Frequently Asked Questions
Major advantages of Afficient Math and Afficient English are the following:
- Afficient programs are individualized and self-paced.
- Traditional schools are class-based and the whole class is at the same pace.
- Afficient programs are result-oriented. Students always know their grade level scores. After a student achieves his/her desired results, the course is completed. The student masters all the required skills for every grade studied.
- In traditional schools, students know their results only when the course is completed, whether they achieved good results or not. The gaps students have in lower grades are carried over and compounded into higher grades.
- In Afficient Math and Afficient English, students learn by themselves first. Students do exercises with immediate feedback, and correct their mistakes right away. Teaching or coaching is available if needed.
- In traditional schools, teaching is offered first in classroom setting. Student homework are graded days later and sometimes even not graded.
- Based on the data of individual student’s work, Afficient programs intelligently generate exercises to improve weak areas and retain proficiency of learned skills. It optimizes the learning path to achieve excellent outcome.
- In traditional schools, lectures and exercises are not customized to individuals, and they do not guarantee a desired outcome.
- With Afficient programs, students typically take two to four months to complete a grade level and achieve A/A+.
- In traditional schools, after spending a whole academic year for one grade level, most of the students are not able to get an A.
In comparison with Learning Center programs of Kumon, JEI, Eye-Level, MPM or Mathnasium, Afficient programs, leveraged with modern technologies, enable students to learn much more efficiently. Afficient programs provide instant feedback to student’s work, no need to wait for worksheet or workbooks being graded manually. Students learn from their mistakes and figure out correct solutions right after such mistakes are made. Afficient programs help students to build strong foundations by systematically identifying weak areas in the lower grades and lead students to fill lower grade gaps efficiently; which is impossible to be done efficiently by manually tracking all the student’s work. Afficient programs constantly analyze the data of student work and optimize the problem selection to maximize the gain of the student at the corresponding stage. A student passes a grade level when his/her academic performance reaches his/her goal (typically A+) which is constantly and rigorously assessed by Afficient program. The contents of Afficient Math and Afficient English align with US Common Core standards, so it directly helps students to improve their performance in school.
In comparison with online programs of Khan Academy or IXL, Afficient Academy’s program combines the advantages of modern web-based software technologies with physical or virtual learning centers where students receive individual supervision and advice. With Afficient programs, students learn online at home as well as at the physical or virtual learning centers. At the Learning Centers, the student’s work is monitored by the instructor, individual feedback is provided and the instructor works with each student to develop his/her skills, explain the difficult concepts and assist the student to achieve his/her goal in learning. Through a Diagnostic Test, a student can be placed at a proper grade with a proper proficiency level to review lower grade materials efficiently. Afficient programs has a unique patented flow to ensure students achieve excellent outcome (A/A+). With this flow, student’s work is fully analyzed, weak areas are automatically identified, the proficiency level of the student is continuously improved towards the pre-set goal, problems for student to practice are selected intelligently to maximize the efficiency of achieving excellent outcome.
In comparison with Learning Center programs of Russian School of Math, Afficient Math is a personalized, self-paced program to fit each individual’s situation. A student can be placed at a proper starting point to review lower grade materials efficiently, and advances to higher grade levels at student’s own pace. Leveraged with modern technologies, Afficient Math makes the learning highly efficient. Afficient Math analyzes student’s work and optimizes the problem selection to ensure excellent outcome in each grade level for each individual student.
In comparison with online programs of John Hopkins’ CTY, Afficient Academy’s program combines the advantages of modern web-based software technologies with physical or virtual learning centers where students receive individual supervision and advising. A student can be placed at a proper starting point to review materials of a number of lower grades efficiently and cost-effectively. In doing Afficient program, a student constantly knows his/her grade level score. Rather than assigning students a grade (A, B, or C) at the end of a course, Afficient Math works with students continuously and intelligently to achieve excellent outcome (A+) in completing the course. With Afficient Academy’s unique patented flow, student’s work is fully analyzed, weak areas are automatically identified, the proficiency level of the student is continuously improved towards the pre-set goal, problems for the student to practice are selected intelligently to maximize the efficiency of achieving excellent outcome.
Regular schools generally lack sufficient mechanisms to let high-performing students to excel. In addition, many schools do not offer their students sufficient basic skills training. Students who get “A’s” in schools are not necessarily solid in their fundamentals. At Afficient Academy, a student starts at a point where he/she has skill gaps that need to be taken care of. A more advanced student is likely to start at a higher level based on the diagnostic test. With Afficient programs, after filling gaps and building a solid foundation in lower grades, students move on to exceed school’s levels at students’ own pace. Leveraged with modern technologies, Afficient programs make learning highly efficient and ensure students become highly proficient on the subject matter. Afficient programs help advanced students continue to achieve good results and get into accelerated programs at schools.
Yes, Afficient programs are designed to take students from the levels they are ready at. Students can work from below their school grade levels, identified by diagnostic tests, and advance at their own pace. The program, leveraged with modern technologies, enables students get a solid foundation efficiently by automatically identifying and filling lower grade gaps. Afficient programs help students trailing in their learning to catch up to their peers and even advance further on their own.
