TOK Physics Mentor
Physics students know the experiments. Dr. Rao shows you how those experiments become TOK arguments — connecting what you already understand to what the examiners want to see.
Overview
TOK essays intimidate physics students for the wrong reason. The subject feels abstract and disconnected from the equations and experiments they're confident with. The truth is the opposite — physics is one of the richest Areas of Knowledge for TOK, full of ready-made examples about how we know what we know.
The TOK Physics Mentor is a conversational AI that bridges this gap. Built around Dr. Rathankar Rao's philosophical and methodical teaching style, it takes your chosen physics topic and your Prescribed Title, and guides you — one question at a time — through building TOK arguments. It focuses on Ways of Knowing (reason, sense perception, imagination, language), the nature of evidence in physics, and how the knower's perspective shapes scientific knowledge.
At the end of a session you receive a structured TOK Essay Blueprint — prescribed title, physics context, relevant WOKs, lines of argument, and a counterargument — not written for you, but laid out clearly enough to write from.
Physics as your lens
Uses your existing physics knowledge — experiments, models, theories — as TOK evidence.
WOK mapping
Identifies which Ways of Knowing are most relevant to your physics topic and title.
Essay blueprint
Final output is a structured point-form guide — lines of argument, counterargument, physics context.
Philosophical dialogue
Dr. Rao asks one angle at a time — knower's perspective, paradigm shifts, limits of models.
Auto model fallback
Detects the best Gemini model your key supports, falls back automatically.
Your key, your data
Calls go directly from your browser to Google. Nothing stored on our servers.
How it works
The session runs in two phases. First, Dr. Rao asks which area of physics you want to explore — classical mechanics, quantum physics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism. Once you have a topic, he asks for your exact Prescribed Title.
From there the conversation focuses on connecting your physics topic to the title — one TOK angle per turn. Dr. Rao probes specific Ways of Knowing, asks about the nature of evidence in your chosen area, and challenges you to think about what a physicist knows and how they know it. He brings up paradigm shifts, the role of imagination in theory-building, the limits of mathematical models.
At turn 20 he produces the Essay Blueprint — a structured HTML outline you can screenshot and use as your writing plan. He does not write the essay. The arguments are yours; the blueprint is the scaffold.
Step-by-step
Enter your Gemini API key
Paste your Google Gemini key. The tool detects the best model available for your key. If you've used another Tier 2 tool before, the key is pre-filled.
Choose a physics area
Dr. Rao will ask which area of physics you want to use. Classical mechanics is a strong starting point if you're unsure — it has the richest TOK history (Newton, Einstein, paradigm shifts).
State your Prescribed Title
Copy your exact Prescribed Title from the IB. Dr. Rao will align the entire conversation to that title — making sure your physics examples are directly relevant to what the examiner is asking.
Explore one TOK angle at a time
Each turn focuses on a specific question: a Way of Knowing, the role of experiment, the limits of theory, the knower's bias. Take time to think — these are genuine philosophical questions, not trick questions.
Receive your Essay Blueprint
At the end you get a structured plan: title, physics context, relevant WOKs, lines of argument, counterargument. Screenshot it and use it to write your essay — or bring it to your TOK teacher for feedback.