FTT - Albert.io

Online Test Prep

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

One of the best years I’ve had as a teacher came unsurprisingly when I was single, had no dogs, and was asked to teach AP economics for the first time. With no relatively real responsibilities yet, I took the challenge of an AP spot by completely immersing myself into my curriculum, and was free to spend most of my extra time focused on my classes.

When I finally met my students, I had this overwhelming desire to do right by them and get them the scores, and more importantly the college credit, that they sorely needed. Now while I’ve come to understand that the almighty 5 is not the most important value of a good education, the rapid inflation of college tuition, and the subsequent rise in student loan debt, puts educators in a position to balance teaching to the test and keeping the integrity of their vocation.

To this point, Albert.io is a resource I sorely wished I had access to all those years ago. The educators and professionals that make up Albert’s team have put together an extensive online test prep resource for AP exams, SAT/ACT, and graduate exams like the GMAT, GRE, and MCATs. Some early piloting done by Deerfield’s AP Psych team last year yielded some great results, and we are excited to expand it to some of the other AP courses. Here’s a snapshot at some of the features Albert.io offers:

While there is a heavy focus on AP subjects, Albert.io has a strong selection of assignments and analysis on subjects like the humanities, accounting, finance, and others.

Their online study guides are comprehensive and include basic multiple choice practice, FRQs, and full practice exams.

The multiple choice section categorizes questions by unit and difficulty. Once submitted, revealed solutions give a detailed explanation of why a particular answer was correct, and just as importantly, why the other options were incorrect. Data is collected site wide and students can see how other users have answered.

Sample FRQs are plentiful and provide sample solutions, explanations, and the FRQ scoring guidelines.

Full practice exams are timed, organized, and have detailed instructions to replicate the real thing.

AP exams are rigorous, and the stress on our students near overwhelming. This resource can a tremendous help to our AP teachers and students in their quest of learning advanced materials and mitigating the pressures that come with it. Do you have experience with Albert.io or other online resources? Comment below!