A local company called Exam Oracle has developed an online software tool to help matrics prepare for their final exams.
According to Gavin Ray, founder of Exam Oracle, the solution brings together past papers and summaries in an intuitive online software package.
"I tutored for three years while at Wits University and this led me to the insight of creating the software," says Ray, adding that a tried and tested method of preparing for final exams involves practicing with past papers. "Every year, exams are prepared using the same methodology. The similarities between each year's final exam are astonishing," he notes.
"If the learner knows what types of questions they are going to be asked, and prepares for each one, they will be in a great position to do well in the exam."
Ray believes that time is one of the biggest challenges during the final weeks of exam preparation. He explains that when a learner is doing a past paper and they come across a question they don't understand, they need to search through the memo for the answer, or they need to hunt through the textbook to find the section they need to revise.
"Have you ever found yourself studying a past paper, and then you get a question that looks completely alien to you? How do you begin to tackle this problem? You may pick up the textbook, and look through the chapters for the section of work that sounds right, or you may have to sit through the index or flip through the book to find the area of work you need to revise," he asks.
With this software, every resource is at your fingertips, he says, pointing out that to find the answer to a past paper question, a learner can simply click the answer icon and the full solution will scroll directly beneath the question.
By clicking on "more information on this question" icon, a full summary - including an overview, relevant rules, diagrams and worked examples - will scroll beneath the question, says Ray. "Now you understand the section of work and you want to practice some questions before you continue in the past paper? Click "more examples" and the summary will be replaced by questions - all while you are still in the past paper experience."
Ray also points out that the questions and summaries are specifically designed based on the methodology used by examiners. Every question is designed to prepare the student for a potential question they may receive in the exam, while the summaries cover the most important issues in a subject area that the examiners like to focus on.
He states that the software not only provides all recent years' past papers, with the full features including answers, more information on this question and other examples, but provides a host of other features.
These include "flag this question", which allows the learner to flag questions while they are working through a past paper, he explains.
"At any point, the learner can 'show flagged questions', and instantly revisit questions they would like to redo or may have skipped," he notes. Other features include a timer and an exciting 'rapid fire' feature that will give the user one random question at a time, with a timer that counts down, giving the user an indication of how long they should be spending on a question, Ray says.
For Ray, one of the most exciting features of this product is its use of social media technology in the "Tutor At Hand" service. From the get go, he says, the user has the option of connecting their account to the software's Facebook and Twitter accounts and using these social networks to communicate with tutors.
"Tutors will reply to any query within a maximum of 24 hours, where learners using conventional tutoring have to wait until the next time they see their tutor for help."
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