The Trailblaze Story

The problem with test preparation

Trailblaze started at my kitchen table – helping my son Sam practise for school entrance exams.

We were trying to untangle yet another non-verbal reasoning puzzle, both getting frustrated.

We'd been at it for weeks, but everything felt like a chore: I was bored of nagging, Sam was bored of being nagged.

Past papers weren't working for us – they felt too slow, too much like exams.

And the online platforms weren't much better. They just looked like someone had stuck a worksheet to the monitor. (They didn't look much different to what I used myself, thirty years ago!)

Expensive tutors weren't an option – even if you can justify spending £80–100 just for one lesson, the identities of the best tutors are more closely-guarded than KFC's secret recipe.

Then it hit me…

As parents, we use world-class apps every day to learn languages or play games. And yet preparation for our children's most important exams is still a chore?

Children love gaming. And – I strongly believe – they love learning too. Working on a hard question, getting the answer right, seeing progress – all of these are positives that spark that love of learning.

But children are being let down by test preparation.

That's why I got together with my friend Ali – who's worked on some of the world's most popular mobile games.

Together we built Trailblaze. A modern and fun way to practise for the 11+. Something that looks good, is fun to use and – most importantly – gets results.

And that's because of Trailblaze's unique Whole Curriculum Adaptation. That's the secret sauce (the KFC secret blend of herbs and spices!) that means children who use Trailblaze get better results than those who don't.

Let me explain.

Most test preparation methods are pretty basic. You start at question 1 and keep going till you're finished. Everyone answers the same questions in the same order.

Some online platforms are a bit better – they make questions easier or harder, depending on whether you got the previous question right or wrong.

But every child still does the same lessons in the same order. And that's no use if what you really need to focus is the last few lessons – but you won't get to them for weeks.

Trailblaze is different.

It's adaptive across the whole curriculum. In every subject – English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning – students start with a diagnostic assessment. This is less scary than it sounds – we simply ask them 25 questions across the curriculum.

This gives us an initial reading on where they're strong and where they're weak. Then, we show them more questions on their weaker topics, while surfacing harder questions to stretch them on stronger areas.

That's why we made Trailblaze – to build your child's confidence and their performance and, most importantly, to have fun doing it.

Wishing your children the best in the 11+

Stephen ❤️

PS that diagnostic assessment I mentioned? It's completely free for everyone – no strings attached. Download the app to try it out.