Review: Exam Elf is boot camp for standardized math testing
Bottom Line:Exam Elf is like boot camp for teaching fourth, fifth and sixth graders standardized testing skills for Common Core-aligned mathmatics. Make no mistake, this app exists to teach testing skills, and it notes shortcomings in detailed reports. Although it gives corrected answers, there are no explanations provided to students. Users who need to get more comfortable with test taking will benefit from the large volume of questions they must answer to progress in the app.
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Exam Elf has no ads, no external links and no in-app purchases, but please note: Although the in-app purchases are currently free for early adopters and will stay free for those users, future updates will make those in-apps cost up to $5, according to the developer's website.
Picture every hated thing about math testing that a fourth, fifth or sixth grader could come up with: distractions, rushing though without checking work, remembering an answer for the several seconds it takes to look from the question to find the spot to place the answer. It hurts my head thinking about all of that and I'm 42 years old. Exam Elf has taken questions from Kaplan Test Preparation and divided them into layers of mild game play levels. When the app is first opened, students and parents are walked though a tutorial introducing characters and how to play. The tutorial can be accessed from a pull up menu at the bottom of the screen at any time.
Users choose an avatar and player name. Avatars can be changed at a later time, but only after accumulating enough brains through game play. There are six areas of play: Timing, Focus, Quality, Strategy, Vision and Grasp. Timing and Focus are the only sections available at first as the rest are unlocked as the game progresses.
The elves are introduced as Lily the tutor, Kyru the Exam Elf Master, Jimmy the distractor, Duke the brain farmer and Twinkle the star fairy. Lily is listed as a guide, but I haven't seen her come to help yet so I'm not sure how helpful she is. Kyru introduces each section and reminds users to check their answers. Jimmy is a large, brightly dressed hamster whose entire purpose is to make noise and flap around in front of questions to get kids used to distractions. I hate Jimmy even though he provides an important skill building exercise. Duke grows brains on a tree that kids can use for power-ups or for purchasing new backgrounds or changing avatars. My son said, "Brain berries are gross, Mom." which I agree with, but I was all about having organically grown brains to help me with my math questions, so I looked past the ickiness. Twinkle brings stars that can be accumulated for power-ups.
Game progression is not easy. My brain jumped off the testing train almost 20 years ago when I graduated from college, so I struggled like a hesisitant kiddo. Luckily, my brilliant daughter was around to pick up my slack and put the app through the gauntlet. While we may have had difficulty answering some of the problems, the questions were clearly laid out and the multiple choice answers were standard. The real clunkiness of this app is in the form of the extras, power-ups and understanding how many questions are needed to achieve belts and unlock new sections of the game. On the home screen, clicking on "Stars" explains that stars can be accumulated to achieve power-ups, but there is no mention of how many stars are needed. Clicking "Next Belt" does not explain how far away from the next belt users are. Instead, it introduces all of the game characters. "Enter Codes" opens to a screen where early adopters can unlock sections quickly by recruiting "boosters." When students click to add a booster, they are given a student code and a four digit PIN that can be added. The boosters (family, friends or other tutors) then pick avatars and can send their student a high five, view a strengths and weaknesses report about the student, send a message or answer up to five math questions to help. Folks, the math questions are just like the questions the kiddos get. The worst part is there is no escape from the questions. If a family member chooses this option, they have to answer. Luckily, if they answer incorrectly, the game doesn't tell the student. All of these things are done within the app and no external emails are necessary. When the booster has completed his or her task(s) they can swap users back to the student, ande any boosts will appear during game play.
The only bug I found while examining this app was the "next belt" icon that showed game characters instead of any information about the belts. The pull-out answer sheet is not intuitive, and while that might be something that I would normally mark an app down for, the developer, Zumfun, explains on its website that this is done to help students feel comfortable remembering an answer from question to placement.
While Exam Elf is full of math testing content that serves the purpose of the app, the boosts seem to be more of a distraction than a help. My children and I spent more time understanding how to acquire and use boosts than answering questions. I think clarifying each boost and game section for students might help make this game more appealing to children that need test taking help. That being said, the content is huge, free and useful for this age group.
*****
Cynthia will throw a wet, dirty sock at anyone who makes her do math again this week. SmartAppsForKids.com was paid a priority review fee to complete this revew in an expedited manner.
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