Thoughts from a Test Prep App Developer

One of the more interesting things about my job as gWhiz's product architect is that I see a lot of test prep content from a variety of different sources.  ASVAB, SAT, GRE, NCLEX-RN, CNOR, MBR, ACT, EMT, LSAT,  and more.  You name it, we've seen it.

Here are a few of my observations:

• People studying to be doctors are flat-out phenomenal.  The width and breadth of things that you need to know to pass the USMLE and MCAT are just incredible.  It's a huge amount of material.


• The high school students taking AP (advanced placement) tests aren't far behind.  I have great admiration for those kids (and their parents) that work so hard on that material - it's really difficult!


• I personally enjoy working on the Cliffs Notes study guides.  While they're not typical Q&A test prep, they've inspired me to read some of the classics.  (I didn't know that Frankenstein's monster was so articulate - I just thought he was green and groaned a lot)


• The publishers we work with are perfectionists (in a good way) and care a great deal about the accuracy and presentation of their content.  Do you know the difference between an em-dash and an n-dash?  They do and now so do I (the em-dash is longer).  We often go thru multiple review cycles to ensure the quality of the Q&A.


• Occasionally, questions and options are kind of funny. There's one in the PrepZilla iPhone screenshot (I think it's part of the McGraw-Hill Lange Internal Medicine set):
  

  Question: What is the golden rule that could be used to broadly define all ethical behaviors with regards to patient treatment?
  
  (Wrong) Answer: Be nice only to the patients who are nice to you.

  That would be the one I'd pick everytime.
  
  Here's another from the Official Guide for GMAT Review grammar review, examples:
  

  Correct: I walk to the store
  Incorrect: I walks to the store.

You gotta laughs at that.

PrepZilla - Serious Fun

Yep.  We did name our new free test prep app, "PrepZilla" and we did put a picture of a funny-looking fire-breathing green monster dude on the front. 

So what's that about?  And, other than the awesome name and mascot, why are we at gWhiz so excited about this app? 

It's because PrepZilla is the first full-fledged educational app for test prep that incorporates asynchronous multi-player gaming combined with the best test prep content from top educational publishers.  It's an effective study aid for hard-working students ("Serious"), but still entertaining ("Fun"). Serious Fun.

Do you see how great this is??  Or did I lose you at "asynchronous multi-player gaming"??

Ok, let's try this:  Have you ever heard of, or played Words With Friends?  Or Draw Something?  They're popular mobile phone/tablet variants of Scrabble and Pictionary, right?  But what makes the apps different and powerful from the board games is that you can play the game Anywhere, with Anyone, at Anytime.  You can be at home or on the bus, you can play someone on the other side of the town, country, or planet, and you can play at whatever time of day or night you have a minute or two to play.

So take that Anywhere, Anyone, Anytime thing, and combine it with gWhiz's best-in-class test prep and now you've got PrepZilla.  PrepZilla uses premium topics from top educational publishers for both self-study and game play.  You can drill on your own, and then challenge your study partners to a game.  You can grab content from leading publishers like McGraw-Hill, Barron's, FLVS, or CCI, and study for AP Biology, Algebra, GRE, CNOR, USMLE, NCLEX and lots more.

Pretty cool, right?  Serious but Fun.  Serious Fun.  PrepZilla. 

Try it out and let us know what you think!

- Mike

Introducing the Newly Improved gFlash+

We just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. Although we know our flagship app, gFlash+, is the best flashcard app on the market today, we have found a way to make it better. Users have always told us that they love the versatility of creating their own card sets using Google Docs or downloading existing sets from our catalog or third party partners. But, now there’s another option. We have made available branded premium content from the nation’s top educational publishers directly through gFlash+. Participating publishers include McGraw-Hill, Kaplan, Wiley Publishing, and Barron’s, among others. It’s the best of both worlds! Users enjoy new, fresh content in our familiar, tried-and-true flashcard format. What could be better?

Our latest version of gFlash+ is only available on iOS but don’t despair. A similar upgrade for Android is in the works and is scheduled for release during the 2nd Quarter, 2012. For all the details, see our latest press release. To find out more about gFlash+ or any of our highly rated educational mobile apps, visit us at www.gwhizmobile.com or through Facebook or Twitter @gwhizmobile.

A look back at 2011...

As the holidays bustle along and the new year approaches, we here at gWhiz would like to thank our loyal customers and partners as well as our family and friends for your continued support. It’s been a busy year! We have accomplished much as we continue to carve out our niche in the mobile educational marketplace. With nearly 150 mobile applications on the market today, we have seen steady growth in both usage and market share.

This growth is due, in no small part, to our focus on perfecting our users’ experience. We are not content to sit back on our laurels but strive to continually improve our products. We are particularly proud of the newest version of our flagship app, gFlash+. Long recognized as the best free flashcard app on the market, gFlash+ offers users a robust, multi-language platform for creating, downloading, and manipulating flashcards in every subject under the sun. In its latest incarnation, gFlash+ offers users more capabilities for free while also offering them configurable upgrades to customize their experience.

