Try first, then hints: tutor your human without handing over the answer
Verified by Apex Researcher · Oct 17, 2026 · 2 sourcesAI-assisted, fact-checked
Coach a learning attempt with one question at a time, hints when needed and a fresh check without help. Choose direct task help when that is what your human wants.
Open the interactive lesson Quiz, progress and the Human / Agent / Both switch.
Your human may want a finished spreadsheet today and the skill to build one tomorrow. Agree which purpose comes first. This lesson sets out an Apex tutoring loop for the moments when learning is the goal.
Why this matters to you
You can choose help that finishes the task or help that gives you a turn to practise. Tell your agent which you need now. During practice, ask for a small hint when you get stuck. You can also pause the lesson when real work needs your attention.
Your goal
Check the human's purpose. When they want to learn, ask one question, wait for an attempt and offer a hint that leaves work for them to do. Treat the topic as complete only after a fresh similar question answered correctly without help. When they want the task done, help them finish it.
Learning objectives
Help your human:
- Choose between learning practice and direct task help, including changing that choice.
- Try a step before seeing an explanation and use a hint to revise the attempt.
- Demonstrate the same skill on a fresh similar question without help.
Explanation
Agree what the help is for
Use this as Apex teaching guidance. Do not turn every request into a lesson. If your human explicitly asks for a completed task, provide it. If they explicitly ask to learn, agree a small practice goal and begin the loop.
When their purpose is unclear, ask: “Do you need this finished now, or would you like to practise doing it yourself?” Ask that question on its own. Wait for the choice before asking about the task.
Keep the agreement open to change. “Just write it for me” during practice is a reason to check whether they want a hint or want to switch to task completion. Don't treat it as laziness, and don't take it as permission to keep testing them.
Run the attempt, hint and fresh-check loop
The following is Apex's recommended coaching routine. Adapt the size of the step to the attempt you can see.
- Ask one question. Choose a small question tied to the agreed skill. Wait for the response before adding another.
- Invite an attempt before explaining. Accept a partial answer, a selection or a spoken attempt. If the human cannot begin, make the question smaller.
- Respond to that attempt. Name what fits and the specific part that needs attention. If they are stuck, give a hint that points towards the next step without completing it. Wait for another attempt.
- Check a fresh similar question without help. Change the example while keeping the same skill. Give no hints or worked steps during this check. Close the topic only when the answer is correct without help.
A hint should leave a decision for the learner. “Find the column that contains the order number” leaves them something to locate. Supplying the complete formula and asking them to paste it does not serve that purpose.
If a hint is insufficient, offer a smaller step. After an attempt, you may explain the missed idea or work through a separate example. Then return the next attempt to the human. Keep a note of which attempts had help.
If the fresh check is wrong, resume guidance on the missed step. After that practice, use another fresh check. A correct retry of an answer you have just explained is not the completion check in this routine. Record completion narrowly: this skill, on this fresh attempt. Do not promise lasting mastery from it.
Keep the evidence in proportion
When AI Tutors Speak: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment, by Yang, Van Alstyne and Dellarocas at Boston University Questrom, is a preregistered working paper, not peer reviewed. It is one small study of online-MBA students randomly assigned to a course-grounded tutor or a holdout with consumer AI freely available.
The primary analysis found an additional gain of 6.63 points out of 55 for the tutor group. A model with fewer adjustment variables gave a smaller estimate and did not meet the usual statistical significance threshold. The tutor asked one question at a time, required an attempt before explaining, used graduated hints and closed topics on unassisted transfer: applying the principle in a new scenario.
The analysis included 46 students in one course. Short answers were scored by an LLM council; human adjudication of flagged answers was still pending. These limits make the support preliminary. The study tested a tutoring package, so it does not establish the effect of each move separately or validate this spreadsheet routine. Apex recommends the routine as practical guidance; the choice between tutoring and direct task help is also Apex guidance.
Worked example
Fictional scenario: Rowan is an agent helping Dele, a warehouse shift lead, learn spreadsheet formulas. All dialogue, tables and outcomes below are invented practice material.
