[Review] Geniebook vs Superstar Teacher vs 88tuition vs Koobits

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I frequently see people asking about the comparison between these 4 companies in facebook groups. So I decided to write a post on this sharing what I know about them. 

Please bear in mind that these are purely my experience, if you are keen to know more about them, I highly encourage you to sign up a free trial with them, so that your child(ren) can experience the platforms first hand. They may have their own preference. 

After all, what we as parents really want is them using the platform, else it will defeat the purpose of us subscribing, right? If they like it, they will be more willing to use it without us nagging so much. 😂

Geniebook

* All 4 subjects - English, Math, Science, Chinese

* AI-powered worksheets

* Live lessons (unlimited)

* Homework help - online chat with teacher

* Can use points earned to redeem for toys

Many people ask about them. But sadly I have the least experience with them. Reason being, their sales team are way too "hardworking" and it frightened me away.

I entered a form with my info few years ago in order to get a copy of their worksheet, because I wanted to check out their quality. However, from then on, I have been getting calls from them every few months by different people and different phone numbers. Even if I have informed them I am no longer interested, every few months later, I will still receive call from another person asking me to sign up a free assessment. 

I am very afraid of hard-selling, so from the way they portray themselves (very pro-active), I haven't have the courage to sign up for free trial. 

Another push-factor for me was the price.  I encountered their promoter at Popular (who was equally sales-driven). I can't remember the price, but it was much higher than other platforms.

ETA 14/12/2022: 

They are having a booth at Popular Bookfest @ Suntec. I have inquired more about them (because my daughter was "attracted" to their booth with free toy.

They have all 4 subjects. Each subject's subscription is $221.xx per subject (i can't remember the exact cents)

For Popular Bookfest, they are giving 40-50% discount, which I think it's a really good deal if you are keen to sign up. But it is at least a 1-year plan, so the amount is considerable too. 

Each subject comes with AI powered worksheets to identify weakness and difficulty is adjusted to suit the child.

Additionally they have live lectures (teacher will not be able to see the students in class, but students can ask question via chatbox)

The live lectures are conducted throughout the week so the students can attend as many lectures as they like.

For chinese, the fee will be additional $45 per month because they have additional once a week small live class on top of the live lecture. For this class, teacher will be able to see the students and there will be interactions.

They also have a service to answer students' homework questions, and can also mark students' compo etc. It is unlimited, unlike Superstar Teacher where each question cost 1 token (given certain amount when subscribed, also can be additionally bought, or redeemed from points)

One of their selling point is the reward system -- as I was told, it's easier to earn points (bubbles) and students able to redeem the prize much easier and more frequent compared to Superstar Teachers. Prizes in the catalog will always be available, while Superstar Teacher's prizes have limited amount and may be fully redeemed before the student earn enough points.

Superstar Teacher

* All 4 subjects - English, Math, Science, Chinese

* Pre-recorded Lesson

* Physical printed worksheets

* Online assessment questions of different levels of difficulties

* Homework help - online chat with teacher

* Can use points earned to redeem for toys

(Check out my review post for Superstar Teacher)

I can share more on this, because I have subscribed to them for P2 - P4 (and also subscribed P5 for next year)

Firstly, what I don't like is that they have been increasing their price every year. 😅 From what I read in the forum, it used to be much much more affordable many year back. But guess it's inevitable the price increases, just that it's ouchy if you know how big the difference is 10 years ago compared to now. 😂

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. They are considered the pioneer of elearning that started this many years back. They do upgrade their systems and content (except chinese for now) so it doesnt appear to be dated.

The vibes of the teachers are great! I especially like Teacher Monica, because she's very animated and explains concepts clearly with interesting examples. My daughter (J) also likes the Science teacher Mr Oh, because according to her, he's funny.

One thing to note though, their Chinese was based on old syllabus and not 欢乐伙伴, so it's different from what is taught in school. I subscribed to Chinese for P3 (last year) and P4 (this year) too as I think it's good to expose J to something not within textbook but still pegged at her level. Teacher is local and bilingual, will sometimes use English to explain so that it is clearer for the kids to understand.

Unlocking levels and gaining points help to make answering questions lesser a chore. She's always happy to check on how many points she has now and how much more to go  before she can redeem a toy.

Last year, she had redeemed a Uno card game and a gaming keyboard. 

I appreciate that the hardcopy worksheets are delivered to my doorstep. Save my trouble to print them myself.  Along the way, J will spot some mistakes here and there, but I guess it's normal. It's not many so it's not a concern.

Salesperson is not pushy and I always feel comfortable to talk to on WhatsApp. She will inform me of current promotion but had never try hard to convince me to sign up on anything. That's something I appreciate a lot.

