For 10 years, Hemal Pathak has been one of Intelligentsia’s most trusted tutors. In addition to being an oft relied-upon math and science subject tutor, Hemal is one of our test prep maestros. In fact, he’s become so adept at preparing students for standardized tests, he’s started working on his very own online test prep platform. He’s calling it Cyngulum and we had a chance to chat with him about this exciting development before it’s released to the world.
Intelligentsia: You’re building an online test prep platform, Cyngulum. What are you focusing on as you develop it?
Hemal Pathak: I'm focusing on standardized testing in science - mainly Biology and Chemistry for now. The approach is to combine the recall effect, spacing, and scaffolding to help students retain information over longer periods. Another key aspect is learning to use online resources and searches to answer questions. In other words, to apply Google’d facts to a problem or question rather than just copying an answer. The content is at the level of Regents tests and SAT Subject Tests.
For the uninitiated, can you define the terms “recall effect,” “spacing,” and “scaffolding” in the context of test prep?
The “recall effect” is a well-documented relationship between recall and the transfer of information from short term to long term memory. Essentially, research has shown that answering certain kinds of test questions actually produces a long term memory for that content. There's some evidence as well for transfer of those retained ideas to new problem types and even to as yet unstudied material in the same subject.
“Spacing” refers to improved retention when content is studied and in a way that produces a delay between study sessions. The platform forces students to work through a practice test and then repeat it after a delay or space between study sessions.
“Scaffolding” involves taking a complicated idea or skill and breaking it down so that there's room for explanation at intermediate steps. It involves making problem-solving an assisted process so that students are not overwhelmed by complexity and gradually learn to figure things out on their own with less and less help.
Those ideas are simple to understand when broken down, but they seem based on some fairly complex science. I know you hold a PhD in neuroscience—has that expertise factored into the platform development?
Yeah, very much so. I tried to focus on ideas in learning that are supported by cognitive neuroscience studies - controlled studies with at least some support from fMRI data in humans and more detailed work at the level of genes and proteins in mice or other organisms. In my view at least, the more evolutionarily conserved a mechanism is and the more evidence there is at the cellular and molecular level, the more likely it might work out to be correct. Overall, that kind of thing - relating neuroscience data to actual learning - is really hard to know with any certainty, but it looks like there's some good support for it thus far.
Was this concept brewing for a while or did it come to you spontaneously?
I think it was brewing for a while. I kind of noticed that I remembered things really well after having practiced with multiple-choice tests. I assumed it was an approach I'd invented, but it turned out there's a massive amount of research in that field going back decades. I had played around with various versions of it for a few years and decided to focus on it more in the past year. Some of the things like scaffolding came up when I was in Ed school through the New York City Teaching Fellows
That's right, you were previously a teacher in NYC. Where and what did you teach?
I taught Biology and Neuroscience at Stuyvesant High School.
How long have you been helping students prepare for standardized tests?
I've tutored on and off for a long time, but I'd say about 12 years at near full-time.
Where do existing test prep platforms fall short and what will yours do better?
I don't think they combine the ideas in quite the same way or leverage online searches to help in problem-solving in the same way. I also have the advantage of having developed the materials with actual students over the past 10 years or so. I think the content we provide is better tuned to common pitfalls in student thinking and offers support in areas in which students seem to need it the most.
What are some of the pitfalls you see most often?
I view that as specific to the content. There are key hurdles in getting to the point where a student can connect the properties of water to transpiration in plants or osmosis across cell membranes. You can weight the number of questions and the extent of the scaffolding based on knowledge of which "intellectual hurdles" are the highest for most students.
Will the platform automatically adapt its content to address those intellectual hurdles?
No, [though] that's something I'm still considering. Right now I'm leaning towards the presentation of the content in a specific order as being more important.
Why is that?
Part of the reason for favoring order is that the ideas are presented as clues leading to future ideas. Adaptive models end up shuffling what's presented in a way that makes it hard to produce that feeling of insight that I'm aiming for as a student goes through the subcategories within a subject.
Do you envision this platform being used alongside other support, or as a replacement for existing methods?
I see it being used alongside other tools. Some ways it has proven useful are to prevent summer learning loss or to provide additional homework assignments during the school year.
What’s behind the name Cyngulum?
It’s a reference to an area in the brain that uses testing to transfer information from short term to long term memory...the cingulate gyrus.
Care to shoutout an educator who made a difference in your life?
The most relevant one for this would be Mr. Keller, my 7th-grade bio teacher. All of his test prep was in the form of practice questions.
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Want to test prep with Hemal? No need to wait for the release of Cyngulum. In addition to one-on-one tutoring, he’s teaching our small-group test prep classes this fall, focusing on the spring/summer 2021 SAT and ACT exams. Contact us today to learn more.
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Hemal Pathak holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, having studied the biophysics of chloride channel activity in acquired temporal lobe epilepsy. As a tutor, he has helped students in all levels of math and science classes, as well as for all parts of the ACT & SAT. He regularly helps students achieve their highest scores on all math and science AP & SAT subject tests.
