How matching works
AI Course Signal is a transparent rule-based engine. It is not AI-powered, not a black box, and not optimized for commission. Every point a course earns is traceable to one answer you gave, and the full weight table is published below — the same constants that ship in the site's code.
Six answers, with two eligibility checks
The quiz asks about your goal, experience, weekly time, budget, format, and learning language. We first exclude courses outside your chosen language or recorded budget tier, unless a paid course has a documented free entry path. Interface language does not override your explicit learning language. Among eligible courses, matching tags earn the points below. Prices and availability can change: confirm the current offer before enrolling.
The weights
| Rule | Points | Why it weighs that much |
|---|---|---|
| Goal match | +6 | The strongest signal — a course that doesn't serve your goal is never a good match. |
| Experience match | +4 | A course pitched at the wrong level wastes your time, free or not. |
| Budget fit | +3 | The price tier falls within your stated budget. |
| Format match | +3 | Self-paced, live cohort, or community — matching how you actually learn. |
| Time fit | +2 | The course realistically fits your weekly hours. |
| Free entry path | +1 | A paid product that still offers a genuine free way in (e.g. free to audit). |
| "Any format" | +1 | A small neutral credit when you have no format preference. |
What the results show you
Up to three eligible courses appear with matching reasons, suggested effort, experience fit, a concrete next step, and a caveat. We show fewer courses when necessary instead of relaxing your language or budget. You can save courses in this browser, remove them later, or bookmark the result URL. Reporting that you started a course is your own feedback; opening its website does not count as enrollment.
Reason keys, not hard-coded copy
The engine never returns user-facing strings. Each scoring reason is a key (e.g. reason.goal) plus parameters (e.g. which goal you picked); the UI renders that key through the active locale dictionary, in English or Chinese. One scoring codebase serves both languages, and copy can never influence ranking.
Where the course facts come from
The catalog mirrors our sister site, aicourserank.com, where courses have named learner reviews and dimension scores. Course facts such as format, duration, and availability are checked against provider sources; community ratings remain separate. Read the review methodology on aicourserank.com for the full model.