Black SpectaclesReviews of blackspectacles.com

This program is incredible. The platform is easy to follow and very well thought out. I cannot say enough. The practice exams are set up identical to the actual exam allowing you to feel comfortable and confident in the exam seat. The questions are not the same, obviously, but the layout is. Also, the practice questions really help you to identify your own shortcomings, helping you become more efficient in your studies. Its great!!!

The videos are great. I just wish there was a "quiz" section included with the study material. I generally try to "save" the tests for when I have a huge chunk of time, ie: weekends, especially with the longer tests (PPD and PDD.) It would be nice if there were 10 or 20 question quiz sections so that I could still do some practice test-taking without having to commit to the whole 4.5 hour tests.

The one thing I think Black Spectacles does great is the practice exams. These are very good at challenging you to think critically and explaining why an answer is correct or incorrect. Another great thing is their customer service. They’re rolling out a lot of new features which does come with its bugs, but they were very responsive and always striving to improve. Here's a summary of what I thought about each tool. Practice exams - best tool on here. One thing that would make it even better would be a section for a quick 20 min. exam or practice problems which I’m told is currently in the works. I think this will be helpful so people can do a quick exam to see where they are at when they start studying and can see their progress when they take the first long practice exam. Flashcards - This was probably the second-best feature. I did find one bug, and asked them about it. Once it was identified, they started on revamping each section to eliminate this. Always improving. I do think a lot of the cards could be combined on one card to reduce the overall quantity and some cards could use a better definition or reference where to research the subject more. Community - This probably would've been more helpful if there was more content. Looks like it's still new so there wasn't a lot of community interaction, but they did post practice questions every so often that were helpful to follow. Also, whenever I had a question about an exam question, I could post there and someone would respond pretty quickly. Videos – I wasn’t a fan of the videos. If you’re very new and want to start with something simple, then these might be good for you. However, I just couldn't stay engaged because some of the content would talk in circles about some common sense things. I think the videos could be a lot shorter and they need more content and visual aids and less rambling. Workshops - These were helpful but only 4 subjects are offered per exam section. There's a lot more content that could be covered and I wished there were more workshops offered. Unfortunately, I was one of the first rounds when they started these workshops, so I encountered some issues as they were trying to refine the process. However, their customer service team made up for the bumps in the road that I encountered. The phone app – I’m reviewing this as a separate piece altogether as this feature is VERY new, and like all phone apps it takes a while to get everything working. Again, every time I had an issue, the customer service team responded quickly and were working very hard to improve things. Luckily everything is available on computer and the phone app is only a convenience when you’re not at your computer. That being said, here were some of the issues that they are currently working on. The flashcards with images don't show up, and the videos don't sync from the mobile app so on a mobile device you can't get past the first section. You have to go to a computer and mark them as watched. And you can’t jump to a different section because it just sends you back to the home page.

Really great customer service and a good product. Some things are a little buggy or not fully ironed out but someone is always available to help.

Great ARE Program! I've really learned a lot form the Team at Black Spectacles and look forward to finishing my last test soon

It's good to give you a general idea of what to expect but doesn't provide exhaustive material to prepare and doesn't point you to the necessary study material in order to pass.

Really great course. Highly recommended to understand the ARE topics on a deeper level. Not just useful for the tests of course, but for real world practice.

Thank you! Excellent test exams, very helpful.