Inspiration
As AP students, we are constantly trying to find free resources to study for our classes. Useful and free resources are hard and time-consuming to find, so we decided to make a website that contains all the resources we have found in one place. Additionally, studying techniques are not taught in school, and they are especially hard for those who don’t already know what works for them. Learning how to study is difficult, time-consuming, and taxing, but it is a critical part of being a successful student. Because of this, we decided to include a guide on ways and tips to study. Overall, this website gives students the resources they need to study and the tools to engage in effective studying.
What it does
Our website is tailored to students who are willing to put the extra work into studying for their classes or are self-studying. It is also meant to help students who may be unhappy with the quality of their education from school or do not have money to buy textbooks and subscriptions. Our website provides links, study methods, and websites containing information for students to study subjects and classes on their own. Additionally, we allow users to suggest any additions to the study guides and resources that they may have.
How we built it
We built our website using HTML, CSS, Javascript, and jQuery on VSCode. Starting with basic ideas, designs, and plans, we would further grow and expand on those ideas as we got deeper into our project. Having a strong plan and a path to where we want to go helped us a lot with teamwork and organization. Starting with our introduction page, we made sure it was eye-catching and unique, and then we worked on our homepage, where one would find all the links and resources. Finally, we created our study page, where one can learn and find a vast selection of study methods.
Challenges we ran into
This project was the first time all of our team members have coded collaboratively. We had to learn how to use VSCode collaboratively to work together on the same code. Additionally, figuring out how to use the live server on shared code proved to have some complications, but eventually, we managed to get everything working the way we wanted it to. Additionally, we had problems when we didn’t communicate properly; some of our code would throw errors because of changed variable names, classes, or files. We confronted this problem and decided to always tell each other what we were working on, and by commenting on the code, we could communicate what could be touched and what couldn’t. During the hackathon one of our team members unfortunately had to deal with a major family problem. One of their family members got injured badly and he had to go and stay with him in the hospital. During this stressful time our team member was determined to stay on track while still holding his own personal responsibilities. This was not only a hard time for our team member but also for the rest of the team.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are especially proud of our idea and the uniqueness that comes with it. As AP students ourselves, we had a difficult time finding resources. We were also skeptical of many websites, wondering if they were any good for our education. With this website, we can fix this problem, and we can fix this problem for the 1.2 million students who are also taking AP classes. This website isn’t only tailored to AP students because we also provide studying methods that apply to everyone. As COVID ended and everything was coming back to normal, our education was limited, and many of us did not know how to study, which then affected our academics. By providing different study methods and helping others learn, we hope that everyone has an easier time finding what is right for them.
What we learned
We learned a lot of things, depending on what knowledge we had previously. For some of us, this project was our first exposure to web development and site design. For others, it was more about sharing code knowledge and seeing how things might be done differently. In terms of our overall experience, it was a great opportunity to see the kinds of things others were doing and learn about different ways of engaging in web development.
What's next for Summit Scholars?
Regardless of the result of this hackathon, we will continue to work on this project in the future. We hope to turn this website into a more beautiful experience, as we feel it still lacks character and touch. When we feel the website is ready, we plan to advertise and grow the website into a universal touchpoint for students everywhere to use as a free and user-friendly resource.
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