I signed up at MathAcademy to complete a decades-long goal: to appreciate the “language of math”.
After the initial diagnostics tests, it placed me at level 1 of the Mathematical Foundations course.
My goal? Advanced calculus. But I swallowed my ego and enrolled in basic algebra, geometry, and ratios instead.
As if working through elementary math wasn’t humbling enough, I also put myself through timed quizzes every few days.
The tests are spaced a couple of days apart, and they cover both recently completed topics and older ones.
The moment a quiz starts, my adrenaline spikes.
And I end up making mistakes I wouldn’t make in lower-pressure situations.
But after half a dozen such tests, I noticed something interesting.
With each test, my anxiety levels dropped. And my performance improved.
That’s when it clicked.
The stress I associated with tests from my school days had less to do with testing itself - and more with how tests are traditionally designed.
They’re spaced far apart. They’re treated as big, high-stakes events.
The test stops being a mirror for learning - and becomes a judgment of intelligence.
I don’t blame the system. Creating good tests is a deeply creative effort. Evaluating them is exhausting.
Doing this frequently is simply not feasible.
Actually - let’s correct that.
It wasn’t feasible.
With AI now doing a solid job on test creation, and using software for automating evaluation, we can finally afford to test more often - and use tests as learning mirrors instead of anxiety-inducing events.
I’m delighted to see this playing out with Spark.
I asked Unni - the high-school online tutor evaluating Spark: “How often do you want to quiz students?”
Unni responded: “Is there any reason I can’t do it every class?”
“No,” I said. “It takes only a couple of minutes to create a new quiz.”
“Great,” he replied. “Then that’s exactly what I’ll do. A quiz in every class.”
The value proposition for teachers is clear.
And for students (of all ages)..as quizzes become a routine part of showing up..maybe their bodies will respond with calm familiarity instead of stress.
That's what we're aiming for 🙂
If you'd like early access to Spark and set up your training content in one click, reply and I’ll set you up.