Interested in signing up for the Aceable online driver’s ed course? Recently, Aceable gave me a free account so that I could try out their course. They were certain I would be happy with it and I gladly accepted the challenge.
In this Aceable review, I’m going to share with you screen shots and videos from inside the course, as well as my overall opinions. If you do decide to sign up with Aceable, I will show you how to get the best pricing.
As a former driving instructor, I was excited to try out this relative newcomer in the online driver training world.
Review Of The Aceable Online Drivers Ed Course – Getting Started
Initial Signup: Getting started with Aceable is simple enough. Just choose your state, click sign up, and enter in the required information. This process only takes a few minutes.
Voice Authentication: Most states that allow drivers ed to be taken online require certain forms of “identity verification”. This ensures that YOU are really the one taking the course. The way Aceable accomplishes this is through voice authentication.
Aceable will call your phone and record you saying a certain phrase several times. Throughout the course, they will call back and you must repeat the phrase.
This is on-par with what other online drivers ed programs use, butAceable seems to have the most straight forward and simple approach I’ve seen yet.
Going Over The Basics: Before the course really gets into the driving stuff, they briefly go over what you can expect to learn throughout the course as well as how the course works. This is something you’ll want to pay attention to as each state has slightly different requirements.
Instructor Introduction: Believe it or not, you actually do get an “instructor” with this course. The only difference is, your instructor is a robot called Ace! I get the feeling we’re going to be seeing much more of Ace as the course goes on.
Initial Thoughts About Aceable
My initial experience has been positive so far. I’ve been enjoying some of the perks that are included with this course such as the voice read-along feature that most other online drivers ed courses charge extra for.
The read-along feature is also higher quality than most. The narrator seems to move along at a quick pace and keeps things from becoming too boring.
During the fist 45 minutes of the course, there wasn’t much in the way of video, animations, or illustrations, so I was happy to see the number of videos increase as the course went on.
I was also surprised by the number of times I needed to repeat the voice authentication. Fortunately, I haven’t had any issues with it. They call my phone, I repeat the phrase, and I’m ready to go again in 5 seconds. This is also a state requirement, so while it is a little annoying, I think Aceable is doing it in the most hassle-free way I’ve seen as compared to other online drivers ed courses.
It also seems like after every 5 minutes or so, I was required to answer a couple short questions. You are allowed to fail these questions, but it helps to make sure you are paying attention and also helps to reinforce the really important stuff.
Mobile / Tablet Friendly
One of the big differentiators for Aceable is how it can be used so well on just about any device. Many of the older and outdated online drivers ed courses offer “mobile friendly” versions of their courses.
Aceable took a different approach. I mainly went through the course using my laptop and it worked perfectly, but Aceable was truly designed to be cross-platform.
They don’t just have “mobile friendly versions” of their course, they built apps just for different devices to ensure it works the way it’s supposed to no matter what you’re using. You would think this is commonplace with Aceable, but it’s definitely not.
“Leveling Up” Through The Course
As you go through the course, you will begin to “level up.” It sort of gives this course a video game feel and helps to give a sense of accomplishment. While you can stop and start the course whenever you want, there are certain areas throughout each “level” that will give you the option to take a break or keep going. You can also break after each level.
Time Limits
In most states, each page will be timed and you will not be able to progress to the next page until the timer has reached zero. Aceable has done a fantastic job with this.
I’m usually not ready to move on until the timer has expired anyway, so Aceable deserves some props for designing a course that doesn’t make these timers annoying. Many states also require limitations on how quickly you can complete the course. In Texas, the course I tested out, the limit was 2hrs each day.
Quizzes
In addition to the random questions asked throughout the course that you can fail without penalty, there are short quizzes after each section and you must answer the questions correctly.
You are able to go back into the coursework and re-take questions you answer incorrectly. For the most part, if you’ve been paying attention, the quiz answers are relatively easy.
The Final Exam
At the end of the course, you will need to take a final exam. You must pass this exam in order to pass the course, but don’t worry, because you get multiple attempts and it isn’t very difficult.
It will also help to make sure you pass the written test when you go get your license. If you can’t pass the Aceable final exam, you will not be able to pass the written driving test.
More Info About Aceable
Aceable driver’s ed is an online driving school, and unlike many other organizations that offer a Texas Department of Public Safety-approved PTDE course, they’re actually based in Texas.
A small Austin startup founded in 2013 by a young maverick named Blake Garrett, Aceable is one of the more recent newcomers to the online driving course arena, but they’ve already served over 30,000 teen and adult drivers.
Garret started the company out of frustration concerning the miserable, boring online courses he had to take to maintain his CPA license.
Eventually, Aceable will expand into other high-stakes testing areas, such as mandatory continuing education for lawyers and worker safety programs. Since they began, Aceable has received millions of dollars in funding.
Aceable’s Parent-Taught Driver’s Ed course is available for teens between the ages of 14 and 17, and the course must be completed before your child turns 18.
This is one of a number of PTDE courses available for Texas residents, and we’ll tell you exactly how it stacks up against the competition. Aceable also offers adult driver training for those over the age of 18.
They will also be expanding into online traffic school, defensive driving courses, and more.
Features of Aceable’s PTDE Course
Aceable’s PTDE course will set you back just $100, which is in line with what other, similar organizations charge.
The price of the course includes almost everything you need for your child to obtain a Texas driver’s license. The only other costs associated with obtaining a driver’s license will be the $20 fee for getting your required PTDE packet from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and the $16 fee for the learner’s license, which includes the cost of obtaining the driver’s license once the course is complete.
