Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

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jeffers
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Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby jeffers » Thu May 21, 2020 7:33 pm

I've seen a lot of French learners mention using Kwiziq, but I haven't found a post about Kwiziq.

I signed up for a free Kwiziq account and did pretty poorly on the placement test. Then I looked at one of the recommended lessons, and it basically looked like a Wikipedia entry. At the end it had a "kwiz" which had two questions and used up the second of my 10 free quizzes for the month. I'm not sure I gained much from doing that, and to be honest haven't gone on the site since then.

So I'd like to hear from fans (or detractors) what they think about Kwiziq, what they like, why it's good, etc. I'd also like to hear from users how they use it, how it works with the rest of their study plan, etc.

Also, is it worth the money? Have you gone for a longer plan, monthly? Having tried it once, 10 free quizzes seems useless. But does any regular user stick with the free plan?

Thanks for your advice!
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby kanewai » Thu May 21, 2020 9:43 pm

At one point if you did your five free quizzes you would earn a free month. I'd highly recommend you take the free month, and try to use it daily for at least part of the time.

I ended up paying for a three month membership for Spanish and French. If you use it regularly - they recommend five tests per day - it is absolutely worth it.

The good
It has a better algorithm underlying the platform than I've seen so far in language-learning sites. If you ace one target (let's say, conjugating "to be") then you get a star and you move on. If you struggle with another (let's say past tense of "to go") then the program will give you more practices on that topic. And they have hundreds and hundreds of topics.

Another benefit is that you get a variety of exercises for each vocabulary term or grammar concept. In other quiz-based programs I often learn the pattern of the quiz before I learn the actual word. E.g. I will see a long sentence and know that the answer it "train" after reading the first word of the sentence - I'm not really solving the problem. With Kwiziq there's enough variety that I can't cheat like this.

The progression of ideas and concepts also seems well thought out. I bombed my initial placement quiz too, though you can always take a placement quiz at any level, and jump around as you wish. I actually wanted to see my "brain map" get filled in and so started at A0.

After about a week you'll have a clearer patter. For instance, currently I test at:

Topic: reflexive verbs - pluperfect conjugations (Level B2) - negative one percent. I bombed the B2 quiz.
Topic: Using le, la, les with body parts and clothing (definite articles) (level A1) - 86%. After 95% on each topic your map will be complete.

Finally, and this is a big one for me: it's not punitive. A lot of sites (Duolingo, Lingvist, Memrise) punish you for skipping days. Your review list will grow longer and longer until all you are spending more time reviewing old stuff rather than learning new stuff.

As for how to use it, it varies. Currently I just want to finish out my A1 map, so I just take the quizzes and earn stars. I usually only make mistakes here if I'm tired or not paying attention.

If I want to focus on B1, on the other hand, I'll read through the recommended lessons for the day, and listen to the example sentences. They are definitely much more developed than a wikipedia entry!

The bad
The free version isn't worth it. This program works better with regular use.

It's not cheap, so I'd only recommend paying for it if you can use it intensely for a month or two. I have been buying the three-month packages.

After about two months I grew a bit restless with the program, and stopped after three; it is, after all, just quizzes. I just re-started Kwiziq French a few days ago, and suspect that I'll follow the same pattern: I'll use it intensely for a month or two, then move on. I think this is fine with a program like Kwiziq.

Final thoughts
Do five quizzes, get the free month, and use it intensely for at least a week.

It is a great program for an intermediate learner who still makes lots of mistakes and needs to fine-tune their knowledge. I don't know how it will work for an advanced learner or a beginner.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby Miss_French_2020 » Thu May 21, 2020 11:29 pm

I'm a fan of Kwiziq. I ended up getting a one year membership (I think there was a sale on at the time). It is expensive but I'm still getting use out of it 5 months later so it is worth it for me. I think it would suit upper beginners/low intermediate learners the best and would probably be useless for the more advanced learners.
Personally I prefer using Kwiziq for longer study sessions less often e.g. 1-2 hours a couple of times a month, rather than a little bit every day.
The way I use it is that I will do a quiz, read through the grammar explanations for the questions I got wrong, write out the example sentences provided for that grammar point and do the mini-quiz. I repeat this until I start getting all questions correct, and then I won't touch it for a week or two.
There are also some other exercises like dictation, fill in the blank exercises etc. but I haven't really used them much.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby lingua » Fri May 22, 2020 1:08 am

I've had some Kwiziq envy when reading about this. I am a sucker for the graphic map. I decided to try the Spanish thinking my Portuguese would help but it didn't. I don't need another language at this time so I won't pursue it but if they ever get Italian, German or Portuguese I'll revisit.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby chove » Fri May 22, 2020 1:33 am

I started using it for French but I didn't really use it enough during the free week to be worthwhile paying so much to subscribe. Doing the quizzes gets boring after a while, but at least it's more interesting than Memrise, possibly about the same as DuoLingo? If you do the placement tests make sure you don't put any answers you're not sure of, because I stupidly did that and they take marks off for every wrong answer so according to Kwiziq I have A0 Spanish. Oh well. I might continue without doing the quizzes, as far as I can tell you can still access the grammar and vocabulary pages without paying them, just you can't do the tests to see how well you're doing.

