Customer Reviews

Ace's SSAT/ISEE Exambusters Study Cards (Ace's Exambusters Study Cards)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This product seems to have been created in someone's garage in 1994. The voice says inane things ("uh-oh, better hit the books") and has an accent that doesn't inspire confidence in its level of education. This is only superficial, however. The CDROM installs itself clumsily on your PC (didn't install properly on one of mine), and once you open up this behemoth, what do you get? A poorly designed set of flashcards, reminiscent of PowerPoint circa 1997. The "test" mode (which only has three tests, not unlimited permutations as you would hope from a CDROM) merely shows you a flashcard, invites you to flip it over to check your own answer, and then requires you to click a button to say if you were thinking of the right answer. It's antediluvian. No middle school student could respect this product, nor should they. If these were merely paper flash cards, they would be all right - listing basic math facts so you don't have to write them out for yourself and can spend your time studying. As an electronic product, however, it is worse than a waste of money; it's an insult to intelligence.

For one, you can only run this software if you have the CD inserted. In my case, I have a PC without a CD drive, so had to get an external drive to install the software just to discover that you can't do a full install (i.e. where you don't need the CD).

I expected something that would allow my son to review all the section associated with the SSAT--not so, this only has math.

Every year I recommend them to my students. The ones who buy them seem to do a little better than they might have. The cards are numbered, so it's easy to tell them which ones they need to know, and which they can set aside based on the curriculum. It's harder to accomplish that type of culling of information with a review book you'd buy at the superstore.

The CD was a great way for my student to work on math to prepare for the SSAT. He had done work in books and found this more fun so he worked on it longer.

bought this as a christmas gift in November, found out after giving it that it was not mac compatible though the seller did not indicate this anywhere on the page, had to get the gift back after the 30 day return policy.....amazon allowed for the late return but charged for the return shipping! Why do they not indicate that it is not macintosh compatible?

The software has a bg that won't let it run correctly, I sent a message to their htoline, never even got an answer. Total rip-off

When I was in school, flash cards were the best way to learn and I always made my own. The exambusters cards cover many of my daughter's courses and I bought her several. Sometimes we work together and she and her friends study in a group too--making a trivia game. Try the software. The screensaver function is great!! In our house, we love to learn new languages. The program flashes words or phrases and then translation every few seconds. The material goes into your brain by osmosis and the constantly changing cards on the screen keep pulling you back to read more. The software is much easier to figure out than some other brands we've purchased. It's intuitive; you don't need to read a lot of confusing instructions. All in all, good investment.

I bought several courses. The cards offer basic concepts in small bites. The information was relevant to what was presented by my teacher. The cards and CD's gave good review before exams and a head start at the start of the new school year. The cards had a lot of questions; you can carry them in your pocket and learn a few each day. The software was easy to use. It is like the cards but on the screen. You can take a test or just review. Front is question, click for answer on back of card. The software can also show the cards on the screen at random, first the question, then the answer. They change every few seconds. That keeps you reading and wondering what's coming up next. It's entertaining while you're studying.

In junior high, my son got a head start on high school courses and that helped him get better grades. He used both cards and CD. My son liked the software, so he studied more than he would have from a book. Learning is hard work, but the exambusters made him feel like it's not quite so bad. The software is well-laid out, colorful, and user-friendly. The messages they give when they score the tests are amusing.

My students love them. We use them in class for group study and a jeopardy/trivia game. They're good review before finals and good preview for upcoming lessons. Exambusters cover the basics in an unconfusing format. In our learning center, we use the software. It's easy to figure out. Just click around and all the functions are clear. Students can remove cards they know or don't need from a virtual stack of cards, the same as if they had index cards printed. The screensaver helped with vocabulary study especially. The computer test was different each time and no matter how many times it was taken. There are three lengths to choose from, quiz, mid-term, and final.