Hints, when you're stuck

A hint is not one thing. There is a ladder, and each rung costs you something different — nothing in money, everything in what the answer is allowed to prove.

The three rungs

1. Ask Miles for a nudge. A pointer at what the question is really testing. It costs nothing at all: a nudged answer still counts toward your readiness.

2. Still stuck? Steer me. A firmer push. That answer is then left out of your accuracy and out of your readiness meter — a steered answer shows what you can do with help, and the exam gives none.

3. Show me the answer. The answer and the full explanation. That question is not scored at all. It asks you to confirm first, and says exactly that before you press it.

Not every question carries all three; some banks have a single Steer. Until you press it the button simply reads Ask Miles for a hint — the first press opens whichever rung the question has, and the card names it: Miles · Nudge or Miles · Steer.

What it costs, and what it doesn't

No money, no tutor allowance, no points. The whole cost is statistical, and it is deliberate — a readiness meter you can inflate with hints tells you nothing on the morning of the exam.

Your Performance page names it out loud: it tells you how many answers were left out because you took a Steer.

Where hints are not available

• Not in mock exams. A mock is a rehearsal of the real thing, so it has to be the real thing.
• Not in the placement check at the start.
• Show me the answer only exists in Tutor mode. Quiz and Timed give you Nudge and Steer, and hold the answer until the end.

The honest advice

Take the nudge freely. Take the steer when you are properly stuck rather than merely slow. Reveal the answer when you have decided the point is to learn it rather than to test it — and then put the question back in your rotation later, unhinted.