Easy, Medium, Hard, and how Auto decides
For parents wondering whether the questions are too easy, too hard, or changing on their own.
Where the buttons are
Open any subject and look under the subject name. There's a row that says "Difficulty:" with four buttons: "Easy", "Medium", "Hard" and "Auto". The lit-up one is what's running. Tap another to switch. It saves on the spot.
Above that row is a link called "What we're practicing". Tap it and it opens the goal for that subject at that grade and the skills it covers.
What Auto does
Auto is the default and it's what we'd leave most kids on. Every child starts on Easy. Two right answers in a row moves them up a rung. Two wrong in a row moves them down. After any move the count starts over, so one hot streak can't jump a child from Easy to Hard in a single session. Each rung gets earned again.
Auto runs per subject. A child can be on Hard in reading and Easy in math at the same time, and the Auto button shows which rung it's on for the subject you're looking at, so nobody is guessing why the questions changed.
What picking Easy, Medium or Hard does
It locks that level for the child. It applies to every subject, not just the one you were in, and it stays locked until someone taps "Auto" again. Auto then picks up where each subject left off rather than starting over.
Use a locked level when you know something Auto doesn't. A child coming back after a rough month might do better with a week on Easy to rebuild the habit before the difficulty climbs.
When a level runs out of questions
Every grade and subject has hundreds of questions per level, but a child who does the app every day will eventually see all the Easy ones. When that happens the app serves the next level up and tells them so, with a line that ends "nice climbing". Their setting doesn't change. The moment new Easy questions exist again, it goes back to serving them.
Common questions
The questions seem too easy. Should I set it to Hard?
Give Auto a week first. It starts on Easy on purpose and climbs on two right answers in a row, so a child who really is ahead moves up fast, and you can watch the rung change on the Auto button. If they're still cruising after a week, lock Medium.
Does difficulty change how many stars they earn?
No. A right answer is worth the same on every level. The reason to climb is the material, not the stars.
Can I set a different level for each subject?
Not with a manual pick, which applies to all six subjects. Auto is the setting that works per subject, and it tracks each one separately.
Still stuck?
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Email ervin@brightstepchild.com