Virtual tutors and state exam modulators are gaining popularity in Russia

Many people hire tutors for the Unified State Examination and the Unified State Examination, and at school they write “samples” for each exam. But with the advent of digitalization, an alternative way of preparing for the main school exam emerged – electronic.

First, there are online test preparation schools. There are simply online schools for all subjects or several (seven, for example). There are monoschools in a certain subject, only one Russian language, or chemistry, or social studies.

The phenomenon of online schools is so widespread that there are ratings of the best, and even guarantees of quality (Unified State Examination with 85 points, for example). If you study the content, you can see from the pictures and texts that a fair portion of schools are directly tuned to the teenage audience and appeal to them: buzzwords, memes, anime… That is, it is assumed that the child will actually study on his own. Structurally, in such schools, everything is arranged approximately the same: there are webinars, video lectures, test materials, infographics – everything is very clear.

Communication with a live lecturer is also possible, but this is online tutoring and costs additional money. The preparation time also varies: from a year to express courses for one or two months. Apparently, for those who had exactly that much time left before the exam, and suddenly realized that they knew nothing.

The advantages of such courses and schools include, undoubtedly, a lower cost than that of tutors. Even if live teachers work in a group or teach remotely, the difference is several times, or even an order of magnitude. But in order for a 9th or 11th grader to “go” to such an electronic school, he still must be conscious, diligent, and be able to self-organize. That is, learn on your own.

Tutor programs and even state exam simulator platforms have become a new step in preparing for state exams. The creators of such software swear that the most outstanding minds of our time among teachers pored over their development. And even a notorious humanist, using a math simulator, for example, will score no less than 62 points. And even in a month and a half.

But in general, the point here is also to avoid wasting time searching for tasks in demo versions; the program itself will offer these tasks, and then indicate and sort out errors. You also can’t ignore the gaming aspect – the simulators with animated pictures are so funny. Firstly, most teenagers are still mental children, and secondly, without straining, but “as if frolicking and playing,” the body produces dopamine and the brain absorbs information better. It is interesting that the first software product for game-based preparation for the Unified State Exam appeared back in 2015.

But life does not stand still – and relatively recently, a graduate of a technical university in Moscow presented a project for a simulator-tutor for preparing for the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Exam, which combines the principle of a taxi aggregator with the capabilities of artificial intelligence. The “educational trajectory” of a graduate is built according to the taxi principle from the point “I know nothing” to the point of the desired level of preparation in the subject (on average, this is an exam written for 80 points). If during the entire preparation period the user does not get where he needs to go, that is, does not write the Unified State Examination with such a score, part of the money for the “trip” is returned to him.

And finally, there is a completely recreated Unified State Exam simulator, with full timing of each exam and a database of all demo tasks. It was actually designed for schools, and there are sections for principals, teachers, and even exam invigilators. But this does not mean that a student cannot use the product for himself. You can virtually attend the Unified State Exam before writing test papers, and as many times as necessary. The only thing that cannot be achieved at home in front of the computer is the atmosphere of nervous tension in the classroom, cameras, metal detectors and strict observers of the real exam.

“It seems to me that all these schools, platforms and other things are good help for preparing for exams,” says family psychologist Maryana Razumovskaya. – The gaming component is good, it removes the pressure. And the fact that they are designed in the style of anime or cartoons. This all reduces the level of anxiety. It’s just that both children and parents need to analyze why there was a need to catch up on knowledge in some subject. Maybe because the student himself did not study as he should or did nothing at all? Then where is the guarantee that he will learn in an electronic school or with a simulator? Here you need supervision of classes by an adult, or at least checking the results of classes.

The other extreme is overly responsible children who will study for hours, running these programs with simulators. You know, musicians have this concept of “overplaying.” The opposite effect occurs: you can’t move your hand and don’t remember that we’re playing. This possibility is also present with a certain type of child. Therefore, this “electronic” preparation cannot be left to chance. Still, you need the supervision of an adult observer.