Yes. Each student proceeds at his/her own pace. A highly motivated student can devote more time and progress faster than other students. Leveraged with modern technologies, Afficient programs make the learning highly efficient. It usually takes a few days to a few weeks to complete the review of a grade lower than student’s current school grade. It typically takes two to four months to complete a grade the same or higher than the student’s current school grade. Through rigorous assessment, Afficient programs ensure students are highly proficient in one grade before advancing to the next grade.
The progress of a sample 5th grade student
(The student started Afficient Math when she was a 5th grade student at school. She spent about two months reviewing Grade 2, 3 and 4. She completed Grade 5 and Grade 6 with one to two months for each grade.)
Afficient Math or Afficient English is an online web-based program. We also have physical or virtual Learning Centers where students are monitored and receive individual supervision and advice. Each week students are given individualized weekly assignments of which most of the assigned work can be done online at home, while a certain portion of the work can be completed at an Afficient Academy physical or virtual Learning Center. Students come to the Learning Center usually once a week.
Afficient Math or Afficient English is not a one-to-one tutoring program or a group-class program; it is a computerized personal learning program. Students learn all the concepts and methodologies through carefully designed computer illustrations. Sufficient exercises are provided to ensure students understand the concepts and be able to reliably solve the problems. Students work at their own pace, and teachers are available to help them unstuck their learning difficulties. Students complete their weekly-personalized assignment mostly at home, and can come to the physical or virtual Learning Center once a week.
Each session is 50 minutes.
Yes. You can do it at home. However, at Learning Centers, it provides opportunities for students to raise questions, and resolve difficulties encountered. It also allows teachers to monitor students’ learning and offer advice and suggestions on better habits and approaches.
Students are encouraged to first solve the problem by themselves by going through the corresponding Demos in the Learning Session of the Skill. A student may need to go through a Demo more than once to fully understand the concept or procedure. We believe it is important to train students self-learning capabilities. If a student is still unable to solve the problem then parents can let the student to bring the problem to our teachers or sometimes parents can help.
Yes, the weekly assignment provides a guideline on a moderate amount of work a student is expected to complete. It usually takes about 3 hours to complete a weekly assignment. Many motivated students do more than those specified in the weekly assignments.
As a student completes the weekly assignment, the program will prompt the student on whether he/she wants an extra assignment. When an extra assignment is completed, the student can further request additional extra assignments. There is no limit on how much a student can do in a week.
The student will receive a token for completing the weekly assignment. Extra tokens are awarded for completing extra assignments. Tokens can be redeemed for gifts displayed in our gift cabinet.
Leveraged with modern technologies, Afficient programs make the learning highly efficient, which means it takes less time to achieve the same objective. However, to be successful in math or English, it is necessary for the student to commit an adequate amount of time in learning. We generally expect a student to spend about 30 minutes, on average, per day per subject on weekly assignments. The amount of work may be adjusted according to student’s needs and parent’s request.
“Honors” and “High Honors” are the two titles to recognize students who have successfully moved onto advanced levels with respect to their corresponding school grades. The figure below is Afficient Math Honors Chart. The horizontal axis is the School Grade of the student, and the vertical axis represents the Subject the student is on at Afficient Math.
As students move into middle and high schools, they will most likely be placed either in the non-accelerated track or one of the accelerated tracks. The “Honors” track of Afficient Math is aligned with the Honors class of typical private and public schools. For example, 7th grade students will learn Algebra 1 and 8th grade students learn Geometry. The “High Honors” track is generally one subject level higher than the “Honors” track; which can be found as the most advanced math track in some academic-focused private and public schools. On the “High Honors” track, for example, 7th graders take Geometry and 8th grade students learn Algebra 2.
Afficient Math Honors Chart gives parents and students an idea on how high students’ math skills should be aimed at. As a student first starts Afficient Math, he/she typically starts with reviewing lower grade materials to build a solid foundation. He/she then moves up and passes the non-accelerated track. We would like to bring students pass the “Honors” and “High Honors” lines, and lead students to stay with the High Honors track to maintain academic excellence.
To encourage their high achievements, students of “Honors” status will receive 50% more tokens than regular students as they complete or exceed weekly assignments, and students of “High Honors” status will receive 100% more tokens than regular students.
An example of an individual student progress chart
(The student started Afficient Math when she was a 3rd grader in school. She began with review of Grade 2 of Afficient Math. As she completed Grade 3 in school, she had completed Grade 4 and part of Grade 5 of Afficient Math. She has become an Honors student.)
At the beginning of each week, we will send parents a weekly progress report through email on detailed progress your child made in the previous week. By downloading our cell phone app, you will know the real-time progress of how your child is doing. On the Home page of Afficient Math or Afficient English of your child’s account, the current status of doing the weekly assignment is displayed. From the menu Report -> User Activities of your child’s Afficient account, you can find all the past activities.
Yes, we do have word problems. Afficient Math teaches various problem solving skills specified by US Common Core standards.
The abilities to self-learn and focus. The will of striking for high achievement and not giving up on difficulties. The confidence of being a good and outstanding student through their own efforts.
Our instructors are rigorously tested, trained and assessed by Afficient Academy. The instructors shall be highly proficient in corresponding grade level materials, highly familiar with the contents and methodologies of Afficient programs, good communication skills to teach and communicate with students.