Show Your Working is a tutoring protocol where the student submits their step-by-step solution, and the tutor diagnoses the first step where the error appears — rather than just marking the final answer right or wrong. It's the difference between "wrong, try again" and "on line 2 you subtracted when you should have added — what's the rule for moving terms across an equals sign?"

The problem it solves

A student gets Solve 3x - 5 = 10 wrong and writes:

3x - 5 = 10
3x = 10 - 5      ← error here: should be 10 + 5
3x = 5
x = 5/3

A standard tutor that only sees the final answer (x = 5/3) says "wrong, try again". The student tries again. Makes the same error. Gets the same wrong answer. Frustrated, gives up.

A Show Your Working tutor sees line 2 and says: "You subtracted 5 from the right side. What should we do to the right side to balance subtracting 5 from the left?" The student spots it. Fixes it. Moves on. The misconception is named and corrected.

How aitutors.me implements it

Professor Pi exposes a show_working tool that takes the student's written working as input. The implementation:

  1. Parse the working line-by-line
  2. Check each line against a library of common KS3 misconceptions for the active topic
  3. Identify the first error (not the last — the root cause is usually upstream)
  4. Respond with a Socratic question targeting that specific misconception

The misconception library is topic-specific:

Topic Common misconceptions tracked
Solving equations Sign-flip on move; not balancing; combining unlike terms
Expanding brackets Partial distribution; sign error on negatives; squaring sum errors
Fractions Cross-add; comparing without common denominator; mixed-number arithmetic
Negative numbers Subtract-a-negative confusion; sign-flip in multiplication chain
Probability "And" vs "Or" rule confusion; assuming non-equally-likely outcomes

The library grows over time as more student working is observed (with proper privacy — anonymised pattern detection, never linked to individual students).

The MATHia inspiration

The protocol is loosely inspired by Carnegie Learning's MATHia system — one of the longest-running adaptive maths tutoring platforms. MATHia famously diagnoses errors at the step level rather than the final-answer level. Research over 20+ years shows step-level diagnosis produces faster mastery than answer-level marking.

aitutors.me's Show Your Working protocol applies the same principle, but in conversational AI form rather than a structured task interface.

What "good working" looks like

For the protocol to work, the student has to write working that's readable to the tutor. The conventions taught at aitutors.me:

  • One decision per line. A new operation = a new line.
  • State the operation. "Subtract 5 from both sides" — not just "minus 5".
  • Keep equals signs aligned (visually optional but improves readability).
  • Write your final answer on its own line.

Bad working hides the error. Good working surfaces it.

Worked example

Student attempts Solve 2(x + 3) = 14:

2(x + 3) = 14
2x + 3 = 14        ← line 2
2x = 11
x = 11/2

Pi sees line 2 and responds:

"You expanded 2(x + 3). What is 2 multiplied by 3? Check that line again."

Student fixes: 2(x + 3) = 2x + 6, not 2x + 3. Continues solving correctly.

Pi never said x = 4. The student found their own error, named the misconception, and moved on.

Why this is better than "show me the answer"

Style Student learns...
Answer only One specific result
Worked-example given A pattern, but no diagnosis of own error
Show Your Working diagnosis Their specific error + the corrected pattern

The third option is the one where the student leaves capable of catching the same error themselves next time. Independence is the goal.

Privacy considerations

Working submissions are conversation data. aitutors.me's posture:

  • 30-day rolling deletion
  • Never used for AI model training
  • Stored in EU region
  • Misconception patterns are aggregated anonymously to improve the library (no working ever links to a named student in the aggregated data)

See UK GDPR and your child's AI tutor for the broader privacy posture.

How the protocol is tested

In aitutors.me's product code, the show_working tool has automated tests:

  • 50 historical "common wrong working" cases
  • Each must trigger the correct misconception identification
  • Each must produce a Socratic question, never the answer
  • The test runs before every deploy

If a deploy regresses any of these, it's blocked.

The teacher angle

Speak to your child's maths teacher about Show Your Working as a habit (not just for aitutors.me — generally). Many teachers will say the same thing: students who show working consistently score higher across the term, even if they're slightly slower per problem.

The exam mark schemes are built around method marks. The habit pays off.

How to encourage it at home

For one week:

  • Every maths homework, ask your child to show at least 3 working lines even for simple problems
  • Use aitutors.me's show_working tool on a hard one — see what Pi catches
  • Notice how often the error was in line 2, not the answer
  • After a week, the habit is in

FAQ

What is the Show Your Working protocol in AI tutoring?

A protocol where the student submits step-by-step working and the AI diagnoses the first step with an error — rather than judging only the final answer.

How does an AI tutor analyse working?

Each step is parsed and compared against a library of common misconceptions for the topic. Matched errors trigger a Socratic question targeting the misconception.

Why is showing working better than just giving the final answer?

Error location reveals the cause. Two students with the same wrong answer might need different help. Working makes the difference visible.

Methodology by Jason at aitutors.me. Updated 20 May 2026.