Aceable includes many features in their course that other online drivers ed courses charge extra for, making it an especially good bargain.
Unlike the majority of other online PTDE courses, Aceable’s course includes the written test your child will need to take in order to get a learner’s license, which will save you a lot of time waiting in line at the DPS.
The course provides in-app study tools and practice tests to help ensure your child passes the course, monitoring tools so that you can keep track of your child’s progress, and in-app tools to help you survive the behind-the-wheel instruction portion of the course.
Unlike many other courses, Aceable is available on your mobile devices as well as your desktop or laptop computer. Your iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, or iPod Touch will need to be running on iOS 7.0 or higher, and you’ll need 97 MB of space for the app.
Your Android needs OS version 4.2 or higher and about 30 MB of space for installation. Your desktop or laptop computer will need the most current version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Internet Explorer.
A nice thing about Aceable is that they develop custom platforms for all different devices. I’m not aware of any other online drivers ed course that goes to this much trouble to make sure everything runs smoothly.
In many states, the first six hours of the course, which are required to obtain a learner’s license, are free to take. If you like what you see, you simply pay for the course after the first six hour, and continue on at your own pace. In other places, state law will require a credit card number upon signup.
How Aceable’s Parent Taught Drivers Ed Works
Before your teen starts the online course, you’ll need to order and receive your PTDE packet from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
After your child completes the first six hours of online instruction and aces the Aceable online learner’s license exam, Aceable will send you the certificate required by the DPS to get the learner’s license.
Your teen must be 15 to obtain a learner’s license.In addition to taking the Aceable online coursework, most states will require behind-the-wheel training. Most teens end up enrolling into a course at a local driving school, but the state of Texas allows parents to become the driving instructor. Here’s how it works…
With the learner’s license in hand, your child will continue working on the remaining 26 hours of the online course while also working on the driving portion, with your help.
As required by the State of Texas, your child is limited to two hours per day of online coursework. The driving portion of the course is comprised of 7 hours of logged driving instruction, 7 hours of logged in-car observation, and 30 hours of supervised driving practice, 10 of which must be done at night.
Once your teen completes the course and the driving requirements, Aceable will send the course completion certificate required by the DPS to get a Texas driver’s license.
How The Aceable Course Works
What inspired Blake Garrett to start Aceable driver’s ed in the first place was the horrifically boring nature of most online courses of any kind. As such, the online portion of the Aceable PTDE course is designed specifically to fully engage your teen in the lessons.
The course consists of 12 levels, and each level ends with a short quiz that your teen must pass with a 70 percent in order to move on to the next level.
The final exam is a multiple-choice test that must also receive a passing score of 70 percent in order to pass the course. There are plenty of practice tests and other resources available with the course to help your teen study for both the end-of-level quizzes and the final exam.
Each lesson includes lots of colorful graphics, games, videos, and popup questions that test your child’s knowledge as the course progresses.
These are the pros of Aceable Driver’s Ed:
- Its stellar app is user-friendly – you can navigate the platform without any difficulties.
- Their app has received great reviews on both Android and IOS.
- The content is not just engaging, it’s informative and interactive.
- You’ll get to have fun while completing the course, an enjoyable learning experience.
- You’ll never find any other school that offers unique and useful driving simulations.
- Ace, Aceable’s robot mascot, is a joy to have as your course companion. It guides you through the course so that you can complete the process without any issues.
- Its videos and animations make learning more bearable and less boring. It’s a unique experience that textbooks and even some other online courses can’t offer.
The only disadvantage that I can think of is that Aceable Driver’s Ed is only available in limited states. And also, you may find the course slightly expensive to its competitors.
However, I want to emphasize the quality of education and the unique learning experience that any student can enjoy when thinking about the price. Even if it’s a bit pricier, you’ll get almost every unique feature, all in, that is only available as an add-on in other course providers.
Besides, given that the school has only been around for less than a decade, what they have achieved so far is a remarkable feat that not every company can achieve in an instant.
And don’t forget that they also offer frequent discounts to make their course a bit more budget-friendly. So if you’re from a state where this course is available, make sure to watch out for those discounts!
What Others Say About Aceable’s PTDE Course
No matter where you search for Aceable reviews, they are always extremely positive. All review sites from Yelp to the Apple Store to Facebook reviews are all 5 stars are very close to it. Aceable is the top rated online drivers ed course.
On the rating site Shopper Approved, 36 of the 39 reviewers gave Aceable five stars, two gave them four stars, and only one gave them three stars – the lowest rating – for an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5.
One parent said that her son “was engaged while working in the program and that helped me feel assured that he truly was absorbing the learning.” Another parent said, “My teenagers says they love the way that the drivers ed is presented to them. I like that I can track their progress.”
Another reviewer commented on the customer service: “I had a question for customer service and they were quick to respond, this was helpful.” The three-star reviewer simply said, “Seems to be confusing child/parent,” but the rest of the reviewers would probably beg to differ.
Rating for Aceable’s PTDE Course
In the past, I have always recommended various online drivers ed programs that have been around for at least 10 years. However, Aceable is now my top recommended online drivers ed course for any state it is approved in. There is no close competitor – Aceable is simply the best.
Although they’re new to the online driver’s ed scene, Aceable is doing everything right so far, and they appear to fully deserve the five-star rating we’re giving them.
