Visitors can immediately find a directory of on-line games and quizzes in more than 40 subject areas, including biology, mathematics, geography, chemistry and even Latin. Users simply click a category and select games whose activities range from matching a decimal to its nearest whole number to playing hangman with words associated with urology to trying a quiz based on Newton's laws of motion. Games are placed on the site by Quia editors or educators and students seeking to hone skills in a certain discipline. Educators also can create areas for their classes to take quizzes. Quia offers statistical breakdowns of the tests, showing details such as the students' average score, high and lows, and the most common answer for a particular question.
Instructors have the flexibility to add bonus points and comments to each student's quiz.
A printed summary of the student's final score, along with the instructor's comments, is then available. Most of the games use Java scripting, which might not work with earlier browser incarnations. Quia points out that America Online's browser makes playing the diversions difficult. Each activity I tested worked perfectly and loaded quickly on a 56k modem connection. Sometimes, Quia allows players to see which textbooks were used to compile activities, and visitors can get in touch with most game authors through an e-mail form.