ExamTime - The New Learning Platform and Software for Students: A Review

Exam Time is a free new learning platform for students which enables them to study effectively by creating quizzes, flashcards, notes and mind maps. It is changing the way students approach exam revision and makes studying more technological. It is a fresh and modern interface which allows students to study "in the 21st Century". Ditch the books, get your studying done on ExamTime! In this review, I will take a look at its features, updates and if it will really impact the world.

There are many features on this platform. The great thing is that ExamTime is cloud accessible so you can use it on your iPad, laptop or smartphone on the go. You could be on the train, take out your smartphone and start learning! I will take a look at these tools and give my verdict at the end.

There are four tools you can use on ExamTime and they are constantly updating it so there are probably more. The four tools that they have are:

• Mind Maps - Create colourful mindmaps which reflect a chapter in brief and contain all the key words you need. You can attach diagrams and pictures to the nodes for science or geography. A playback feature is also available which makes an animation of the mindmap and gives it a life of its own.
• Flashcards - This study technique is becoming increasingly popular in the world, used by millions of students each day. ExamTime bring paper flashcards to the digital world and have an intuitive interface which make the flashcards come to life. You can attach images to them, and test yourself by flipping them. At the end, you will receive your score.
• Notes - Create your own notes as you would in Microsoft's OneNote with text, images and videos. You can embed all kinds of interactive elements into the notes and also playback your notes.
• Quizzes - Test yourself on a topic by creating a quick quiz which can measure your timing, scores and more.

The flashcards tool is a great idea and aids learning key facts, formulae, dates and vocabulary. You place the question on one side and then the answer is on the other side. I have used it and have to say it works very well and is of high standard. The great thing is that you can access your flashcards from your smartphone on the go. It's so easy to use and on the plus side, it saves the trees!

Images can also be added to the flashcards. This is particularly useful if you are studying maths, science or subjects which have a very visual aspect to them.

You can test yourself by seeing if you know the answer to the question, flipping it and then giving it the "thumbs up" sign. This signals that you know the flashcard. At the end, your score is tallied up and you are given a mark.

Mind Maps, invented by Tony Buzan are used by millions of students every day. They start with a topic in the centre and sub-topics branching out from the centre. These sub-topics diverge into even more branches, consisting of much detail. Whilst even a mere sketch will do, it's nice to make a neat and colourful mind map. ExamTime brings just this and is it good? You bet it is! However, I would like if you could put diagrams and images into your mind maps to create a better learning experience. I tried this tool out for myself and creates a mind map on 'Acids and Bases'. It took a long time to make, but it was well worth it!

This is a new tool by ExamTime and is designed with both student and teacher in mind. Teachers can use this to make their notes for lessons.

With this tool, you can create amazing notes with all kinds of embeddable content such as images and videos. The text can be written in a variety of fonts from bold to italic and in all colours. The notes can be divided into several sub-topics through the use of folders. It is a fast and action-packed notes editor which can rival that of Microsoft's OneNote. It won't radically change the way we learn, but is a handy tool to have nonetheless.

In this feature, you can make a quiz with a variety of answers. You simply create your questions and answers. It's a great way to test what you've learned and again can be done on the go. You can add images to the quiz, which may help in identifying historical figures or geographical processes.

You can add a timer to the questions and determine the weighting of each question. This tool is great for revising for short questions in exams.

They say that we all need friends and we should all be part of a community. Most of us would think that studying is a solitary act and most be done alone. However, mixing the two could be the real deal. With ExamTime they finally brought this concept to life at a whole new level. Students can now send their notes and mind maps that they've created to their friends and vice versa. Students also have their own profile and can connect their account to Facebook. It's a great idea and may entice a lot more students to study and share with their friends. You can swap and study each other's resources. By collaborating, you can learn more and increase your understanding. You can challenge your friends and see who knows more. There are many benefits to this whole idea:

• It saves you time if you receive other notes from your friends. If you had to do science notes on 'The Cell' and your friend sent you notes that they made already, you don't have to do them!
• You get different perspectives. The more different mind maps and notes, you receive, the more perspectives you get! The notes you get come from different people which means different perspectives which ought to give you that extra exam edge!
• You get motivated when you see that your friends are actively studying. Let's say that some day, you don't feel like doing anything. If you log onto ExamTime and see that your friends are making notes and flashcards, you ought to become very motivated. Your heart warmens and you start studying yourself!

ExamTime have a winner here. More and more students will get involved once they discover that they can learn and share with friends. A winning formula for success, mixing studying with sharing and social studying.

Students can have their own profiles, share their resources publicly and comment on each other's resources. The social aspect isn't stifling or distracting but is still there should students every need it. The community are phenomenal on ExamTime and all have one intent: to get A's in their exams!

Groups: Students can join groups which specialise in various subjects such as History or Spanish. Once they join, they can share each other's resources and have discussions on upcoming exams or revision technqiues. It allows students to collaborate effectively and maybe, start the next big thing, such as a science project or a tech website!

There are so many features to this website, it is amazing. There are so many things you can do with this, so I have added more to this list.

• You can embed ExamTime tools into websites, blogs and more.
• You can share your resources via social media channels.
• You can print your resources, very useful indeed!
• Friends - You can become a friend with someone who you want to work with, or just follow their work. It is handy for classmates or teachers who may need to distribute notes or give announcements.
• Blog -They have a new blog which covers everything a student needs from motivation, inspirational quotes, careers, universities and the latest features. Even the blog alone is a golden resource for a student!
• They have a fantastic team of engineers, marketers and language masters who are impacting the world through improving the tools, getting the brand out there and translating it into over five languages. Should you have a problem, suggestion or query, they are always there. They respond so quickly to queries or comments, I am impressed.

As you can see ExamTime are always doing new things, adding more features to help students. It will be interesting to see, what will they do next?

I think ExamTime is a great resource for students and reallly strives to create a more digital learning atmosphere. I would recommend it to any student and I'm sure we'll see more of ExamTime in the future. It's free to sign up and will always be free.

ExamTime are impacting the way the world works, by giving students the tools to get their study done online. Collaboration is already being held between over students all over the world. It's modern, intuitive and fresh interface is unrivalled by no other and really brings education to the 21st Century. I think that ExamTime will become very popular in the years to come, with every student using it. If they keep it up, education may have its golden era.