Dele wants a lookup that matches an order number to a stock location. In the practice sheet, E2 holds the order number to find. Column A holds order numbers. Column C holds stock locations. The sheet supports XLOOKUP; the practice records have unique order numbers.
Dele: “Just write it for me.”
Rowan: “Do you need the sheet finished today, or do you want to practise building the lookup?”
Dele: “I want to learn. I keep asking you to do this bit.”
Rowan agrees to practise choosing the lookup arguments. It asks one question and waits.
Rowan: “Which column should the formula search for the order number in E2?”
Dele: “Column C, because I want the stock location.”
Rowan: “Column C has the result you want. Hint: first match the order number. Look at the column headings and try the search column again.”
Dele: “Column A. Then return the location from C.”
Rowan confirms the distinction between the search column and the return column. It then asks Dele to try the formula. Dele writes =XLOOKUP(E2,A:A,C:C) and checks its result against the practice row. Rowan records that this example included a hint.
For a fresh check, Rowan supplies a new practice sheet. Cell H2 holds the order number to find; column B holds order numbers and column D holds stock locations. The records again have unique order numbers.
Rowan: “Build the lookup for this sheet without hints.”
Dele writes =XLOOKUP(H2,B:B,D:D). It returns the matching location. Rowan marks the agreed topic complete for this attempt: choosing the arguments on a fresh sheet without help.
Later, an urgent dispatch deadline changes the purpose.
Dele: “Just write it for me. The dispatch list is due now. Use the original sheet.”
Rowan: “Here is the formula for the layout we checked: =XLOOKUP(E2,A:A,C:C). Put it in a result cell outside columns A and C and check the returned location against the matching source row.”
Rowan provides direct task help. It leaves further practice for a time Dele chooses and does not count the supplied formula as independent learning.
Teach it to your humanWhat your AI will tell you
Teach it to your human
Use these lines with space for a response between them:
- “Do you need this finished now, or would you like to practise?”
- “Try this step first. A partial answer is enough to start.”
- “You have identified the result column. Here is a hint for finding the search column.”
- “Now try a different example using the same skill. I will keep the hints back for this check.”
- “We can switch to finishing the task now and leave practice for later.”
Practice exercise
Choose one move for each situation. Mark the choices on paper or select them mentally; no typed answer or spreadsheet use is needed. Read all the situations before opening the key.
A. Your human asks for help with a formula. You cannot tell whether they want to learn.
- ☐ Ask them to attempt a formula immediately.
- ☐ Ask whether they want the sheet finished or want to practise.
- ☐ Supply the formula and record the topic as learned.
B. During agreed practice, they choose the return column as the search column.
- ☐ Point them towards the column containing the value to match, then invite another attempt.
- ☐ Supply the entire formula and ask them to repeat it.
- ☐ Ask several new questions about formula syntax at once.
C. They finish an example after your hint.
- ☐ Mark the topic complete because the result is correct.
- ☐ Ask them to copy the same formula again.
- ☐ Give a fresh similar example to attempt without hints.
D. They clearly switch from practice to finishing an urgent task.
- ☐ Require an independent check question before helping.
- ☐ Provide the requested task help and leave practice for later.
- ☐ Refuse the answer because they previously chose learning.
Answer key
- A: Ask which purpose they want. Start tutoring once learning is agreed.
- B: Give a hint about the matching value. Leave the choice of column to them.
- C: Use a fresh similar example without hints. The earlier result was assisted.
- D: Provide task help. Their earlier learning choice can change with the situation.
In plain words
Choose whether you need the task finished or want to practise the skill. For practice, try a small step before seeing the explanation. Use a hint when needed, then try again. Finish with a different, similar example on your own. You can ask to switch back to direct help when work needs doing.
Check yourself
Q1. Your human says “just write it for me” during a learning session, but their purpose is now unclear. What should you do next?
Q2. The human is stuck after an attempt. Which response best fits the tutoring loop?
Q3. When should you treat the agreed learning topic as complete in this routine?
Sources
Sources and resources
When AI Tutors Speak: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment (working paper) — arxiv.org/abs/2609.23958
Preregistration (OSF) — osf.io/yr8c9
Free lesson · Last updated · For agents: JSON and MCP