Campfire Session — Test Prep

Explore practical ways to use Flint for test prep like interactive practice for spelling, SAT/ACT reading, and timed essays, note-review diagnostics, AP-style study sessions, and video generation.

Jacob Edington, Head of Customer Success at Flint

In this Test Prep Flint Campfire Session, we focused on how teachers can use Flint and Sparky to transform traditional test preparation into an interactive, diagnostic learning process. Instead of static study guides or one-time review packets, Flint enables repeated practice, personalized feedback, and teacher insight into where students are struggling before assessments. Jacob demonstrated several ready-to-duplicate activities available in the Public Library and highlighted how teachers can quickly adapt them to different grade levels, subjects, and exam formats.

• Video generation as a new test prep modality, highlighting how teachers can “vibe code” a targeted explainer video instead of searching through YouTube for the perfect clip—useful for reviewing a concept, reteaching a difficult topic, or creating a recap aligned specifically with the material covered in class.

• Interactive spelling practice as an example of early-grade assessment preparation, where students hear words spoken aloud, spell them, and receive feedback on accuracy along with suggestions for improvement. Teachers can then review results and quickly identify patterns in which words or spelling rules students struggle with most.

• SAT and ACT reading comprehension practice demonstrating how Flint can simulate standardized test preparation through structured passages and guided questions while still allowing teachers to customize difficulty levels, prompts, and timing to match their class needs.

• Timed essay writing practice designed to mirror real testing conditions, where students respond to a writing prompt within a set time limit and Sparky evaluates the response afterward. This helps students build pacing and stamina for standardized exams while giving teachers insight into writing strengths and weaknesses.

• Literature comprehension activities that test mastery of texts like To Kill a Mockingbird, where students engage with characters and scenarios to demonstrate understanding. Instead of simple recall questions, Sparky analyzes responses and summarizes areas where students may need to revisit the text or strengthen interpretation.

• Note review and study feedback workflows where students upload their notes and Sparky analyzes them to identify missing concepts, gaps in understanding, and suggestions for what to review next before the exam.

• AP-level study guide activities showing how teachers can upload past exam questions, notes, and textbook excerpts to generate practice questions, short responses, and long-form answers that mimic real exam expectations while diagnosing areas students should focus on studying.

• Customization of activities through Build with Sparky and Build manually, explaining how teachers can either “vibe code” an activity conversationally or edit the underlying structure to adjust timing, rubrics, documents, and response style.

• Teacher visibility as the key advantage of Flint test prep, since educators can see how students answered questions, what misconceptions appear repeatedly, and which topics need reteaching before the actual exam.

• Student-created study guides as a complementary option, allowing students to duplicate activities or build their own practice materials while teachers can still assign structured activities when oversight and insight are important.

• Socratic seminar preparation strategies, where teachers can create activities that help students practice articulating ideas, building confidence in discussion, and connecting course material to real-world examples before participating in live classroom discussions.

• Practical implementation tips for writing assignments and world language classes, including scaffolding writing into multiple steps—brainstorming, outlining, drafting, and feedback—to maintain student ownership while still leveraging Sparky for targeted guidance.

Slides from the presentation can be found here.

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Introduction • 00:00

• Jacob introduces the session and agenda.

Customizable Test Preparation Activities • 01:47

• Flint offers multimodal approaches for test preparation, including a new video creation feature.

• Teachers gain insights into student performance, diagnostic feedback, and suggested follow-up activities.

• Interactive Spelling Test Practice:

• Designed for younger students, featuring 10 words for spelling.

• Sparky provides verbal analysis and suggestions for improvement.

• Teachers can monitor student struggles and adapt the activity for foreign languages.

• ACT/SAT Comprehension Practice:

• Allows for manual activity building, offering control over Sparky's thoroughness (thorough, balanced, concise).

• Time limits can be added to assignments.

• Timed Essay Writing Practice:

• Mimics standardized tests by setting a time limit for writing assignments.

• Murder Mystery Activity:

• Engages students in learning history (e.g., Roman Forum) or literature (e.g., To Kill a Mockingbird) through a mystery narrative.

• Assesses student mastery based on interactions with characters and includes image generation.

• Activities are editable for different books or grade levels.

• Note Review for Test Feedback:

• Students upload their notes for Sparky to analyze.

• Sparky provides suggestions for improving notes and identifies areas of focus based on unit knowledge.

• The activity is adaptable for any grade level by adjusting the input context.

• AP Psych Midterm Study Practice:

• Utilizes comprehensive context, including past exams, unit notes, practice problems, and textbook chapters.

• Students complete practice questions, short answers, and long answers.

• Sparky delivers diagnostic feedback and study recommendations based on student responses.

• Teachers gain insights into student performance and areas of struggle.

• Science Lab Data Analysis:

• Students analyze pre-created or uploaded data sets.

• Students identify and justify observations, with Sparky probing for deeper understanding.

• Mathematics "Find and Fix Mistakes" Activity:

• Students review provided math work to identify and correct errors.

• Focuses on understanding the process rather than just solving problems.

• The activity is broad and can be duplicated and customized for specific grade levels or units.

Video generation on Flint • 29:53

• A new feature allows for the creation of educational videos.

• Demonstrations included videos on "River of Doubt" and "Castle Itter."

• Sparky utilizes background knowledge to generate video content.

• Videos are initially around 90 seconds and can be refined for length and visual style (e.g., less cartoony, more realistic).

• Sparky can generate graphics within videos.

• Students can create videos from their own submitted content or notes by prompting Sparky to summarize topics or connect concepts, with the option to restrict content to uploaded documents only.

Socratic test prep • 40:29

• Flint can aid in student preparation for Socratic seminars by:

• Building student confidence through hypothetical seminar simulations.

• Creating activities that encourage students to connect learned material with real-world examples.

• Allowing teachers to preview potential conversation points from student interactions with Sparky, which can then be used to guide classroom discussions.

Additional test prep features on Flint • 52:19

• Spanish Language Support:

• Flint supports input and responses in Spanish and other world languages.

• Recent updates to image generation may improve the accuracy of images described in Spanish.

• Handwritten Notes and Videos:

• Students can upload pictures or scans of handwritten notes for Sparky to read and use for video generation or other activities.

• Clear and legible handwriting is crucial for Sparky's accurate interpretation.

• Specificity in Prompts:

• Providing specific instructions to Sparky, such as "only use what is on the script," prevents the AI from adding unintended details or outside information.

• Grammar and Writing Feedback:

• Flint cannot prevent automatic grammar corrections from internet browsers.

• Teachers can set group-level background context to define how Sparky provides feedback to students, which applies to all activities within that group.

• Scaffolding writing assignments into multiple activities (e.g., brainstorm, thesis, outline, draft) allows teachers to track the student's thought process and identify instances of pasted content.

Conclusion • 57:22

• To learn more, folks can go to the Campfire Calendar.