Black SpectaclesReviews of blackspectacles.com

The flashcard is well-organized and informative. The multiple choice is helpful as well. Some more improvement can be made to the case study though.

I found the practice exam resource most helpful. The flash cards somewhat helpful, and the videos not helpful at all. Flash cards should have a feature that allow you to generate your own additional flash cards.

Black Spectacles is a good tool, especially if your company has an account. I paid out of pocket for my PRO subscription, and I would say if you are paying for it yourself, unless you are definitely a flashcard person, the premium level is much better. I'd say the practice exams are a must as the format is 90% similar to the actual NCARB browser (minus the newer strikethrough and highlighter updates). Mike Newman is quite a slow talker; i was able to fully comprehend and take notes at the 2x speed, and if the topic was particularly new to me the 1.5x speed was great too (and really cut down on the video sections). Initially I only used Black Spectacles and I passed 4 of the 6, failing PPD and PDD. Through reviewing the videos that were on new topics and trying to chip away at the massive stack of flashcards, I felt that I had to reach for reference books which turned out the be the difference maker. SOME reference books are noted in the practice exam reviews, but I think it would be nice if Black Spectacles had a more refined reference list of books for each exam, as NCARB's list is far too long and not specific enough. I had 7 years experience before taking the exams so I was not seeing a lot of the concepts for the first time, but I would say you could use Black Spectacles as your ONLY study guide and a 3-5 solid reference books and pass all the exams. I would have finished in the 6-month subscription if it wasn't for Covid (maybe a month or two added on to subscriptions that ended during Covid would have been nice), but I'm looking forward to the Software Learning subscription they say you'll get once you pass all 6.

After using other study material and finding some difficulties with success on the ARE I added Black Spectacles to my tool box of studies. Where Black Spectacles shined was the flashcards and the practice exams. The practice exams were spot on when it came to the interface and exam preparation. The lectures were a great way to back up studying, especially just listening to them while at work. Where Black Spectacles could improve; more focused videos and in-depth problem solving rather that broad strokes. Also, quizzes would be a great addition so on days with limited study time available you can still get in some quality rudy time and exam practice. Overall, a great study tool.

Good and clear lectures, prices are high especially with current market challenges.

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.