Alexa Developer Console build page showing custom intents (QuizIntent, TeachIntent, AnswerIntent) and slot mappings.
AWS Lambda code (lambda_function.py) showing quiz question pools, 3-question limits, and custom intent handler logic
Live Alexa simulator test showing interactive C++ quiz prompts, real-time answer verification, and JSON session state tracking.

Inspiration

Learning programming concepts like C++ can often feel dry or static. We wanted to build an interactive, hands-free "Study Buddy" that acts like a personal voice tutor—letting students learn and test their knowledge just by talking.

What it does

Teaches Concepts: Users can ask the skill to explain technical topics (like pointers or functions) using conversational voice commands.
Timed & Randomized Quizzes: Conducts 3-question quiz sessions with dynamically shuffled, non-repeating questions.
Performance Summary: Tracks overall session time against a 10-minute limit and provides immediate scores and duration stats.

How we built it

Platform & Framework: Built using Python and the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) SDK.
Backend Infrastructure: Hosted and deployed via AWS Lambda.
State Management: Utilizes Alexa session_attributes to manage live question queues (random.shuffle & list.pop), track question count, score, and measure elapsed completion time using Python's time module.

Challenges we ran into

Managing State & Non-Repeating Questions: Preventing duplicate questions during a single quiz session required shifting from a static random picker to a session-backed queue using list.pop().
Session Timing: Implementing a robust 10-minute session expiration window alongside individual question pacing.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Successfully built a complete, end-to-end voice application from scratch that handles multiple intent handlers (Launch, Teach, Quiz, Answer, Yes, No, and Fallback).
Clean separation of handlers allowing smooth transitions between teaching a topic and jumping straight into a quiz.

What we learned

Deepened our understanding of Alexa's request/response lifecycle, session state persistence, and slot management for voice UI development.

What's next for Study Buddy – Interactive Voice Tutor & Quiz Assistant

Integrating AWS DynamoDB for persistent user profiles and high scores across multiple sessions.
Expanding the question database to cover multiple difficulty tiers and programming languages like Python and Data Structures.