Do you remember sitting your first set of exams in primary school? Were they still called SATs back then? I can’t remember. But what I do remember, is the exam stress. I remember thinking the sky was going to fall in if I didn’t pass them.
The teachers made such a big deal out of them that my tiny brain could barely cope. If only Educake had existed. You might have no idea what I’m talking about, and to be honest, it’s a new one on me too.
My eldest is getting to the stage where he is starting to think about his exams, and I was ready to jump in and tell him not to worry about them. However, he seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. His school had just started using Educake to set tests for the kids, and it was really helping to take the pressure off.
I’ve had a look at it myself since my son has been using it and it’s a great idea, for kids and for teachers. So if your child has started talking about Educake, don’t worry, it’s not some new canteen trend, it’s a genuinely useful piece of software that helps kids learn.
Edu What Now?
I don’t know why they used the word cake… to make it sound more appealing? It doesn’t really matter.
Educake is basically a piece of software that allows teachers to set homework and quizzes for their students, which they can do online. It’s marked automatically, gives instant feedback on answers, and allows kids to retake the quizzes to improve their scores. It even allows for spelling mistakes.
Teachers can get in and make manual edits, and kids can even question the results if they think the marking is incorrect. This sort of autonomy and agency is brilliant for children as they get older, and when questions are raised it creates talking points between them and their teacher which are great opportunities for learning.
The platform contains thousands of questions which are ‘specification-mapped’, which as far as I can make out means they are specific to the subject, exam board, and needs of each user. They are all written by teachers and specialist subject editors too. So it’d not a cheap one size fits all set up, it can be tailored to specific needs.
The idea is to give children a low-pressure environment to test themselves so that when the important tests come along – think SATs and GCSEs – it’s not so overwhelming and scary. Of course, it’s a learning tool as well.
Educake can also be used to identify learning gaps and get a better understanding of the way each child thinks about different subjects. Another really useful feature is the ability to see where a child sits compared to the national average. So each child can literally see where they need to improve the most, and the software guides them.
Teachers Love It
I actually have a friend down South who is a teacher, and when I asked her if she had heard of Educake she was emphatic about it.
“Oh my God Millie it has saved me soooo much time. I loooove Educake”, and so on.
Being able to issue homework digitally saves a lot of time planning worksheets, printing worksheets, handing out and collecting worksheets, trying to decipher the answers on worksheets that got crumpled up in school bags, and so on. It must save an awful lot of paper and ink each year too!
My friend’s favourite thing was the automatic marking, though. Marking work was a big stress driver for her before Educake. She still has to review all of the work, but now she can actually stand back and assess the kids’ progress with more accuracy and zero in on any specific points that need clarifying, or any learning points where their understanding isn’t as sharp as it needs to be.
The fact it is all digital means she can set homework on the bus, or look through completed quizzes a few at a time when she has 5 minutes. She doesn’t need a stack of papers and books with her, it’s all on her device.
Happy teachers are better teachers in my experience, and better teachers produce stronger results from brighter, happier students. So if teachers think Educake is a great tool, that’s good enough for me.
Personal Accounts
One of the reasons I wanted to write about this is because Educake offers personal accounts as well as schools accounts. In other words, you don’t need your child’s school to be signed up to get access.
If your child is worried about exams or you want a pressure free way for them to revise, you can sign up to Educake with a 7 day free trial and then it’s £30 per month after the trial ends.
No, it’s not exactly cheap, but you are only going to need it short term, and I think it could really help. I’m not affiliated with them or anything, there are no links from my site to theirs, I just genuinely like the product.
It’s cheaper than a private tutor, and covers a number of subjects: English, Maths, and Science. Plus, your kids can use it as much as they want (or as much as you make them 🤣). They can do it on their phone – it’s super accessible.
For older kids there are study guides and exam questions from AQA, Edexcel, OCR Gateway, WJEC, CCEA, Edexcel IGCSE and Cambridge IGCSE, while primary age subscribers will get KS3 English and KS3 Maths. As a parent, you get regular updates on their progress too, so you can be actively involved in their learning without needing to look over their shoulder the whole time.
Well worth considering if you think a little bit of extra practice is required.