting check instead of labelling a weakness.

Choose Open quest, Practise with my tutor, or Take a fresh check. The tutor opens with the selected topic and can use your recent assessed skills to guide the explanation. Quests appear only when published for your class and sub-strand. If a quest is not ready, the plan offers tutor practice and tells you what is missing.

A short plan with review dates is created automatically when you open learning. Choose Adjust my schedule if you need to change it. Additional teacher plans appear alongside your automatic plan; your teacher manages their schedule. Independent learner profiles have their own plans and scores. Switching profiles never carries another learner’s recommendations into your plan.

Fresh checks show assessed results. Repeating previously seen questions or chatting with the tutor does not count as new assessment evidence. A comparison needs a saved starting fresh check and a later one for the same sub-strand. If the starting check is missing, only the later score appears. Check retention again on the suggested date. Existing tutor subscription and grade limits still apply.

What’s new - 13 September 2026: your plan starts automatically

School students and independent learner profiles both receive Your next learning steps without waiting for a teacher or pressing a button to create a plan. Open a quest or your tutor straight away. If your starting score is unknown, take a short fresh check first. The next check shows whether your understanding has changed.

The plan suggests more support after a difficult check, or another topic after a successful one, and reminds you to check retention later. Return to the learning home after practice to see the updated steps. Three topics are shown initially; expand Review reminders and other plans for the rest. The tutor still follows your existing subscription and curriculum access. A teacher can add work, but their assignment is not a prerequisite for your own learning.