Frequently asked questions

Three phases. You reveal a random topic — once revealed, it's locked, no rerolls. You research it anywhere you like (Google, Wikipedia, videos) against a timer you chose: 15 to 30 minutes. When time is up, you record yourself explaining the topic out loud in one take of up to five minutes. Our AI then transcribes your take, scores what you understood and how you delivered it, and hands you an annotated transcript with feedback.

Explain it like you're talking to a curious friend or a small audience — someone smart who's never met the topic before. Plain language, your own words, a natural speaking voice. You're not delivering a lecture or reciting an encyclopedia entry; you're helping someone get it. If you truly understood what you researched, this is exactly how it comes out.

At heart, yes. Richard Feynman's method holds that you only truly understand something when you can explain it in plain language — and that the gaps you hit while explaining show you exactly what to study next. CurioCue turns that into a practice: an unfamiliar topic, a research clock, one spoken take, and a score that tells you honestly how much of your explanation was understanding and how much was performance.

Yes — it's the strongest opening. A structure that consistently scores well: name the topic and define it in one sentence, say why it matters, walk through how it works, give a concrete example, and close with a short wrap-up. Structure is one of the scored dimensions, and a clear spine like this carries the rest of your take.

Yes, a limited number of times — the re-record button shows how many attempts you have left. After that, the take you have is the take you submit. The one-take pressure is part of the exercise; unlimited retries would turn it into memorized performance.

Glancing at a keyword or two is fine. Reading a script aloud defeats the point — there's no "reading detector," so this is on your honor, but the whole value of the exercise is finding out whether the understanding is actually yours. If you can only say it by reading it, you haven't learned it yet; the gaps that show up when you speak freely are exactly what the feedback is for.

Up to five minutes, but longer isn't better — conciseness is scored. Two to four well-organized minutes beat five padded ones. Say what the topic is, how it works, why it matters, give an example, and stop. If you finish early with nothing left to add, that's a feature.

The evaluator judges relevance first. A take that completely ignores its topic gets its knowledge scores zeroed and its overall CurioScore capped at 5; partially related takes are scaled down proportionally. The speaking subscores stay honest — fluent delivery is still fluent — but they can't rescue the overall score. Stick to the topic you were handed.

A single score out of 100, split into two halves. Knowledge: was what you said accurate, and did you go beyond the surface? Speaking: clarity, structure, pace, and conciseness. You also get an annotated transcript showing filler words, long pauses, and repeated phrases, plus written feedback on what was strong, what was missing, and what to fix next time.

No. If we can't hear anything — usually a muted or wrongly selected microphone — the challenge bounces back to the speaking phase and you get about an hour to retake it. Check your mic and record again.

After your research window ends there's a grace period to record. If nothing arrives, the challenge closes automatically and still counts toward your allowance — so don't reveal a topic unless you intend to see it through.

CurioCue is invitation-only while it's a work in progress. Request one at curiocue.com — leave your email and we'll write to you the moment your invitation is decided, with steps to create your account.

By default, three per rolling 24 hours; your home screen always shows how many you have left and when the next slot frees up. Completing a challenge well takes real focus, so the limit is a feature, not a paywall.

Ideas go to the suggestions page — we read every one and notify you if yours ships. Problems go to [email protected] or @CurioCue_bot on Telegram.