Online Learning Programs Reviewed!

[s110820]

Hi everyone!

Since exam season is fast approaching, I thought that it would be useful for me to review several online programs that you could use to assist you in your exam preparation! But just remember, that you should not entirely depend on these programs for your study and revision as it's extremely important to use as many resources as possible.

1. Seneca

If you're someone like me who procrastinates on maths homework by watching studytubers, you may have heard of this learning program before. While the Seneca program is mainly based on British and American subjects, the team at Seneca are expanding internationally by considering the Australian curriculums as well! Most of the content is free, however, to upgrade to the premium version which includes all of the resources costs 4.99 pounds per month which translates to around $9.34 (AUD) per month. However, since the Australian version of Seneca is still in construction, the courses that they have are limited. For example, at the moment, the only courses they have are QCAA and VCAA Frankenstein, HSC Business Studies, QCAA A Streetcar Named Desire, VCAA Othello and Cognitive Science for Teachers.

However, as more Australian curriculum courses are in development at the moment, I think that this program would be extremely useful to use in the future! A great aspect of this program is that you can do a thirty-minute session of their premium "smart learning" for free! Along with the sections of content that they provide and the "free premium trial" of Seneca (there's a premium trial template available as well which you can use before you decide to buy the premium version) are pretty much the only advantages of the free version, as the "premium" version has a lot more content available.

Apparently, it has the "night before" option where you can cram your revision before your exam, past/predicted (if you're in the UK fo papers, unlimited tutoring all day (an extra cost), wrong answer mode and smart learning mode. I'm not entirely sure if these features are available for the Australian version but I am contacting the Seneca team now just to make sure. I'll update this thread with the answer! However, they do also have a blog which may help as well.

My opinion: At the moment, since none of the courses for my specific subjects or texts is available, I don't find Seneca "worth it" or "worth the money" however, I do try to find similar courses of my specific subjects through the British and/or the American curriculums. It's not always the "exact" same but there is still useful content for me to use to improve my academic skills.

2. Atomi

I have recently discovered this program and I honestly fell in love with the usability and the functionality of the website! The design and layout are so clean and easy to use that my inner user design geek squealed in delight. However, this program is slightly more expensive than Seneca. Similarly to Seneca, Atomi also offers a "free" version of their program. However, their program is quite limited (only 1-2 video lessons available per topic) in each sub-topic of a unit. Quizzes are also available through their program but the option of quizzes is only available to premium users.

In terms of the cost, you can either subscribe to the yearly or monthly plan, where, for example the yearly plan would be $9.00 (AUD) per week, which equates to $470.00 per year (including tax) whereas the monthly plan is $59.99 billed monthly (including tax). Personally, I would choose the yearly cost over the monthly cost as it would be cheaper, but if you do decide to choose this program, the choice is up to you! However, they do also have a blog which may help as well.

My opinion: While this program does actually offer all of my subjects (and subjects for VCE, QCE, SA, HSC and WA) and has a reasonable price, it may not support each individual learning style as it only offers video lessons and quizzes. Personally, while I do love these revision options, I would love if they had a more "interactive" platform with something like subject forums and 24/7 tutoring/homework help. But that's just my opinion

As I'm still doing a bit of research into the many learning programs, the updates to this thread may be a little bit slow but I'll update it as much as I can. But of course, if you do have any online resources/programs (such as Khan Academy, Quizlet, SparkNotes etc.) that you would like me to review, please don't hesitate to let me know as I'm sure that it will help the entire ATAR Notes community in terms of their individual exam preparation for the upcoming exam season.

Have a great week and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.

[s110820]

Hi everyone,

I did a bit more research for you all, and I found another few websites/learning programs that you could use for your revision, study or exam preparation.

1. Revise Online

The Revision Online program offers subjects for VCE, QCE and WACE students. For example, the subjects offered for VCE students include Biology Units 1-4, Business Management Units 1-4, Chemistry Unit 3&4, Further Mathematics Unit 3&4, Health and Human Development Units 1-4, Mathematics Methods Unit 3&4, Mathematics Specialist Unit 3&4, Physical Education Studies Units 1-4, Physics Units 1-4 and Psychology Unit 1-4.

For QCE students, this program offers Unit 1-4 subjects for Biology, Chemistry, General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods, Mathematics Specialist, Physical Education, Physics and Psychology. For WACE students, this program offers Accounting & Finance, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English, Human Biology, Literature, Mathematical Methods, Mathematics Applications, Mathematics Specialist, Physical Education Studies, Physics, Psychology as well as Religion and Life.

However, the downside of this program is the cost. For example, students have to pay $44 per course which includes the revision program itself, topic tests, exam builders and full exams, easy self-marking, best answers and marking keys, subject reports as well as forty days to review for each test --> (I'm not sure what this refers to). While it does offer a lot more resources than Atomi and is more "subject-related" than Seneca, it may be expensive for some students.

2. Khan Academy

As much as I love the Khan Academy program due to its clean design, amazing functionality/usability as well as how it's free to use, the only downside to us, as Australian students, is that it mainly focuses on the American subject curriculum. However, you could use this program to your advantage by looking up your subject topics individually and learning from their extremely useful videos and articles if you desire.

Sorry for the short update, but hopefully this helps you find the best program for you! And hopefully, I'll get my own revision program up and running for you guys to use at no to minimal cost! I'll keep you guys updated

Have a great week and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.

[s110820]

Mini Update: The learning program Atomi just updated their content and are now offering QCE Economics Unit 3+4,
QCE Psychology Unit 3+4 and Unit 1+2/Unit 3+4 QCE Geography!

Have a great week and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.