BreakTest
The Mission
BreakTest is an answer to a fairness problem.
THE STATUS QUO
Students pay thousands for private tutors or get lost in generic, system-less free resources. They practice randomly without knowing what's holding them back.
THE SOLUTION
I built BreakTest to provide the system—clarity, targeted feedback, and a path that adapts as they improve. It tracks mistakes, trains specific weaknesses, and measures real progress.
The Loop
Most score gains don't come from doing "more questions." They come from fixing repeatable errors.
Practice
Take a full test or targeted set.
Log
Every miss is logged and categorized.
Analyze
Mastery updates by error type.
Target
Platform generates specific redo sets.
Learn
Cognito (AI) gives progressive hints.
Improve
Score projections update in real-time.
That loop is the product.
What I Built
Engineering
Auth Architecture
Clerk → Django integration. I implemented RS256 JWT verification in Django with custom middleware. This includes JIT user provisioning and performance-focused caching (Redis for tokens ~30s, JWKS ~1h). It enforces subscriptions via DRF mixins, effectively blocking unauthorized API calls even if the UI is bypassed.
High Performance
Built to scale. Uses PgBouncer for connection pooling in production. Implemented Redis-backed DRF throttling with per-endpoint classes for AI and submission endpoints. Heavily optimized DB queries using `select_related` and `prefetch_related` to eliminate N+1 query issues.
AI Guardrails
Designed to be helpful without leaking answers. Implemented a progressive hint ladder (Concept → Strategy → Technique) with context-aware prompting. The system prioritizes pedagogical value over simply giving the solution.
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