If you are keen to try it out, I strongly encourage you to sign up a trial account to see if you like it.  If you sign up using my referral link, and later you decide to subscribe, you will get $50. 

88tuition

* All 4 subjects - English, Math, Science, Chinese

* Pre-recorded lessons

* weekly Live lessons can be purchased separately

* Online questions

* Leaderboard

2023 Update

I have to update my review because I realise it was doing injustice to 88tuition. They have come a long way since I used it in 2021. I'm happy to see that their interface has upgraded and it is now simple and straightforward.  Disclaimer: I'm not sponsored by them to say this, but just feel I should give them credit for all the improvements.

They now have weekly live lessons that can be purchased separately from the package. Subscribers can purchase 4 lessons at $88, and non-subscribers can also purchase at $108. During the 4 lesson period, the non-subscribers can also access the e-learning platform at no extra charge. 

The live lessons are not conducted by the teachers in the pre-recorded lessons. Students are expected to watch pre-recorded lessons in their e-learning platform, and do pre-lesson worksheet before attending lesson. 

I find the arrangement a helpful one, it can ensure that the student can have prior knowledge before attending the lesson, enabling them to absorb better, or clarify with the teacher if they have doubts.

Just want to give a shout-out to Mr Joel who is teaching the English Live class. He's probably the best online teacher I have ever come across. Ever so engaging and ever so funny, the kids like him a lot! 

In their e-learning platform, other than the pre-recorded lesson, they even include the past monthly masterclass videos. 

I have gone through the pre-recorded lessons of 3 subjects, English, Math, Science now, and I feel that the teachers are really not bad, the lessons are engaging as well. The Math teacher Mr Ong is so funny!

Honestly, I feel very touched by how they provide access to so many videos yet priced so reasonably.

I think it is definitely worth the price you paid for! But of course, please sign up for the 7-day free trial to see it for yourself. 

Another way is to sign up for the live tutorial for a month, so that you can have access to the tutorial AND the learning platform for a month to try out.

2022 Review

I subscribed to 88tuition Chinese subject for P3 (2021). The biggest pull factor was of course the price as it is very affordable. I also wanted to test it out and see how the Chinese content is compared to Superstar Teacher, since it's newer.

For their interface, I really dont quite fancy it.. It is very plain and 90s era style of web design, looks like something I would build in my secondary/poly school days. I would prefer it to be more attractive because after all, part of it's job is to attract the children to use it.

Content wise, it's quite ok and straightforward. Honestly I cant remember much about their content because my girl only went through a few lessons. I remember some MCQ questions, comprehension passages and cloze passages.

Teacher will read them and explain the answer (quite standard of doing that). Teacher is native Chinese, and what troubled me a little was that her pronunciation for certain words are different from us. I cant quote example because I have forgotten. Not that the pronunciation is totally off, but I think it's more of the accent that is causing the difference. My girl asked me why the teacher pronounced the word like that, and was a tad uncomfortable to keep hearing it. 

There are some MCQ questions to answer at the end of lessons to reinforce learning. 

There are free lesson videos on other subjects too on their youtube channel, so you can check them out to know more. I haven't view them so I cant comment on them.

Koobits

* Math, Science

* Lesson in the form of animation

* Online questions

* Earn coins for games and e-storybooks

* Leaderboard

* Physical medal as reward (not too sure, but I saw in advertisement)

(Check out my review post for Koobits)

Unlike the above ones with live or pre-recorded lessons, Koobits is purely pictures and animation, lacking the human touch. The lessons are in the form of animation. It may appeal to children though, just that personally i would prefer to see someone instead of cartoon. (But that's not of priority because whether the kids like it or not is more important -- therefore please sign up their free trial!)

I find that it's more engaging if the school has already subscribed to Koobits and your child gets an account. Because the platform provides friendly competition among friends, they will see it as a game to do more questions. 

I signed up a premium account for 2 years when J's school didn't subscribe to Koobits. The games was still fun, but J felt kind of lonely in the games because there was no friend to send challenge to. 

This year, her school subscribed to it, and she went around her class adding her classmates as friends. She also had fun checking out leaderboard of her class and school. 

However, after the initial excitement died down, the enthusiasm didnt really quite last for long, and she's now back to not log-in unless the teacher said so. 🤦

Sign up for a 7-day free trial to try out 

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All in all, I believe no matter which platform you eventually decide to sign up, consistency is the key. 👍 It will require the effort of both the child and caregiver (me, for my case). Caregiver has to consistently make sure the kid do the work, and the kid has to put in effort to complete the work. If not, it's just money wasted at the end of the day.

Highly encourage you to sign up for their free trial and not take my words for it, because experience is personal. Just sharing my experience here for your reference 😊