Full Sparknotes In-depth Review 2024: Is it cheating and reliable?
With the development of online education, there are a lot of new platforms which have emerged online. One such platform that I was asked about was Sparknotes. One of my students wanted to use it but had a lot of doubts. How it works? If it is reliable? What are the benefits? And much more. She was really confused. So I decided to help her. I used this platform to figure out if it really works. Thus, here I am with my view on this platform. I am sure you will get all the answers to your questions.
Quick Takeaways
- Sparknotes are not considered cheating as they do not promote any kind of cheating.
- Also, it does not give answers to your exam or any other question and only gives study material to help you to get prepare for the exam.
- The advantages of using Sparknotes are – Time-saving, efficiency, flexibility, etc.
What is Sparknotes?
Sparknotes is the platform that was originally a component of a website known as The Spark. The company was founded by the Harward students in 1999. Initially, they give study material related to only five subjects – Film, Literature, Poetry, History, and Philosophy. But with time it included biology, economics, math, chemistry, sociology, and physics.
The main aim of it is to assist you with puzzle school or college homework. It helps you to have a better understanding of books, write papers, and preparing you for your exams and tests. They provide you with short, concise, easy, and important information related to your subject. If you want to look out for answers specific to maths, you can give it a try to Photomath.
Features of Sparknotes
The free version of SparkNotes offers you 50 already installed study materials in the library and 100 online study materials. You can also download various study materials so that you can go through them when you are in offline mode. Also, you can share the study guide that you are studying and share the feedback. Sparknotes also help students to search for different colleges.
Other than providing the services like study material for various subjects, you will also find a feature “Sparknotes Test Prep”, where you can find help for preparing for various types of exams. You may have to pay for this service. It is one of the best services offered by SparkNotes and the parts that they cover are SAT/PSAT, ACT, GRE, and AP exams. Additionally, SparkNotes have also started printing their educational books for up to the 8th standard.
Is using Sparknotes cheating?
Like all the other educational platforms, SparkNotes is the platform that helps students with their academics. Many students use it to get help. As discussed earlier, it helps you to get information related to your subject. So definitely it is not considered cheating, as it does not offer you the answers to your exam or assignment questions. They only offer study material and help you in the revision of your exams and tests.
Though they are not considered cheating your college may have strict regulations on not using them. In such a scenario it will be considered cheating. Also if you are using it as a tool to save your time for revising then it is ok but if you are using it to copy in your exams then obviously it is cheating and thus considered as cheating platform. This is because the content you copied is already published and available online. It means that you will be having plagiarized content which is considered cheating. As it can be used for cheating, many consider it a homework-cheating website.
Is Sparknotes reliable? – Sparknotes review
Yes, Sparknotes is a reliable website as it offers an accurate summary of the long textbooks. The authors on this platform are people who have a deep knowledge of the specific subject. These people are probably the professors or the graduates that are specialized in their subjects and provide you with the best they can offer you. The authors on this platform never deviate from what is originally written in the textbooks.
You will only get a summary of what is written in the particular textbooks. Furthermore, using SparkNotes is safe which makes it more reliable. Sparknotes provide you with authentic information that is mostly factual. This tool will save you a lot of time, especially during your exams when you have less time and more syllabus to revise. It will provide a summary of long text in short with more accuracy. It can be one of the platforms that can be used for cheating in the online exams.
Advantages of using Sparknotes
SparkNotes is a platform that provides a lot of study material for various subjects. In addition to it, several advantages are mentioned below-
1. Time-Saving
As a student, you have to revise a lot of subjects and each subject has its syllabus to cover. Sparknotes will help you to save time as you do not have to read your long textbooks again. You will get summaries of all the textbooks that are related to your subject which will help you to save time.
2. Efficiency
Obviously, when you are reading summaries instead of long textbooks, you get a lot of time to read more and more. This will help to increase efficiency as you can read more and more books.
3. Flexibility
With the use of Sparknotes, you can view the study guide both online and offline. You get the content in text, videos, and PDF format. You can use whichever is comfortable for you.
4. Accuracy
As the authors on this platform are graduates or professors who specialized in the area of the subject. The content on this platform is highly accurate.
Disadvantages of using Sparknotes
Now as you have read the advantages, here is the time to know more about the disadvantages of using SparkNotes –
1. Promote laziness
Sparknotes help students who are facing issues in understanding their long textbooks related to their subjects. But as you have the summaries of the textbooks, you would not develop a habit of reading textbooks. Due to this, you may become lazier.
2. Some may use it for cheating
Although using it is not at all considered to be cheating, some students misuse the advantage of SparkNotes. They will use it for copying it in their exams, which is unethical.
Conclusion
Sparknotes is a platform that is made to ease the burden students face while studying. Though it is a useful tool, many consider it cheating. Well, this will only be true if the student uses it for copying from Sparknotes. Also, your school may have prohibited its use of it. In such cases, using it will also be considered cheating. But eventually, if you are legally using it to get a better understanding of your subject, then of course it is not cheating. Also, the content that is available on this platform is reliable and accurate.
