How it works — who does what

The student does the maths. The teacher prints, marks and watches the report. The app does the planning.

Mainly winning, a little stretching — set up for success. The baseline places each student, exercises aim only at skills whose foundations are ready, revision keeps the wins warm, and nothing opens until its prerequisites are solid. Nobody falls through a gap.

Student

The student’s workflow

Day to day, the student only ever has one obvious next thing to do. Their home page is Today — it shows exactly that one step, and where they are on the journey.

Once — get oriented (~20 min)

Open the app and pick your name (or the teacher adds you).
Sign up: nickname, a number, year level.
Do the baseline — on screen, one question at a time (help and skip are there), or on paper if printed for you. Real questions, real answers; it just finds your starting point. Set 2 adapts to set 1 automatically. There is no pass or fail.
Answer the short “how you learn” questions.
See your focus sheet — what you’ll be working on and why.

Most days — a session of 15–120 min in ~15 min blocks

Open the Challenge Quests. Today’s theme and current block are front and centre.
Print the block (or the teacher hands it to you) and work it on paper, showing working.
Mark it: photo of the page + type your final answers. The next block unlocks and adapts to how it went.
Blocks done → the day completes → tomorrow’s theme opens. That’s it.

Sometimes

Sit a mock exam on screen. Your score is saved; the misses become a revision sheet.
Work the revision sheet on paper, then re-sit the weak parts.
Check the Mars Quest map — artefacts collected (the basic formulas), minerals mined, launch status, and how much of the Sun you're harnessing.
Feeling it? Mountain Climber, Basecamp, visuals and the graph tool are always open.

Teacher / parent

The teacher’s workflow

Light touch: set up once, then print → mark → glance at the report. Your home page is the Teacher board — per student it shows what's done, the next step and what to print.

Once per student — setup (~5 min + baseline)

On the orientation page, + Add a new student. Each student gets their own baseline, plan and results.
Let them do the baseline on screen, or print it (Print set instead) and mark from the photo — the printed page has a QR straight to marking. Marking = photo of the working + type the finals as written, not fixed. Guide: how to mark (AirDrop-shareable).
Print the focus sheet and pin it above the desk. It says what the exercises will aim at and why, and it updates itself as work lands.

Daily / weekly — keep it moving (~5 min)

Print the whole day from Today or Challenge Quests (how-to first, then all the sums). Do not print single blocks.
After they work it: photo + type the final answers. The plan adapts by itself — you never choose what’s next.
Glance at the progress report: effort bars first (is work happening?), then baseline → now per skill (is it landing?). Print it weekly if you like.

Session rule — phones & games

During the maths session: phone away (another room or drawer), silent, not on the desk. No games on the computer used for the trail.
Computer use: only the Algebra Trail pages needed for the session (Today, print, mark). Close tabs with games, chat, video, or social feeds before you start.
After the day is done: sheet worked, marked, and corrections finished → then screens / games are fine as the reward. Not during, not mid-block.
If the device is the only printer/scanner: keep it in “work mode” — trail open, games closed — until the mark is submitted.

Sometimes

Run a mock exam — sit on screen or print the paper + answers pull-out. Afterwards, print the revision exercises built from the misses.
Need a one-off session? Tutor lesson plan makes a ~20-min workbook on any base-curriculum skill.
Switching kids: the orientation page asks “Who’s climbing today?” — everything is per student. Redo orientation or start a student over from the same page.

The rhythm at a glance

When	Student	Teacher
Once	Sign up · baseline · how-you-learn	Add student · (print + mark baseline if on paper) · pin the focus sheet
Most days	Print the whole day · work on paper · photo + finals	Print today · help mark · nothing else
Weekly	—	Glance at the progress report (effort first, skills second)
Sometimes	Mock exam · revision sheet · re-sit weak parts	Print paper + answers · print the revision set

What you never do: pick topics, sequence lessons, or decide difficulty. The baseline seeds it, every marked block tunes it, and the focus sheet shows the current aim. Progress is measured in effort and velocity first — complexity rises on its own as wins land.

Open the progress report