Study one topic with /askme, /explain and /exercise

In Ritsu, /askme, /explain and /exercise chain into one study loop: answer first, explain only the gap, then practice on a new problem. /askme has you answer before you read any explanation, you then run /explain on only the part your answer missed, and /exercise has you apply the idea to a new problem that is graded before the solution opens. Use the loop when you have read a section once and want to find out what you can do without it.

All three commands are on every plan, Free included. This page walks through the loop. Each command's reference page (/askme, /explain, /exercise) lists all of its options.

The order matters. An explanation you read first feels clear, but it can't show you what you would have gotten wrong. An answer you write first shows which part is missing, so the explanation that follows has one job.

Before you begin

• An active Point of Knowledge. All three commands run on the Point of Knowledge you have open; each reference page lists one as required. In your learning session, /next steps forward to the next Point of Knowledge, and /back returns to the plan overview, where you can pick another. If the term is new, read What is a Point of Knowledge?
• One read of the section. The loop tests what you can produce, so read or skim the section once before you start.
• Credits. Commands that generate with AI draw from your monthly credits; the Free plan includes 600 credits a month. Allowances for every plan are on Pricing.

Run the loop

1. Ask first. Type /askme 3 in the chat box and press Enter. Ritsu puts the first of three questions about the current Point of Knowledge to you.
2. Answer before you open a hint. Write your answer in your own words, from memory, and send it. Hints unlock after 1 and 3 minutes; leave them closed for your first try. Ritsu grades the answer and returns feedback with a score.

3. Write down the gap. Read the feedback before anything else and note, in a few words, the idea it says you missed or got wrong. If more than one answer missed something, note each one; you will explain them one at a time.
4. Finish the series. Click Next Question for each remaining question, or type stop to end early. A summary shows how the series went.
5. Explain only the gap. Type /explain followed by an idea from step 3, worded as closely as the feedback put it: /explain automatic vs effortful processing, not /explain memory. Ritsu returns an explanation with examples, tied to the material you are studying. If step 3 found no gap, go straight to step 6. The screen below comes from a different session, on a machine-learning chapter, and was sent from the /explain settings panel, which adds its own options to the command.

6. Set up a practice problem. Type /exercise --mode=diy and press Enter, or pick /exercise from the command list and choose DIY (Write & Grade) in the panel that opens, then OK. Ritsu writes a new exercise on the current Point of Knowledge and asks you to type your solution in the chat box. To aim the exercise at the gap itself, give it the idea as a free topic: /exercise --mode=diy --scope=free automatic vs effortful processing.

7. Solve it, then send. Write the full solution without scrolling back to the explanation. Ritsu grades it first: the feedback says what is right and what is wrong, and the worked solution waits behind Show Solution.

8. Close the loop. If the feedback names a new gap, press Stop, run /explain on that gap, then click Try a similar exercise on the card the exercise left behind. When an exercise comes back with nothing to fix, you are done with this Point of Knowledge for today.

What the steps looked like in a recorded session

Recorded in the web app on October 8, 2026, on an introductory psychology chapter about memory. The wrong exercise answer was written on purpose, to show the feedback, and /explain was not run in this session.

• Ask. On the first Point of Knowledge, Memory, a one-question /askme (started from the lesson's Say It Yourself card) asked: "In your own words, explain what the memory cycle is and describe what happens at each of its three stages." The answer named encoding, storage and retrieval and walked a new person's name through them. Nothing was missing, so the session moved on with Continue to the next Point of Knowledge, Encoding: Automatic vs. Effortful Processing.
• Practice. There, /exercise in DIY mode, set to an application exercise with a short typed note asking for an everyday scenario, described someone who has driven the same route for five years and can't recall the trip, then leaves a note-heavy workshop drained. The answer swapped the two kinds of processing, and the feedback caught it: "You have reversed the definitions of automatic and effortful processing and missed the core concept of how skills transition between the two over time."
• Where /explain fits. That sentence is the input for step 5: /explain automatic vs effortful processing. The session skipped it and went straight to Try a similar exercise; on your own material, run /explain first whenever the feedback alone doesn't make the idea click.
• Practice again. The similar exercise, three students preparing for a psychology exam, came back Excellent, and the feedback confirmed the move from effortful to automatic processing.

Options and variations

Set the options in a panel

Type / to open the command list and pick a command; a settings panel opens with its options, and OK sends the command with your choices. For /askme the panel sets the number of questions, the category, the difficulty and the scope.

Make /askme questions harder or wider

/askme 3 --category=analysis --difficulty=hard asks analytical questions, and --category=socratic guides you by questioning. For a gentler review, start with --category=comprehension. Add --scope=unit to /askme or /exercise to draw on the whole unit instead of the current Point of Knowledge.

Pick the problem type and get hints on /exercise

--type= sets the kind of exercise: calculation, case-study or code, for example; mixed lets the AI choose. --hint=1 gives one hint at 5 minutes, --hint=2 two at 5 and 10, --hint=3 three at 5, 10 and 15.

If DIY stalls on a new kind of problem

Run one in Show mode, /exercise --mode=show, to see hints and then the solution without grading, and go back to DIY for the next one. For problems that already exist in your file, use /solve instead of /exercise.

Limits and troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The questions or the explanation are about a different idea than the one you're studying	Another Point of Knowledge is open	Step forward with /next, or go /back to the plan overview and pick the right one, then run the command again
The explanation stays general	The concept you named is too broad	Name the exact idea from the feedback: /explain closure scope works better than /explain scope
There is no hint to open yet	Hints unlock on a timer: after 1 and 3 minutes in /askme, at 5, 10 and 15 minutes in /exercise when you set --hint	Keep writing your attempt; /askme grades a written answer and tells you what's missing
You want to stop partway	—	Type stop to end an /askme series and see your results; press Stop to end an exercise
The feedback or explanation disagrees with your book	The model got it wrong, or part of the source wasn't read cleanly	Trust your source, then follow The answer doesn't match my source

Related articles

Next: keep the idea with /flashcard: make a few cards on the same Point of Knowledge, and the ones you miss come back for another round.

• /askme, /explain and /exercise: every option of each command
• /solve: practice on the problems already in your file
• Start your first learning session: the explain-first path (/explain, /quiz, /flashcard) for material that is brand new to you
• Master a textbook chapter: a step-by-step tutorial on one chapter
• All learning commands
• Plans and credits

By Ritsu Team · Last updated October 18, 2026