What Makes a Maths App Truly Adaptive?
A genuinely adaptive app does more than offer easier questions when a student gets one wrong. The best adaptive platforms use spaced repetition, difficulty scaling, and topic branching to build a personalised learning path. They track which concepts a student has mastered and which still need work, adjusting in real time. This mirrors what a skilled tutor does instinctively during a lesson.
Top Adaptive Maths Apps for UK Students
Several apps stand out for their alignment with the UK maths curriculum and genuinely adaptive algorithms.
- Hegarty Maths: Used by thousands of UK schools. Assigns tasks based on diagnostic results and tracks mastery per topic. Aligned to GCSE and A-Level specifications.
- Sparx Maths: Personalises homework based on individual performance. Uses intelligent practice that adapts difficulty within each session.
- MyMaths: Covers KS2 through A-Level with curriculum-mapped lessons. Teachers can assign targeted work based on assessment data.
- Dr Frost Maths: Free resource with thousands of exam-style questions. Adaptive question sets that increase in difficulty as students improve.
The Limitation of Apps
Adaptive apps are excellent for practice and consolidation, but they have a ceiling. They cannot explain why a method works in a way that clicks for your specific child. They cannot spot that a student is using an inefficient method that will cost marks in an exam. And they cannot motivate a teenager who has decided they hate maths. That is where a human tutor matched to your child's specific needs makes the difference.
Combining Apps with Expert Tutoring
The most effective approach combines adaptive practice with targeted tutoring. The app handles repetitive practice and consolidation between sessions, while the tutor focuses on conceptual understanding, exam technique, and the specific gaps identified in a diagnostic assessment. Our diagnostic quiz works on the same principle: identify the gaps first, then match with a tutor who specialises in exactly those areas.