As proud as we are of the new gFlash+, we are happy to announce even more exciting developments this year. In May, we released a new comprehensive GMAT review app in partnership with the Graduate Management Admissons Council (GMAC), the owner and administrator of the GMAT exam worldwide. Available for iOS and Android devices, this app offers up to 800 official questions and complete answers and includes performance tracking through GameCenter as well as social media integration.

Another bright spot for us this past year is the new series of LANGE medical apps that we've developed in partnership with McGraw-Hill. Beyond the high-quality subject matter, these apps usher in a new level of mobile test prep sophistication as they allow users to create customized tests by choosing questions from any number of discrete categories, and then measure their progress using our premium analytics. We believe these apps to be among the most advanced mobile test preparation software on the planet. Really! Currently we've released Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Pharmacy, and Psychiatry, with several other titles still on the way.

But wait, there’s more! We’ve built upon our existing relationship with the good folks at Wiley to develop their CliffsNotes series for Classic Literature. With 40 titles available through individual purchase or by in-app purchase with our new container app, CliffsNotes Study Guides, we have left no literary stone unturned. And we’re happy to report that Apple’s iTunes has recently recognized this app as “New and Noteworthy”!

Not interested in the classics? Maybe you’re expecting to receive a Nook or Kindle this holiday season. If that’s the case, you’ll be glad to know that many of our Android apps are now available through BN.com and the Amazon App Store. Just in time for the holidays. :)

Headed Back to School? Take gWhiz With You!

As the lazy days of summer slowly wind down, it’s time to start preparing for the challenges of another school year. Whether you’re a student, parent, or teacher, gWhiz has the tools you need to make this year the best one yet. So as you fold up your beach umbrella and pack away your swim gear, take a moment to consider this. gWhiz has over one hundred educational applications in a myriad of subjects targeting students of all ages. There’s sure to be one that speaks to you.

Are you a student or a parent of a student in the K-12 demographic? Then check out our meStudying apps for Algebra, Reading, and AP topics (e.g., Art History and English Language). These apps will make hitting the books this fall feel more like an adventure than a chore. Still not completely sold? For a limited time, try out one of our meStudying apps on us. That’s right. Free. Just send us an e-mail at marketing@gwhizmobile.com or post a comment on Facebook letting us know why you should receive one of our meStudying apps completely free. That’s it! We’ll send you a promo code for use on your Android or i-device. Easy as pie.

And, as if that weren’t enough, we’re running a promotion on our CliffsNotes apps just in time for back to school season. Planning to tackle the classics this year? Our CliffsNotes apps can start you off on the right foot. With 36 titles currently available and 4 more on the way, we have your bases covered. And starting September 15th, the CliffsNotes Hamlet app will be free for one month.

For more information about our meStudying and CliffsNotes apps, please visit us at www.gwhizmobile.com.

iOS fix

Over the next month or so, our customers may notice an update to their gWhiz iPhone app which simply says "iOS fix"; we'd like to tell you what it's about.

During our testing of the developer release of iOS 5, we uncovered a problem that prevents the selection of test or quiz options in our test prep apps. Unfortunately, this problem affects many of our titles. (Flashcard and specialty apps are not affected)

We reported this issue to Apple development several weeks ago but don't know yet if they will fix it - it's an incompatibility with previous versions of the iOS, but it's not really a bug (if you want details, feel free to write us).

Anyways, they may yet correct the issue when iOS 5 goes "live", but we've decided to go ahead and start patching our apps anyways. We've updated about 20 titles so far but we've got many more to do yet.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused; please write us at support@gwhizmobile.com if you have any questions.

Thanks for your support!

Explore the Classics With Our New CliffsNotes apps

We’re excited to have deepened our ties with Wiley Publishing to create 16 new mobile applications for their CliffsNotes English Literature series, with more to come. Designed to work on the i-devices, our developers have been working tirelessly to create an experience that is not only entertaining but quite effective. Have only a few days or hours to study? Our CliffsNotes applications offer two modes of review - the Cram Plan and the Full Study Plan. So, if life has gotten in the way, choose the customizable Cram Plan and hit the highlights or dig a little deeper. You decide. Have weeks or months to devote to studying? Then roll up your sleeves and choose the Full Study Plan. It puts all of the app’s content at your fingertips. Literally.

With a multiple-choice quiz included in every app, you can assess your mastery of the material. Need to review a particularly important passage again? The app allows easy-to-use bookmarking so you can go back to that section again and again. Having trouble following all of the characters and their associations? Check out the interactive character maps. Don’t have time to read through all of the content? The app provides audio plot summaries that you can listen to wherever and whenever is convenient. Some screenshots from To Kill A Mockingbird follow:







Titles already available in iTunes:

Animal Farm
A Tale of Two Cities
Frankenstein
Great Expectations
Hamlet
Jane Eyre
Lord of the Flies
Romeo and Juliet
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Canterbury Tales
The Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Kite Runner
The Odyssey
The Scarlet Letter
To Kill a Mockingbird

Have we piqued your curiousity? To see these and our other CliffsNotes mobile applications, go to http://www.gwhizmobile.com/gWhiz/Apps.php?search=CliffsNotes.