A TCU student has created a test review Web site available to college students across the United States for free.The Web site, mycoursereview.com, is the work of Bennett Waxse, a junior biology and chemistry major at TCU.
“The thing that helped me study for class was to make reviews,” Waxse said, “and the page was a way to make them more available to people.”
Waxse said his site lets students post their own review questions from a class to give other users an idea of what a test may cover.
“I have uploaded flash cards from my Spanish class into the course folder,” said Scott Patterson, a junior political science major.
Students can access a list of courses offered at their universities on the Web site and are able to upload or look at review questions from there.
“All you have to do is click on the question and the right answer shows up,” Patterson said.
The Web site differs from test files because users must agree to post only review questions, not upload old tests, Waxse said.
“However, if 10 people each posted four different questions for a class, an entire review could be made right there,” he added.
Waxse said one of the inspirations for the Web site was TCU’s use of e-College for university course work. He said he took mycoursereview.com a step further and made it available to students not just at TCU, but to students at any college nationwide.
The site is available at no cost to the university because it is a public access Web page, which Waxse said means he must pay fees to run the site.
“I use Google ads and usually make about 50 cents a day. I am trying to get the site to be self sustaining so I don’t have to pay out of pocket,” Waxse said.
Since its inception on Wednesday, Waxse said at least 50 schools have joined the national Web site.
Another TCU user is Cleda Wang, a junior biology and communication studies major.
“The site provides students a chance to post questions and get responses with the correct answers,” Wang said.
Wang said the main problem she has encountered with the Web site is the lack of students using the system.
“The discussion board is good for getting student feedback,” Wang said, “but it would be more successful if there were more users.”
The lack of participation from members does create a problem, Waxse said.
“We have at most four questions in any subject offered on the Web site,” Waxse said.
Wang said she would like to see more professor participation on the Web site.
“I think I’ll start telling my professors about it,” Wang said. “Some of them check ratemyprofessor.com already, and they could help with the discussions.”
Beata Jones, an associate professor of professional practices in e-business said while it’s a good idea, there is still a lot of work to be done on the Web site.
“I think there is too much hype too early,” said Jones, who is a registered user of the site.