AI Tutor vs Hegarty Maths for KS3: Which Works Better?

Hegarty Maths pairs short video lessons with practice tasks and automated marking — it is one of the most widely used KS3 maths platforms in England. An AI tutor takes a different approach: it guides students to answers through questions rather than explanations. Both tools are genuinely useful, but they work in very different ways.

What is Hegarty Maths?

Hegarty Maths is an online maths platform created by UK maths teacher Colin Hegarty. It provides short video explanations covering every KS3 and GCSE maths topic, each paired with practice questions and instant automated marking. Students watch a video to see a technique demonstrated, then attempt questions and receive feedback on each answer. Teachers can set tasks and track progress through a dashboard.

Many UK secondary schools use Hegarty Maths as a core homework tool from Year 7 onwards. Its approach is straightforward: watch, practise, mark, repeat. The platform is built around direct instruction — showing students how to do things clearly, with worked examples — and then testing understanding through volume of practice.

What Hegarty Maths does well:

Clear, teacher-created video explanations aligned to the KS3 and GCSE curriculum

Large question bank with instant automated marking

School integration: teachers set tasks and monitor student progress

Covers every KS3 and GCSE maths topic comprehensively

Accessible on most devices; many schools fund access, making it free for students

Practice data helps students and teachers identify weaker areas by topic

What Hegarty Maths does not do:

Respond to a specific student's wrong answer with a tailored explanation

Identify the underlying misconception behind repeated errors

Support subjects other than maths

Adjust the complexity of its explanations based on what an individual student already knows

What does an AI tutor do differently?

Where Hegarty Maths shows and tells, a Socratic AI tutor asks. Instead of presenting a worked example and asking a student to replicate it, an AI tutor poses questions that lead the student towards the method themselves.

Consider a Year 9 student who cannot expand double brackets correctly. On Hegarty Maths, they watch the relevant clip, attempt the questions, and receive "incorrect" when they get it wrong. On a Socratic AI tutor, the response to a wrong answer might be: "You got x² − x − 6. Can you walk me through how you got the middle term?" This forces the student to articulate their reasoning, which often reveals exactly where the misunderstanding lies.

What an AI tutor adds:

Dialogue that identifies the specific error in the student's reasoning

Questions that build transferable understanding, not just procedural memory

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

Ability to respond to free-form student questions such as "Why does this rule work?"

Appropriate for open-ended tasks, not only questions with a single correct answer

Where Hegarty Maths is stronger:

A comprehensive question bank for volume maths practice

High-quality video explanations built specifically for the UK curriculum

Teacher oversight and school-set task integration

Often free for students via school subscription

Detailed progress tracking across every topic

Side-by-side comparison

Criterion | Hegarty Maths | AI tutor (e.g. aitutors.me)
Cost | Often free via school; individual plans available | £14/month
Teaching method | Video instruction + automated practice | Socratic dialogue
Subjects covered | Maths only | Full KS3 curriculum
Feedback on errors | Right/wrong; option to rewatch the video | Dialogue to pinpoint the specific misconception
Adapts to the student | Question difficulty adapts; explanations do not | Full adaptation to the student's own reasoning
School integration | Yes — teacher-set tasks and progress tracking | No
Best for | Volume maths practice with video support | Understanding why errors happen and fixing them

The honest case for Hegarty Maths

Hegarty Maths is one of the strongest free maths resources available to UK secondary school students. The videos are clear, well-paced, and created by a practising maths teacher who understands what the national curriculum requires. The combination of short explanation plus immediate practice aligns with evidence about effective learning: the EEF identifies retrieval practice and worked examples as high-impact approaches when implemented well.

If your child's school uses Hegarty Maths, the teacher-set tasks provide a structured path through the curriculum that is often more targeted than a generic resource. The progress-tracking data also helps parents see, at topic level, where their child is confident and where they are struggling.

Where an AI tutor fills the gap

The limitation of Hegarty Maths is that its feedback is about answers, not reasoning. A student who watches the same video three times and still cannot get the questions right is not receiving new information — they are seeing the same explanation repeated. The error lies in their understanding of the concept, but the platform cannot identify what that error is.

An AI tutor changes this dynamic. When a student consistently makes the same mistake, dialogue-based tutoring can probe: "Can you explain the step you took there?" This question frequently reveals a specific, addressable misconception — a misremembered rule, a sign error in a particular context, or a gap in a prerequisite concept — that no amount of re-watching will fix on its own.

Which is right for your child?

For a student who broadly understands KS3 maths topics and needs volume of practice to build fluency, Hegarty Maths is an excellent first tool — especially if their school already uses it. For a student who is genuinely stuck on a concept and whose errors persist despite re-watching videos, an AI tutor is more likely to help. Most families benefit from using both: Hegarty for daily practice, an AI tutor when a concept simply will not stick.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hegarty Maths free for students?

Hegarty Maths is free for students whose schools subscribe to the platform — and many UK secondary schools do. If your child's school uses Hegarty Maths, they will typically have an account through school with no additional cost to the family. Individual parent subscriptions are available if the school does not have one. Check with the school's maths department before paying separately.

Does Hegarty Maths cover KS3 as well as GCSE?

Yes. Hegarty Maths covers content from KS3 through to A-level, with KS3 topics spanning Year 7, Year 8, and Year 9 material. The platform's numbered clip system covers every major area of the secondary maths curriculum, including early number and algebra topics appropriate for Year 7. The GCSE content is comprehensive across Foundation and Higher tiers for all major exam boards.

Can an AI tutor replace Hegarty Maths?

No — they serve different purposes. Hegarty Maths provides high-quality video instruction and a large practice question bank for maths alone. An AI tutor provides conversational guidance across multiple subjects. For a student who needs to work through maths systematically with video support, Hegarty Maths does things an AI tutor does not. The two tools are complementary rather than competing.

My child watches the Hegarty videos but keeps getting questions wrong. What should I try?

This is usually a sign that the misconception is not resolved by seeing the same explanation again. An AI tutor's conversational approach can identify exactly where the error in reasoning is occurring by asking the student to explain their working step by step. Once the underlying misunderstanding is addressed, returning to Hegarty for volume practice becomes effective rather than frustrating.

See how aitutors.me's Socratic tutors work through maths misconceptions at aitutors.me.