Real Intelligence for the AI Era

Vocabulary Synapse

Many years ago, I had a student who couldn’t seem to remember any vocabulary words. We tried flash cards, writing sentences and stories using words, quizzes, etc.

Then one night, I had an idea for an algorithm that would essentially force a student’s brain to learn words. This relentless, adaptive, algorithm became the Synapse algorithm. Today, thousands of improvements later, Vocabulary Synapse helps students effortlessly force their brains to learn new words.

If you hate memorization, but want to build your vocabulary or learn a language, Vocabulary Synapse can help you force your brain to memorize what you need. Vocabulary Synapse programs range from SAT vocabulary to Mandarin Chinese vocabulary. Learn more at VocabularySynapse.com.

The Numeracy

Let’s face it: elementary school math is pointlessly slow. Each year, students learn essentially the same as what they learned the previous year. Middle school math isn’t much better. Even high school math is absurdly redundant and slow. Algebra and Algebra II cover 95% the same material. Precalculus only adds a little bit more.

You can accelerate past all that. While your school dawdles along, you can systematically move farther and farther ahead. Learn more at TheNumeracy.com.

Perfect Scorer Mindset

The most important test of your life deserves more than an 8-week prep class. Perfect Scorer Mindset SAT classes are two-year intensive courses with a 1500+ guarantee. Learn more at PerfectScorerMindset.com.

Attax

Multiplication is the most important fundamental skill in math. Learning multiplication tables paves the way for multi-digit multiplication, long division, finding common denominators, and prime factorization. Those skills pave the way for adding rational expressions, factoring trinomials, partial fraction decomposition, and other parts of advanced math.

Attax is a fun game that helps students learn multiplication. Play against the computer or a friend. Underneath the surface, the Synapse algorithm chooses questions in a way to help students memorize multiplication tables while they play.

Play for free at attax.org.

Teacherboard

Most drawing boards are designed for tech teams to brainstorm together. Thus, they feature infinite canvases, extreme zoom, flowchart elements, etc.

What’s great for software development is annoying for teaching. The infinite canvas means hunting for students, while enabling every problematic student technique (e.g. solving equations horizontally with arrows, instead of vertically down the page). Sure, you can follow them automatically on some boards, but then you have to deal with the crazy zooming in and out. The zoom levels mean that students routinely go to 2000% zoom, where the text becomes nearly invisible, or 2% zoom, where it’s fingerpainting.

Teacherboard is a drawing board for teachers. The canvas size is designed for teaching, and you can adjust it whenever you want. The zoom levels are capped (but you have control over the defaults). There’s no option for students to select insane fonts, tiny fonts, or hard-to-see colors: the font and size are set and the palette is under your control. For students using Apple Pencils or similar styluses, the board allows pressure sensitive writing, which translates into more natural and better penmanship.

Tools stay selected until you choose another. You can draw a polygon with the line tool without it reverting to the pencil tool after each line segment. Random AI-generated flowchart elements will never appear.

If you work with multiple students at the same time, you can see all their boards at once. You can write on the boards right in the gallery. You don’t need to click a board before you write on it. If you’re grading problems, you can draw red x’s across ten boards in about 5 seconds.

Learn more at teacherboard.me.

Toddlerboard

Inspired by Teacherboard, Toddlerboard is something I made for my own toddler. It’s designed for toddlers to crazy-draw on.

The board goes full screen to keep them out of your device settings. Exiting the board requires a click and a slider, so it almost never happens by accident. Old squiggles gradually fade away so toddlers can keep drawing indefinitely in a calming color scheme. Try it out at Toddlerboard.com.

E-ink Programs

If you want to keep your kid away from glowing screens (I certainly do), consider E-ink. E-ink is what Kindle uses. It has no glow, no blue light.

I have created E-ink versions of many of my digital learning tools. These are specifically optimized for E-ink devices such as Onyx Boox.

• Attax, a two-player multiplication duel: attax.org/eink
• Vocabulary Synapse, the easiest way to learn: vocabularysynapse.com/eink
• Toddlerboard: toddlerboard.com/eink. Boox users, get the Boox-optimized app at toddlerboard.com/boox.

Vohra Method

Vohra Method features individualized group classes and private tutoring for most subjects. Learn more at vohramethod.com.

AP Integrated Humanities

The tough part of all AP English and History exams isn’t memorization. It’s reading comprehension. In fact, there is very little memorization required for AP History exams, and none required for AP English exams.

AP Integrated Humanities prioritizes advanced reading comprehension, preparing students for multiple AP exams at once. Students also learn to write DBQs and other important essays that determine success on the 8 exams. Learn more at vohramethod.com/ap-integrated-humanities.

The Turing Police

AI-fueled cheating can make teaching miserable and impossible. But there are ways to stop that cheating and make it possible to teach effectively again. See the free tips at TheTuringPolice.com.

Invitation to the Ivies

Learn the secret code of Ivy Admissions. See how principles of myth and psychology create winning applications. Learn more here.

The Ivy Hacker

Outsmart and outmaneuver your competition and get into an Ivy. Learn more at IvyHacker.com.

The Authentic Application

The most successful college applications have no lying or exaggeration. Instead, they are fueled by authentic exploration and real passion. For a very different kind of college consulting, take a look at AuthenticApplication.com.