--- title: "Hints first, not answers | DuckyHelper" url: "https://duckyhelper.com/features/hints-not-answers/" description: "DuckyHelper asks back and gives the next hint before it gives an answer, so you do the thinking. Why that matters, and how it works on a Mac and in Eddy." updated: "2026-10-09" --- Mac app # Hints first, not answers Ask DuckyHelper can you just tell me the answer? and it says let's get there together. It is a tutor, not an answer machine: it asks what you already know, gives the next hint, and lets you take the step. The answer comes last, if you still need it. Research on students using chatbots for homework is why it works this way. [Download for Mac](https://duckyhelper.com/download/)[Get the Mac app](https://duckyhelper.com/download/) The hint ladder ## One rung at a time. In the Mac pill, practice problems have a Hint button. Each press opens one more rung: a nudge for where to start, a bigger hint, the worked step, and the answer only last. You decide how far to climb, and most of the thinking stays yours. [Guide: Quizzes and hints](https://docs.duckyhelper.com/study/quizzes/) On your homework ## A hint beside the question, never the answer. Open your worksheet in Eddy and start on a question. Eddy writes a short hint right beside it, like which one changes on the Moon?, then checks what you write. On a Mac, Ducky writes the hint by hand in the margin next to your line, and you do the fixing. [Open your homework with Eddy](https://duckyhelper.com/features/homework-files/) > “Unfettered access to GPT-4 can harm educational outcomes.” [Bastani et al. (2025), Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics, PNAS](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122) In that study, high school students who practiced math with an unguarded chatbot solved more practice problems, then scored 17% lower on the exam once it was taken away. A version built to give hints instead of answers largely avoided that drop. How it teaches ## A question back, before the answer. DuckyHelper's model is trained on 1,000,000+ tutoring examples and built on 100+ learning-science papers. What that looks like in a lesson: ### It asks first What do you already know? Where did you get stuck? ### The next hint Just enough to take the next step yourself. ### It checks you Your answer is checked, and a miss comes with why. ### It comes back What you missed returns later as a flashcard. ## Stuck? Ask for a hint. How being stuck goes with DuckyHelper. 1. 1. Ask about the problem Out loud, or typed, on a Mac or in Eddy. 2. 2. It asks back What you know so far, so the hint fits you. 3. 3. You get the next hint Written beside the question, or one rung of the ladder. 4. 4. You take the step It checks it. The answer is last, if you still want it. ## Homework help that still teaches. For parents and teachers worried about AI doing the homework: DuckyHelper is built the other way around. It guides, it checks, and the work stays the student's. The learning science behind it: [Guide, don't hand over answers](https://duckyhelper.com/research/principles/guide-dont-hand-over-answers/). How DuckyHelper is built this way: [Hints before answers](https://duckyhelper.com/research/papers/hints-before-answers/). Parents Teachers [DuckyHelper for parents](https://duckyhelper.com/for/parents/) ## How to use it ## Frequently asked questions ### Is there an AI tutor that doesn't just give answers? Yes. DuckyHelper is built to teach: it asks what you know, gives the next hint and checks your step before it gives an answer. On a Mac the Hint button opens a nudge, a bigger hint and a worked step, with the answer last. In Eddy, hints are written beside the question on your homework. ### Is DuckyHelper a Socratic tutor? It works in that spirit: it answers a question with a question when that helps you think, then gives a hint just big enough for your next step. It does not hold back forever: on a practice problem, ask for the answer twice and you get it. On homework you opened in Eddy, the answer stays yours to write. ### Can I use it for homework without cheating? That is what it is for. It points you to the step you are missing and checks your work instead of writing it. Open your worksheet in Eddy and it writes hints beside the questions, never the answers. Your teacher's rules still come first. ### Why not just give the answer? Because an answer you copy is gone by the test. In a study published in PNAS in 2025, students who practiced with an unguarded chatbot scored 17% lower on the exam once it was taken away. A hint makes you take the step, and that is what you remember. ### What if I really need the answer? On a practice problem, yes: the hint ladder's last rung is the answer, and Ducky gives it when you ask for it twice. On your own homework in Eddy, the answer stays yours to write, and Eddy keeps helping: what the question asks, the first step, a similar example. ## Sources 1. [Bastani, H., et al. (2025). Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122) (accessed 2026-10-09) ## More features ### Ask out loud and hear the answer: press fn on a Mac, or talk to Eddy in the app's Eddy tab Ask DuckyHelper out loud and it answers out loud while it shows you the steps. On your Mac, press fn in any app, or talk to Eddy in its tab. ### Write your working and get it checked line by line, or answer a quick check on Eddy's whiteboard Write your working and DuckyHelper checks it: the first wrong line marked with why on a Mac, and Eddy's whiteboard for a quick drawing or check. ### Say quiz me: tap, type math or answer true or false, and every miss comes with why Say quiz me and DuckyHelper writes a quick quiz on what you are learning: tap, type math or answer true or false, and every miss comes with why. ### Worked steps, one move each, that you can keep, and graphs you can hover, zoom and slide Ask DuckyHelper to work it out and get worked steps, one move each, plus graphs you can hover, zoom and change with sliders. Keep the steps as a note. ### Small sandboxes you run yourself: drag the ball, move a slider, read the numbers Ask DuckyHelper to show you how a pendulum, a projectile or a circuit works and get a small sandbox to run yourself: drag, change a slider, read the numbers. ### Run your code against tests, then watch it step by step with every variable as it changes DuckyHelper runs your code against tests and plays it back step by step, every variable as it changes, so you see why it gives the wrong answer. ## Keep reading ### Hints before answers: guardrails for an AI tutor White paper: what the research says about AI help that gives answers, and the guardrails DuckyHelper's tutor uses to guide learners instead. ### Why a tutor that shows you the steps works better than an app that hands you answers Answer apps can raise practice grades and lower test scores. DuckyHelper is built the other way: it shows you the steps, gives hints first and checks your try. ### Parents: what it does and won't do, ages, privacy and the family dashboard A parent's guide to DuckyHelper: what the tutor does and won't do, the ages it is for, what it sees and keeps, and the family dashboard you can turn on. ### Safety and privacy: ages, what is collected and kept, and the switches you have Is DuckyHelper safe for students? Who it is for, what it collects and why, how long it is kept, who processes it, and the switches learners and parents have. ### Every DuckyHelper feature: what it does, where it runs, and a short film of each What DuckyHelper for Mac does: Eddy teaches out loud on a blackboard, and Ducky sees your screen, draws on it and walks you through your own apps. ## Get unstuck, not just answered Press fn on your Mac, or open the Eddy tab, and ask for a hint. [Download for Mac](https://duckyhelper.com/download/) [See what it does](https://duckyhelper.com/features/) The Mac app needs Apple silicon and macOS 14 Sonoma or later. There is no Chromebook, Windows or web version right now.