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Tutorial 5 of 8

Use hints wisely and understand XP

Help is never locked. It is priced. Every hint costs 30 XP, the price is printed on the button, and the number moves the moment you click. Nobody is going to stop you from taking all three.

  1. Step 1

    Know what the exercise is worth

    1. Look at the gold badge beside the Instructions heading. That is what this exercise pays if you finish it from here.
    2. The 🏆 Daily XP pill in the header is today's running total. Total N XP beside it is your all-time number.
  2. Step 2

    Take a hint and watch the price

    1. Click Take Hint (-30 XP) near the bottom of the left pane. The cost is written on the button face.
    2. Hint 1 appears in a gold panel just above the button, labelled Hint 1. It is the gentlest one.
    3. Look back at the badge. It dropped from 100 XP to 70 XP. Hover it and the tooltip spells out the arithmetic.
    4. Check the counter beside the button. It now says 2 hints left.
    5. Look at the 🏆 Daily XP pill in the header. It went down too, live.
    The exercise after taking one hint. A gold panel reads 'Hint 1: Strings need to be wrapped in quotes — try "spaghetti" (with double quotes).' The instructions badge now reads 70 XP, the button reads 'Take Hint (-30 XP)' with '2 hints left' beside it, and the header pill reads Daily XP -30.
    One hint taken. The cost shows up in three places at once: the badge, the counter, and the header pill.

    Tip. You are only charged once per hint. Refresh the page, come back tomorrow, the hint you already paid for is still there and still free.

  3. Step 3

    Decide before you click again

    1. Hints are a ladder. Hint 1 nudges, hint 2 gets concrete, hint 3 is close to the line itself.
    2. Before taking the next one, spend ten more seconds on the error message and on what your variables actually hold.
    3. If you do take another, the badge drops again, to 40 XP on a 100 XP exercise.
    4. When the tests pass, you bank what is left. Take one hint on a 100 XP exercise and you bank 70.
    A passing submission showing the instructions badge reading '+70 XP earned' after one 30 XP hint was taken on a 100 XP exercise.
    What you bank is the exercise value minus the hints you used. Nothing is rounded away or hidden.

    Tip. XP is not your grade. It is pacing and motivation. Your grades live in the gradebook.