Explain It

Explain It with the Feynman technique

Choose your audience — a 5-year-old, a friend, or a professor — and explain a concept in your own words. Get instant feedback on what you got right, what you missed, and how deep your understanding really goes.

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Accuracy
87 / 100
2 gaps found
Psych 201 · Cognitive Dissonance

Explain it to...

5-year-old
Friend
Professor
Cognitive dissonance is when you hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time and it makes you uncomfortable. Like if you know smoking is bad but you still smoke — your brain tries to reduce that discomfort by changing one of the beliefs...

AI feedback

Accuracy
87%
Depth
64%
Consistency
91%

Trusted since 2011

1.77 million+ students

Kibin has helped students work through difficult material for over a decade. Explain It puts one of the best-studied ideas in learning science — teach to learn — directly into your study flow.

Three steps

How Explain It works

1. Upload your material

Add a PDF, paste notes, drop in a YouTube link, or upload a recording. Kibin reads it and builds your concept bank.

2. Pick your audience

Choose who you're explaining to — a 5-year-old, a friend, or a professor. Each level demands a different kind of understanding.

3. Write and get graded

Type out the concept in your own words. Kibin scores your accuracy, depth, and consistency — and pinpoints gaps in understanding.

Tailored difficulty

The audience sets the bar

Explaining something to a 5-year-old demands plain language and everyday analogies. Explaining it to a professor demands precise terminology and real depth. Kibin grades each level differently — you choose what to practice and how hard to push.

5-year-old

Simple language, concrete analogies, no jargon. If a kid couldn't follow it, simplify.

Friend

Casual but accurate — explain the why, not just the what. No need to over-define terms.

Selected
Professor

Precise terminology, full mechanism, edge cases addressed. No hand-waving.

Your explanation

Cognitive dissonance happens when two beliefs conflict. Leon Festinger showed that people change their attitudes to reduce psychological discomfort — like justifying a bad purchase after you've already made it...

Feedback breakdown
Accuracy87%

Core concept correct

Depth64%

Missing dissonance-reduction mechanisms

Consistency91%

No contradictions found

Gap identified

You described the phenomenon but didn't explain how people resolve dissonance — attitude change, behavior change, or rationalization.

Specific feedback

Know exactly what you missed

Kibin's feedback checks accuracy, depth, and consistency separately, then flags specific gaps in your explanation so you know precisely what to revisit. You're not just learning that you were wrong — you're learning what you missed and why it matters.

Active recall, complete

Prove you understand it

Active recall — forcing yourself to retrieve information rather than re-read it — is one of the most studied improvements to learning in cognitive science. Explain It brings the most demanding form of active recall to your material: you don't just recall an answer, you have to build and defend one.

Study Pack · Psych 201
Quiz
15 questions · 80% mastery
Complete
Flashcards
32 cards · 68% mastery
In progress
Explain It
4 concepts · 2 sessions
Active
Overall mastery74%

Explain concepts from any source

Upload your source material and Kibin builds a concept bank ready for Explain It sessions.

PDF

Textbook chapters, lecture slides, research papers — Kibin pulls the key concepts.

Notes

Paste typed notes or a study guide and practice explaining every concept.

YouTube

Drop in a lecture URL and Kibin extracts the ideas you need to be able to explain.

Audio

Upload a recorded lecture or voice notes and build your concept bank from what was said.

Your questions, answered

What is the Feynman technique?

The Feynman technique is a learning method built on one idea: if you can't explain something simply, you don't fully understand it yet. You write out a concept as if teaching someone else, then use the gaps in your explanation to guide your next round of studying. It's one of the most well-researched approaches to deep learning in cognitive science — sometimes called the teach-back method or retrieval practice through explanation. The Kibin app brings this method to your study material and grades your explanation in seconds.

How is Explain It different from Kibin's Quiz and Flashcards?

Quiz and Flashcards test whether you can recognize or recall a correct answer. Explain It asks you to write the answer yourself, in your own words — the harder kind of active recall. Use all three tools together in a Study Pack for complete coverage of a topic.

What does Kibin's feedback cover?

Kibin checks three things: accuracy (did you get the concept right?), depth (did you explain the why, not just the what?), and consistency (does your explanation stay consistent throughout?). It also flags specific gaps — ideas you left out or described incorrectly — so you know exactly where to go back.

Can I use Explain It for free?

Yes, you can try Explain It for free. Unlimited sessions are included with Kibin Pro.

See what you actually know

Put the Feynman technique to work on your material — in about a minute.

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