Tassomai

[Reasontobelieve]

My Dd in Y10 is struggling with science - not home work - but applying her knowledge in exams. She is well- motivated and would be happy to accept help.

I came across a reference to Tassomai on this site and would be interested to know whether others have found it a worthwhile investment?

DS1 did it for six weeks before his iGCSE Biology and Chemistry exams.

Pros:
It's active revision and practises recall, so is more useful than reading through notes or a textbook.
The content is specific to the course and specification the student is doing.
It tailors itself to the student, revisiting things they got wrong.
The tracker system can help to motivate students to do it regularly.

Cons:
It costs money.
It is all multiple choice format, so does not practise the answering skills needed for GCSE papers. The student will need to practise some past papers in addition to Tassomai.
The number of questions they need to answer each day in order to stay on track increases. So it's manageable to start with, then becomes more demanding. This could be a source of stress for some students. DS1 was trying to fit a 6-8 month course into 6 weeks, so perhaps this problem doesn't occur if it's spread over a longer period of time.

Overall, I would say that it is value for money, and I would use it again, but possibly start earlier.

Would echo the above. My DS started in about Feb I think after mocks and sharp intake of breath! Agree it doesnt help with the questions which require explanation , something my DS struggles with but having the knowledge embedded does seem to help. He has said several questions have been lightbulb " I can see this question on Tassomai" moments in all three sciences. He could sit down and do it when the thought of another revision paper was too much. From May onwards he found it hard to keep everything on track but the support team are superb and can help with resetting targets /focussing and respond very quickly to email so you dont get demoralised by being too far behind. My twin DDs arent quite so science-y but keen on science careers ( gulp) and am planning to get them on in y10 ( Sept onwards) as have heard that the new GCSEs are going to be more demanding. I think you can do a trial month and see if it's a good fit for your DC.

Have a look at mygcsescience.com. It is a one off payment and my Ds found it an excellent resource

dd used it over the last week for stuffing the remaining bits she didn't know into her brain when she was getting very bored of her books. For that it was excellent. I don't think it necessarily helps with understanding - it tests understanding, but doesn't do any explaining, so if you simply don't 'get it' I'm not sure it would help.

OYBBK; Having watched the questions change over a few months I think the premise is that it builds on a knowledge base. They questions do evolve. I'm not sure you're getting the best of what it offers with just a week of use ( though every little helps!)

fair enough :) dd did complete the physics course in 4 days (of very intensive revision), but it's impossible to know what that may have looked like at a more reasonable pace.