Gemini Now Offers Free SAT Practice Exams for Students

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Gemini now offers free practice SAT tests. The assistant will also back Khan Academy's Writing Coach. AI's education creep continues despite concerns from educators. Over the last year, AI has only continued its creep into education. Students and teachers alike use AI assistants for everything from making flash cards to conducting large-scale project research, and companies have responded with features like ChatGPT Study Mode and teacher-specific services tailored to those use cases. Now, Google has set its sights on standardized testing. Starting Wednesday, students can use Gemini to help study for the SATs, the company announced. Users can access "full-length, on-demand practice exams" directly in the chatbot for free. Continuing its investment in educational tools, Google said it partnered with The Princeton Review to ensure its tests use "rigorously vetted content from leading education companies" to ensure users are "preparing with material that more closely resembles what you'll see on test day," the company explained. Also: How AI could close the education inequality gap - or widen it Because standardized tests tend to follow a specific formula that rewards learning patterns more so than critical thinking or other metrics of learning, SAT prep might be an ideal application for AI in education. By providing practice exams, Gemini is now another free resource in the expensive and otherwise inaccessible world of college prep and applications. How to try it To access the tests, Google said users can just tell Gemini, "I want to take a practice SAT test." Google said that once a user has completed the test, Gemini will offer them feedback with specifics on where they did well and where they could spend more time. Users can also engage with Gemini the way they normally would by asking the chatbot to explain test answers. "By helping you identify specific knowledge gaps, Gemini empowers you to turn those insights into action -- creating a customized study plan that can help you walk into your exam with confidence," Google said. Also: Students are using AI tools instead of building foundational skills - but resistance is growing The company said it plans to add more tests in the future. Khan Academy to use Gemini Just a week after revealing Gemini will back Apple's Siri revamp, Google also announced that the AI assistant will power learning platform Khan Academy's Writing Coach (Khan Academy also offers free SAT prep courses, alongside other standardized tests, while we're on the subject). Many teachers and some studies fear that AI tools, especially in educational contexts, can hinder the development of critical thinking skills, which some studies have confirmed is possible as a side effect of the tech. In Pew Research Center poll last fall, most Americans surveyed expressed concerns that AI impedes creativity and relationship building. To mitigate that concern, Khan Academy has framed its Writing Coach as a support rather than an automation tool that guides students through a writing assignment where others might complete it for them. Also: I tried Gmail's new Gemini AI features, and now I want to unsubscribe Aiming to simulate a learning process more so than an ask-and-answer model, Writing Coach breaks writing down into four steps: understanding, outlining, drafting, and revising. Teachers using the platform can choose between two modes: one that only offers feedback and another that provides a more interactive experience. The tool is available now for seventh to 12th graders and in beta for fifth and sixth grades in the US. "With the power of Gemini, the tool meets students where they are," Google said in the announcement. "It adapts its feedback and provides clear examples to help them get unstuck and start writing." Also: I asked six popular AIs the same trick questions, and every one of them hallucinated The company added that Khan Academy will launch a Gemini-powered Reading Coach later this year that teachers can use to create customized reading comprehension experiences for students in grades 5-12. Reading Coach will then offer teachers insights on how individual students and the class as a whole are performing, to further tailor attention where it's most needed. Free updates for educators Google is also expanding access to Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Slides, Forms, Vids, and Sheets in its Google Workspace for Education core editions at no additional cost. The company said educators can use these to quickly get writing help, create content, videos, and images for presentations, make forms that include AI summaries of user responses, and analyze data. Users over 18 can access these updates in the coming weeks, except for Gemini in Gmail and Sheets, which will take a few months to roll out, according to Google.