Help Up-vote this: Please rollback the latest change or update it to make it less frustrating
Hi Team,
I’d like to share some feedback. My son and I have been ongoing donors and users of Khan Academy for 4+ years now and have loved every update except this most recent one. Last night we spent over 2 hours trying to pass a Unit Test due to simple mistakes on ONE QUESTION each time causing us to have to retake a 14-question test over and over just to achieve mastery. Our first retake was due to hitting "enter" instead of "tab" to move to a different field, this made that question the only one we missed and we then had to take the test all over again. Annoying but not a big deal. The second go around we made a simple math error on one question, then the third time through the test it was a simple math error again but on a different question, same for the 4th time through. On the 5th go around, we got them all right but the time invested to do so was 100% on concepts we already understood and redoing lengthy questions we fully understood felt like pointless busywork where we'd rather be learning new things and progressing. Making a simple mistake on any early question in the test was also especially demotivating because we then not only knew we'd have to start over but also had to finish the rest of the current test questions... more busywork.
Before, missing one question didn't require taking an entire test over again covering all the other content we'd answered correctly and we really liked that and felt it was a good learning strategy. We also liked that random questions from previously mastered sections would pop up in current Master Challenges, cause us to review what we knew and have re-practice if we missed the same question multiple times. In the test example above though, our errors were in pre-calculus and always simple mistakes. This meant technical errors rather than lack of understanding and this led to the errors always being on different questions versus one specific skill we actually needed practice on. We'b both very much have appreciated it if we would have then been tested additionally on what we missed rather than having to repeat the entire Unit Test. Some questions are extremely time consuming and more prone than others to simple mistakes, and having to redo questions like that over and over due to repeatedly missing a questions somewhere else we needed and wanted practice on would have been even more frustrating.
Please help fix these issues. We love Khan Academy and growing our Math skills but the new platform seems to have increased the busywork and decreased the learning and ability to progress when an area is fully understood. The section we worked on last night would be one we considered relatively easy compared to many of the others we’ve done. We’ve had others where we’ve both done a celebratory “happy dance” after finally completing them. This felt good to us because the skills were challenging and we recognized we needed the practice and learned a lot through the struggle. Based on how difficult those were though, I’m pretty sure we’d have given up in frustration if we’d had to also complete all the related (and very time consuming, but fully understood) questions in the unit as we struggled with the ones we were most challenged with. Those sections already took us hours and that’s with me checking my son’s work as we went. For those working on their own, my guess is that it will predictably be even more difficult and frustrating.
You are changing the world for the better and we appreciate that and wish for you and all your students to succeed as best they can! I hope my feedback is well received, keep up the great work.
With Gratitude,
Jae and Hakan
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