Why IXL Math is highly ineffective without prior knowlegde

Parents think they know everything, correct? Even when they don't, they trick you into believing they do. My parents signed my brother and I up for IXL math a few years ago.



Over the years, I've found these issues:

• IXL is NOT flexible with the input. Get a problem wrong? Deducts 10 points. Also, say you enter a hyphen or slash mark by accident, or enter a certain symbol that doesn't affect the answer. Nope, wrong. It frustrates me how incomprehensible and glitchy this site can be. Is it run by a team of monkeys? In some units, you have to use the little provided term boxes to enter in fractions and square roots. If you get your symbols elsewhere, it's marked wrong. Again, this is with certain units.

• Also, instead of actually teaching the skill with a tutorial video before the problems, it throws you right in and expects you to already know how to do it. If Quia had a team of intellectuals, they would know that most users of their site are using the site to learn, not to just review. And the "explanations" are extremely unhelpful most of time. They are not detailed, and leave out things. To be honest, they would be much more helpful BEFORE you did the problem. 

• Khan Academy is a much more useful learning tool. Smaller children may become bored with it, but as an older child, I find the site easier to learn with. Salman Khan can be a bit slow, however the practice units are only 5 questions long. If you answer one incorrectly, however, you must start over.

I mean, it's a math practice site. I shouldn't have to go into parent account to test things out before doing it in my own account. That's stupid, and totally defeats the point IXL so discreetly advertises.(Blunt example of sarcasm)

Last year in 7th Grade, my Algebra 1 teacher told us she wanted to try a new method of teaching. She would send us home with a worksheet and watch a video she would post on her website about the subject matter of the next day. Then, we would come to class the next day and she'd give us more problems.

Maybe IXL should be more like Khan Academy. I'm not saying IXL hasn't honed my mathematical skills at all; in fact, it has improved then more than once. But it was only because I'd learned the skills prior either from Khan Academy, school, or another website.

If I was a tenacious dolt, I'd go on Amplify and write a bashing review of the place. In a way, I just did, but I did it all formal-like with adult words to prove that I'm so much better than all those morons out there.

Just kidding. 2/5 stars.