Piqosity Virtual Tutor (PVT) makes Piqosity significantly easier to use for students and their parents who are not working with a tutor or teacher. 


PVT personalizes the course outline and automatically guides students through lessons, practice, and review. 


There are three primary components of PVT:


  1. Goal Setting
  2. Course Outline Personalization 
  3. Session Module




Goal Setting with PVT Settings


You access the PVT settings page by clicking on a module for the first time or by clicking on "edit" in the top right of the PVT container on the dashboard. 

The settings window allows you to tell PVT what your goals are including:


1. Goal Score


How high do you want to score? For example a student applying to an academically challenging school or college might select "Top 5%" whereas a student applying to a less competitive school might be happy with "Top 25%." 


These selections are in comparison to other students, for example "Top 5%" equates to:


  • 8 on the ISEE
  • 1400 on the SAT
  • 30 on the ACT
  • 95% accuracy in ELA or Math


Your Goal Score will impact what topics PVT thinks you should study, and how many hours it thinks you'll need to commit. For example, a student who wants to score in the Top 5% will need spend time to be proficient in all of a course's topics; conversely, a student who only needs to score in the Top 25% doesn't need to worry about acing the most complex topics.


2. Test or Course End Date


Using the calendar widget, select either:


  • When you are scheduled to sit for a standardized test
  • Or when your math or English course ends


For standardized tests like the ACT or ISEE, you'll likely take the test more than once. You can always come back to this screen to change the date.


3. Sessions Per Week


How many times per week do you plan to sit down and study for this course?


Your selection should be guided largely by your desired Goal Score and how many weeks remain until your test or end date. For example, a student who has 6 months to prepare and do very well on the ISEE might choose 1 session per week, whereas a student who has only 2 months to score well will likely need to sit for at least 2 sessions per week. 


Input Analysis


Once you've made selections for goal, end date, and sessions, click on the "Analyze" button so that PVT can:


  1. Determine what topics you'll need to focus on.
  2. Approximate how many hours you'll need to study.


You'll see either a smiling corgi or a concerned corgi. The smiling corgi indicates that PVT thinks your goal and timeline are reasonable, whereas a concerned corgi indicates PVT thinks you might need to reassess your goal, timeline, or both. 


The number of hours in your estimated study plan take into account:


  • Your Goal Score
  • Gap between your Goal Score and current score
  • How many topics you still need to demonstrate proficiency in
  • How many weeks there are until your test or course end date


Note - PVT is initially programmed largely based off "human learning," meaning the experience of the Piqosity team's nearly 20 years of tutoring and teaching students. However its estimates are just that--rough guides meant to be gut checked--and you may very well need to study more or less time than is displayed. 



Personalized Course Outline


After you've informed PVT of your goals and timeline, it will personalize the course outline and display it on your dashboard. 


The Personalized Course Outline provides you a simple list of topics to work through:


  1. In a linear order; the topics listed on top are the highest priority
  2. In accordance with your Goal Score; some advanced topics may be hidden


Progressing Through the Outline


PVT automatically progresses you through the Personalized Course Outline when you:


  1. View a lesson
  2. Answer questions on that lesson


It further determines your proficiency in the topic when you:


  1. Work 10 or more questions in a topic or all available questions, whichever is less, AND
  2. Answer enough questions accurately to score at or above your Goal Score (see chart)



You can skip around the course outline by simply clicking on any topic you want to practice. Use the pagination buttons and arrows to move between the topics.



PVT Session Module


A PVT session is meant to resemble how an educator would guide you through during a private tutorial and is therefore comprised of these components:


  1. Lesson teaching you how to tackle the given topic
  2. Practice questions on the topic in the lesson
  3. Practice questions on topics you've previously studied but need more work in
  4. Progress report detailing your current performance


You can navigate between the module components using:


  1. The always visible "next" button at the bottom of the window
  2. Or the drop-down in the top right