ARGO adaptive analytics · included in Full access
How ARGO turns your question history into targeted practice
ARGO is Argonaut's analytics engine. It logs 16 data points on every answer, works out which topics are costing you the most points, and builds your next session around them. Then it measures again.
1 · Measure
What ARGO records on every answer
Sixteen signals in five groups. Nothing to fill in: they come from how you answer.
Accuracy
Right or wrongFirst answer pickedFinal answer pickedNumber of changesRight-to-wrong or wrong-to-right
Not just whether you were right, but how you got there.
Timing
Time takenPosition in the block
Rushed answers and time sinks look different from knowledge gaps.
Confidence
How sure you wereStruck out the right answerOpened lab values
Sure-and-wrong is a misconception; unsure-and-right is a guess.
Topic history
Organ systemDisciplinePhysician taskTopicDays since you last saw it
Where the question sits in the outline, and how recently you saw the topic.
Expectation
Predicted vs actual
How likely you were to get it right, given everything before it.
16 data points in total. Confidence is asked in tutor mode and ARGO sessions.
2 · Rank
What ARGO works out from them
Mastery, topic by topic
For every system, discipline and topic, ARGO estimates how well you know it and how much may have faded since you last saw it. A topic you aced months ago and haven't touched since drifts down the list of strengths. Estimates firm up as answers accumulate, so one lucky guess doesn't mark a topic as mastered.
Why you missed it
Every miss, and every lucky guess, gets one of these labels, each with its own fix:
- Knowledge gap · Didn't know it
- Read the Library chapter, then drill fresh questions on the concept.
- Misconception · Sure, but wrong
- You answered confidently and were wrong: unlearn the belief. Compare the two concepts side by side.
- Second-guessing · Changed away from correct
- Your first instinct was right. Change an answer only when you find a specific clue you missed.
- Rushed · Too fast on a known topic
- You know this material but moved too fast. Read the last sentence of the stem twice.
- Distractor trap · Chose the classic wrong answer
- This distractor catches many students. Learn the one finding that separates it from the answer.
- Forgetting · Knew it, then lost it
- You answered this concept correctly before. Spaced retests will lock it in.
- Ran long · Spent too long and still missed
- When a question passes two minutes, mark it, make your best choice and move on.
- Omitted · Left blank
- Never leave a question blank on test day; there is no penalty for guessing.
- Lucky guess · Right, but guessed
- Correct answers you guessed are treated as weak spots until you get them right with confidence.
A readiness index, not a score prediction
Readiness is your mastery across systems, weighted by how much each one counts on the official content outline, from 0 to 100. It shows whether the work is paying off. It is not a predicted USMLE score, and we don't sell it as one.
3 · Fix
How ARGO builds your next session
A default ARGO session is 20 questions, mixed like this. No more than three on one topic, and interleaved so neighbours rarely match.
- Weak-spot questions9 of 20
- New questions on your weakest topics, chosen so you'd get about 7 in 10 right: hard enough to teach, not so hard they crush you.
- Confusion drills4 of 20
- Questions that put the concepts you mix up side by side, built from the wrong answers you actually pick.
- Spaced retests4 of 20
- Questions you missed at least a day ago, oldest first, so a fix turns into memory.
- Coverage scouts3 of 20
- Systems you haven't tried yet, highest exam weight first, so new weak spots show up early.
If a slot can't be filled (say, you've answered every question on a weak topic), ARGO fills it from the rest of the bank and tells you which topic ran short.
Example
One missed question, start to finish
An illustrative walk-through. Your sessions use your own answers.
- 01
You miss a question
A renal tubular acidosis question. You picked the right answer first, changed it, and said you were fairly sure. Time: 2 min 10 s.
- 02
ARGO labels it
Second-guessing: you changed away from the correct answer. Your renal acid-base mastery drops, and the confusion between type 1 and type 4 RTA is logged.
- 03
Your next session
Two new acid-base questions near 70% predicted success, a confusion drill putting type 1 and type 4 RTA side by side, and the missed question again once a day has passed.
- 04
It measures again
Get them right with confidence and the topic climbs. Keep missing them and ARGO keeps it at the top of your list.
Honest limits
What ARGO doesn't do
It starts from zero
On day one ARGO knows nothing about you, so early sessions scout widely. The targets get sharper with every block.
It can only use the bank
ARGO picks from questions that exist. When a weak topic runs out of unseen questions it tells you, and the add-on can write more.
It doesn't predict your score
Readiness is a progress measure. No algorithm can promise a result, and the terms say plainly that we don't.
It doesn't decide for you
Build your own blocks whenever you like. ARGO sessions are optional, in tutor or timed mode.
Optional add-on · $4.99 a month
When the bank runs out: ARGO question writing
Choosing existing questions is part of Full access. Writing new ones is the add-on. Once you've used up the bank's questions on a topic you keep missing, ARGO writes new ones aimed at that concept, using the wrong answers you keep picking as the distractors.
Before a written question reaches you, an independent AI solver answers it without seeing the key, and an audit checks the keyed answer, the facts and the explanations. Questions that fail are discarded. Written questions are private to your account: they never appear on the public site or in anyone else's bank.
ARGO, answered.
01Is ARGO included in the $48?
Yes. ARGO sessions and the full analytics come with Full access, paid once. Only the optional question-writing add-on costs extra, at $4.99 a month.
02Do I have to use ARGO?
No. You can always build your own blocks by exam, system, discipline, topic or question status, in tutor or timed mode. ARGO sessions are there when you want the next block chosen for you.
03How long before ARGO is useful?
It starts on your first answer, but its picture sharpens with volume. Early sessions lean on scouting across high-weight systems; after a few hundred answers the weak-spot targets are much more specific.
04Does ARGO predict my USMLE score?
No. The readiness index is your mastery across systems, weighted by how much each counts on the exam's content outline, on a 0 to 100 scale. It tracks progress; it isn't a predicted score.
05What happens to my answer data?
It's used to run your ARGO model and your stats, and to show anonymous peer statistics on questions. We don't sell it or use advertising trackers. The privacy policy has the details.
Let ARGO pick your next block.
Start with the free questions. Full access unlocks ARGO and the whole bank for $48 once.
$48 · once · Step 1 + Step 2 CK