It seemed quite slow in progress terms, so it might be very good at making sure you learned something before it accepts that you "know" it.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby jackb » Fri May 22, 2020 3:08 am

I really like it. I think kanewai's review is spot on.

I think it works out better with regular use. The few questions at the end of lessons are only helpful if the topic is new to you. It's the 10 question quizzes that make it worth it. In the low %'s the questions are easy and they get progressively harder. They go from pull down menus to fill in the blank around 50%.

I got the year subscription after flunking the placement quiz and doing as many quizzes as possible in the intro period. I'm just now entering the B2 area in french. My plan is to do as much as I can in the year and stop. I'm recording all of the sentences where I make grammatical errors so I'll have a good base to do my own review when my subscription runs out.

I try to take 5 quizzes a day. It works out to be way more when I'm starting new material and fewer when I'm frustrated or busy. I do my flashcards with the missed sentence when they are due. I always answer every question. Thinking about an answer and getting it wrong has value for me. When trying to remember the answer, I am mentally going through similar examples. It's like more reps with the flash cards.

The only con I can think of is that sometimes it feels like a spelling test.

I'd recommend it for people who want to learn grammar without feeling like you are learning grammar.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby jeffers » Fri May 22, 2020 10:41 am

Thanks for the replies, it looks very interesting. My birthday is in 5 days, so I'm thinking that a 3 month subscription would be a good present. I have a bit of extra time these days for some reason, and the 3 months would take me through the summer holidays (I'm a teacher).

My only hesitation is that I would hate to spend money and then not use it much. On the other hand, spending money may be the additional push I need to make me use a resource rather than simply collecting resources! :lol:

I'm in the position Kanewai described: intermediate with a shaky foundation. This might just be the thing to shore up that foundation and fill in the cracks! When I have some more time this afternoon I'll do some lessons and some of the free quizzes and see how it goes.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby jeffers » Fri May 22, 2020 5:07 pm

So I spent a good bit of time today going through my 10 recommended lessons, did the final quiz and got one wrong. It then gave me 5 of the same lessons, and 5 new lessons. I'm not quite sure what to do with those 5 same lessons, since I don't think there will be much value in reading through them again. What I feel the lessons are missing is more practice within the lessons. A two question quiz at the end doesn't do much, and when you're on the free account they're a waste of quizzes. However, after completing 5 quizzes it has given me a free week of premium (yes, just a week now, not a month), so for the coming week when I do lessons I'll always do the mini quiz.

One problem I've had is typing accented characters. I missed a question because it needed an accent and I couldn't see how to type it on my laptop. The FAQ says to type a letter and click and hold on it, or to hold down the spacebar. But clicking and holding does nothing, and holding down the spacebar puts a space first, then gives me options to type things such as as French quotation marks and currency symbols. This may actually kill Kwiziq for me. EDIT: I just reread the FAQ on accents, and it says to "press and hold the letter", which I had interpreted as "click and hold". So maybe it will work as it should. I'll know when I take my next quiz.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby Lianne » Fri May 22, 2020 6:55 pm

I love it. When I first tried out the free version, it gave me a week of premium for free. I went all out in that week and then was hooked. I love the brain map! I find it really motivating. I ended up paying for one month when they had a sale, and getting through a lot in that time (all of A0-A2 and a good chunk of B1). I haven't used it much since with the free version (though I always mean to go and use my 10 free quizzes each month, I always forget). Since the plans are on sale again I'm thinking of getting another month, or potentially even splurging on the 3 month one, which might be enough to finish it.

I felt like I really grasped grammar points (especially conjugation patterns!!) better than I had with any other method. Unfortunately I do feel like I've forgotten a lot in the time since I did it. I'll definitely have to find another method of practicing that after my subscription ends next time. But the way it covers each topic several times, with increasing difficulty (e.g. going from multiple choice to having to type in the word), is really good in my opinion.
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Re: Kwiziq- how good is it? And how do you best use it?

Postby jackb » Fri May 22, 2020 7:54 pm

...It then gave me 5 of the same lessons, and 5 new lessons. I'm not quite sure what to do with those 5 same lessons, since I don't think there will be much value in reading through them again. What I feel the lessons are missing is more practice within the lessons....


In cases where the grammar structure makes sense and I get the quiz questions/sentences correct, I don't ever re-read them. I only re-read/review the lessons I struggle with. Most recently it was usage of passer/se passer/se passer de.

I see what you mean with the intra-lesson practice. Sometimes the discussion under the lesson has interesting stuff.

I tried the reading and writing sections, but I think there are better ways to address those skills. If I finish all of the french material, maybe I'll look at those again.
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