Sparx Maths & Science

Thousands of students. 700 questions answered every minute at peak. Small changes at this scale have outsized impact.

Getting students to skip questions (Sparx Revision)

The problem: Students were grinding away at difficult questions, attempting them over and over instead of moving on — the opposite of good exam technique.

Five years of homework conditioning was the culprit. In homework mode, 100% completion mattered. In revision mode, knowing when to move on matters more.

We added an explicit ‘Skip’ button to make the option visible and deliberate. After two wrong attempts, we showed a nudge: “In exams, it’s ok to move-on.”

Vertical sorting UI (Sparx Science)

The problem: Students had to match answers labeled A-E to positions numbered 1-5, often without being able to see both lists on screen at once. Cognitive overload.

The solution: I redesigned it so each item could be sorted in place using drag-and-drop or arrow keys. Familiar patterns with less mental juggling.

The impact: Correct first answers dropped 0.06%.

Unexpected, but it made sense when I dug into it. The smoother UI lowered the barrier to guessing. Students were taking quicker shots instead of thinking it through first. This was confirmed by an increase in correct second attempts. They were still learning from their mistakes, just one step later in the process.