{"channel":"education","content":"I recently read two reviews of << Math Academy >>. ( https://mikelikejordan.bearblog.dev/how-math-academy-pulled-me-out-of-the-valley-of-despair/ and https://frankhecker.com/2025/02/18/math-academy-part-11/ ) My takeaways:\r\n\r\n# The product is too expensive. $600/year is too much. This probably should be a $79 (or even $179) one-off purchase. ( of course, << revenue experts >> recommend a subscription model, so you << capture the most value >> from your loyal customers.) However, to a certain extent, the cost is a feature; people are more motivated to use a product they are paying more for. ( there is also an element of << customer selection >> to it; they are more likely to get results when their clientele is \"people willing to pay a lot\")\r\n# The best phrasing was \"a gym for math\". ( the negative version of this is the Duolingo-esque gamification that seems to be part of the product)\r\n# The attitude in both reviews was largely *penitent*. << I used to hate math, but now I'm in a better place >>.\r\n# The results are largely theoretical; they *think* they know math now, but what real-life evidence do they have of this? ( I generally say that I am completely useless for teaching secondary-school math; I don't understand how people could possibly struggle with it.)\r\n\r\n----\r\n\r\nTheir website ( https://www.mathacademy.com/pedagogy ) has a lot of claims. Some of it is unremarkable ( my rule-of-thumb: anyone who brags about \"spaced repetition\" is probably wrong) ( the claims that they encourage students to \"practice\" are almost vacuously distinguishing from any other product), other parts I disagree with: << New concepts should be taught alongside or following dissimilar material so as to avoid this problem. >>","created_at":"2025-03-18T17:03:30.972852","id":314,"llm_annotations":{},"parent_id":null,"processed_content":"

I recently read two reviews of Math Academy. \n \u2699\ufe0f\n ( https://mikelikejordan.bearblog.dev/how-math-academy-pulled-me-out-of-the-valley-of-despair/ and https://frankhecker.com/2025/02/18/math-academy-part-11/ )\n My takeaways:\r

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  • The product is too expensive. $600/year is too much. This probably should be a $79 (or even $179) one-off purchase. \n \ud83d\udca1\n ( of course, revenue experts recommend a subscription model, so you capture the most value from your loyal customers.)\n However, to a certain extent, the cost is a feature; people are more motivated to use a product they are paying more for. \n \ud83d\udca1\n ( there is also an element of customer selection to it; they are more likely to get results when their clientele is \"people willing to pay a lot\")\n \r
    • \n
  • The best phrasing was \"a gym for math\". \n \ud83d\udd25\n ( the negative version of this is the Duolingo-esque gamification that seems to be part of the product)\n \r
    • \n
  • The attitude in both reviews was largely penitent. I used to hate math, but now I'm in a better place.\r
    • \n
  • The results are largely theoretical; they think they know math now, but what real-life evidence do they have of this? \n \ud83d\udcad\n ( I generally say that I am completely useless for teaching secondary-school math; I don't understand how people could possibly struggle with it.)\n \r
    • \n

Their website \n \u2699\ufe0f\n ( https://www.mathacademy.com/pedagogy )\n has a lot of claims. Some of it is unremarkable \n \ud83d\udd25\n ( my rule-of-thumb: anyone who brags about \"spaced repetition\" is probably wrong)\n \n \ud83d\udca1\n ( the claims that they encourage students to \"practice\" are almost vacuously distinguishing from any other product)\n , other parts I disagree with: New concepts should be taught alongside or following dissimilar material so as to avoid this problem.

","quotes":[],"subject":"math gym"}