AI Tutor vs Eedi for KS3 Maths: What's the Difference?

Eedi is a diagnostic assessment platform that identifies specific maths misconceptions through carefully designed multiple-choice questions. An AI tutor then helps address those misconceptions through guided dialogue. Both tools are valuable, but they work at different stages of the learning process — one spots the problem, the other works through it.

What is Eedi?

Eedi is a maths diagnostic platform developed with educational research backing, designed to identify the specific misconceptions behind a student's errors rather than simply marking answers right or wrong. It does this through a technique called diagnostic testing: each wrong-answer option in a multiple-choice question is linked to a known misconception. When a student selects a distractor, the platform can infer not just that they got the answer wrong, but why they got it wrong.

Eedi covers KS3 and GCSE maths content, with quizzes mapped to national curriculum topics. Teachers can assign quizzes and use the class-level data to inform lesson planning — seeing, for example, that 14 out of 28 students in a class have a specific misconception about negative number operations before teaching that lesson. The platform offers both a school-facing product and a home product for students and families.

What Eedi does well:

Diagnostic multiple-choice questions that reveal the specific misconception, not just the wrong answer

Research-informed question design built on decades of maths education research

School-facing teacher dashboard for identifying class-wide gaps

Covers KS3 and GCSE maths topics aligned to the national curriculum

A free tier is available for individual students and schools

Clear reports help parents understand what their child misunderstands, not just that they are wrong

What Eedi does not do:

Explain or resolve the misconception through dialogue

Guide a student through a correct method step by step

Cover subjects other than maths

Adapt its teaching in response to a student's specific line of reasoning

What does an AI tutor do differently?

Eedi identifies what the misconception is; an AI tutor helps fix it. These two things are genuinely different tasks, and most students need both.

A diagnostic report from Eedi might show that a Year 8 student has a misconception about the order of operations when brackets are involved. That is valuable information. But the student still needs to understand why the order matters and how to apply it correctly. A video or written explanation may help — or it may not, if the student's underlying model of arithmetic is confused at a deeper level.

An AI tutor engages with the specific misconception through conversation: "You said that 3 + 4 × 2 = 14. Can you tell me what you did first?" When the student explains their reasoning, the tutor can identify precisely where the conceptual gap is and work from there — using a different analogy, a simpler case, or a worked example tailored to what the student already knows.

What an AI tutor adds:

Conversational exploration of the reasoning behind a misconception

Targeted explanation that builds from what the student already knows

Multi-subject support: maths, English, science, history, geography

Guided practice after the explanation, with hints rather than answers

Flexible on-demand availability: any topic, any time

Where Eedi is stronger:

Research-backed diagnostic precision — the best tool available for identifying which misconception a student holds

Teacher dashboard for class-level diagnosis and lesson planning

Free access for individual students

Systematic coverage of the maths curriculum through diagnostic quizzes

Side-by-side comparison

Criterion | Eedi | AI tutor (e.g. aitutors.me)
Primary function | Diagnose maths misconceptions | Address and explain misconceptions through dialogue
Feedback type | Identifies the specific misconception from wrong-answer selection | Conversation to explore and resolve the misconception
Subjects | Maths only | Full KS3 curriculum
School integration | Yes — teacher dashboard for class data | No
Cost | Free tier available; school licences vary | £14/month
Adapts to the student | Question selection; cannot adjust explanations | Full adaptation to the student's own reasoning
Best used for | Finding out exactly what is misunderstood | Working through and correcting what is misunderstood

The honest case for Eedi

Eedi's diagnostic approach is genuinely sophisticated and unusual. Most wrong-answer feedback tells a student they are wrong and shows the correct answer. Eedi's design goes further: the distractors in each question are constructed so that each wrong answer corresponds to a documented misconception, meaning the platform can infer the error in thinking, not just the error in the answer.

This is a meaningful advantage. The EEF identifies diagnostic assessment as an effective approach when teachers use data to adjust their instruction. Eedi's class-level reports allow maths teachers to do exactly that — and for parents, the individual reports make it possible to have an informed conversation with a teacher about what specifically needs addressing.

How to use Eedi and an AI tutor together

The most effective approach is sequential. Eedi identifies the misconception precisely; an AI tutor works through it conversationally.

A practical routine:

Run an Eedi quiz on the topic your child has been studying.

Read the diagnostic report to identify the specific misconception flagged.

Use an AI tutor to work through that misconception — starting from the point of confusion Eedi identified.

Return to Eedi a week later to test whether the misconception has been resolved.

This sequence combines diagnostic precision with explanatory depth — and it gives parents something concrete to focus on rather than the vague sense that "maths isn't going well."

Frequently asked questions

Is Eedi free for students?

Eedi offers a free tier for individual students that includes access to a library of diagnostic quizzes. School licences give teachers access to class-level reporting and the ability to assign quizzes. For most home-based diagnostic use, the free tier is sufficient. Check the Eedi website for current pricing on school and premium features.

How is Eedi different from Sparx Maths or Hegarty Maths?

Eedi is primarily a diagnostic tool: its purpose is to identify what a student misunderstands, not to provide video instruction or adaptive practice. Sparx Maths and Hegarty Maths are practice platforms that mark questions right or wrong and provide worked examples. Eedi's multiple-choice format is specifically designed to surface misconceptions from wrong-answer patterns. They serve different purposes and can be used alongside one another.

Can Eedi be used for GCSE preparation?

Yes. Eedi covers both KS3 and GCSE maths content. For GCSE students, the diagnostic approach is particularly useful in the revision period: identifying which topics carry persistent misconceptions helps prioritise revision time rather than reviewing everything equally. Eedi is maths-only, however, so students needing diagnostic support in other GCSE subjects will need different tools.

What should I do if my child's Eedi report shows a misconception in a topic they have studied before?

A persistent misconception in a topic previously studied often means the original explanation did not address the underlying conceptual error — the student learned a method without understanding it. This is exactly the situation where an AI tutor is most useful: a conversational approach can probe the specific misunderstanding rather than re-presenting the same method. Starting with "Can you explain how you think about this topic?" often reveals the root of the problem quickly.

For Socratic maths tutoring that works through the misconceptions Eedi identifies, visit aitutors.me.