How it works
You bring the problem.
We build the path to understanding it.
Instead of solving your problem, NotClass identifies the specific concepts you’re missing and gives you three targeted sub-problems that build exactly those skills. A Socratic AI guides you through each one — asking questions, never explaining.
“A 5 kg block is placed on a 30° ramp with friction coefficient 0.4. Does it slide?”
You’re stuck. You don’t know where to start.
How do you decompose gravity on a tilted surface?
When does friction prevent motion vs. just slow it?
What determines net force direction on an incline?
...waiting
You learn because you need to know, not because it’s on the syllabus.
The difference
Inside a sub-problem
It asks the questions
that make you discover
the physics yourself.
Each sub-problem comes with a Socratic AI that guides you without ever giving the answer. It asks questions. It surfaces contradictions. It puts you in situations where the concept becomes obvious.
The answer, once given, is immediately forgotten. The answer, once discovered, is never forgotten.
Why this works
The gym for physics thinking.
Difficulty is the product
Every other edtech company tries to make learning easier. We make it productive. A gym that made exercise easy would be useless. A gym that makes exercise productive is invaluable. The sub-problems aren’t busy work — they’re carefully chosen so that solving them builds the exact muscle you’re missing.
No escape hatch
ChatGPT is a blank canvas. When you’re stuck at midnight, the temptation to say “just give me the answer” is enormous — and it will. NotClass won’t. It has no opinion about your grade. It has a strong opinion about your understanding. The only way through is thinking.
Understanding compounds
Once you truly understand forces on an incline — not memorize, understand — every problem involving ramps, friction, and force components becomes easier. Each concept you genuinely grasp makes the next one faster to learn. It’s compound interest for the mind.
Where this goes
Today: Socratic decomposition.
Tomorrow: a physics world.
Bring a problem, get a path, build understanding
You’re stuck on a problem. NotClass decomposes it into sub-skills, walks you through each one Socratically, and sends you back to solve the original. Works today.
See the physics happen
AI-generated visualizations show what actually happens in each scenario. When your mental model disagrees with reality, you see exactly where and why. The surprise becomes visual.
Build things in a physics world
A simulation where you have a mission — build a bridge, launch a rocket, design a circuit. The physics is real. When your thing breaks, you want to understand why. The breaking is the teaching.
Who this is for
The student who knows that getting the answer
isn’t the same as understanding it.
“I can solve projectile problems, but I never know which equation to pick — I just try them all until one works.”
AP Physics studentSurviving on pattern-matching. The decomposition shows them why the equation works, not just which one to use.
“ChatGPT gives me the answer in 2 seconds. But I still can’t do it on the exam without it.”
Engineering sophomoreThey know the shortcut isn’t working. They need something that builds the skill, not bypasses it.
“The professor derives everything from scratch, but I can’t picture what the math is actually describing.”
University Physics 201The sub-problems ground the abstraction in concrete scenarios they can reason about before touching equations.
“I memorized F=ma but I don’t really get what happens when the angle changes or friction is involved.”
First-year physics studentThe formula is there. The intuition isn’t. That’s exactly what the Socratic decomposition builds.
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Richard Feynman
Bring a problem you can’t solve.
Leave understanding why.
Free. No credit card. No sign-up wall.
Just you, the physics, and a Socratic AI that won’t give you the answer.