hola ๐
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how well do you know Duolingo's timed challenges? ๐ค
nowadays most users just think of match madness,
but did you know there are two other timed challenges as well? ๐ฏ
all 3 put you in a race against the clock,
but they all do so a little bit differently...
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what is a timed challenge? โฑ๏ธ
a timed challenge on Duolingo is any lesson or mode that you have to complete against the clock, unlike in the usual lessons where you can go at your own pace
the idea is to beef up your comprehension speed... but they can also be pretty useful for beefing your XP as well โก๏ธ
((in fact, the latter is probably the main reason Duolingo users LOVE timed challenges... they're absolutely essential if you wanna win the Diamond Tournament))
there aren't any lives or hearts in timed challenges, however, if you're a free member, each attempt costs 100 gems ((Super and Max members can do them for free))
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back in the day there was only one timed challenge... but now there are three...
1. match madness
this has easily become Duolingo's most popular timed challenge
it's basically just one big match-the-pairs exercise split into 3 tiers, spread across multiple levels...
in each level you get 1:45 to make every match
but to make things harder, the number of matches you have to make increases with every level
so by the time you reach the last level, you can't really afford to make any slip-ups!
each round is split into xp checkpoints, so if you run out of time you'll earn the amount of xp in your last checkpoint
the main version of match madness is available Monday-Friday from the league tab on the mobile app
...and if you want your match madness fix on the weekends, you can tap one of the characters on your learning path ((although in this version you only get 3 levels))
2. xp ramp up
xp ramp up is Duolingo's original timed challenge...
unlike match madness, xp ramp up doesn't just focus on one Duolingo exercise
instead, it's basically like a normal lesson: you get lots of different exercises... the only difference being that you have to complete them against the clock
xp ramp up is spread across 3 levels of 9 rounds ((3 rounds per level))
each round is worth more xp than the last, but the difficulty gets harder the higher you climb ๐ง
that's because with each round, the amount of time you get deceases ๐
so in round 1, you get 2:30 on the clock...
but in round 2, the time comes down to 2:15...
...and if you make it all the way to the last round of level 3, you'll get just 1:30 to answer every question ๐ฅต
so it's the same number of questions... just less time to answer them.
if you're unable to complete a round in xp ramp up, you either get sent back to the start of the level, or you get dumped back into the previous one
there's a lot of jeopardy so it's a good one for keeping you on your toes!
xp ramp up swaps out with match madness and is available Saturday-Sunday from the league tab on the mobile app
there isn't generally as much xp to earn as match madness but it makes for a nice change of pace over the weekend
3. rapid review
this one definitely isn't as well known as the other two
that's because it isn't one of the timed challenges found in the league tab... you can only find it in the path on the mobile app
it's often the first timed challenge in any unit
it's similar to xp ramp up in that it's just a normal lesson with a time limit
the biggest difference however is that each lesson is split into xp checkpoints ((kinda like match madness))
so if you fail to complete the lesson but make it past a certain xp checkpoint, you'll earn that amount of xp
like the path version of match madness, it's spread across 3 levels worth up to 20, 40 and 60 XP respectively
which one rules the roost?
3 timed challenges... but which one's best? ๐ค
I mean, it all comes down to what you're hoping to achieve really
if XP is your goal, then you can't do much better than match madness ๐ช
whack on a cheeky xp boost and you can be earning hundreds of xp every couple of minutes
((as far as i'm concerned this approach is pretty much essential if you wanna win the Diamond Tournament))
you can still rack up a lot of xp with xp ramp up and rapid review, but I find it's a lot slower going.
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however...
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if you're more interested in the learning side of things...
then I think xp ramp up and rapid review come out on top
the variety of exercises means you're beefing up your speed across the board,
unlike in match madness where you're just doing the same old exercise over and over again
you can only do xp ramp up on the weekends, which is a bit of a shame, although it's probably worth the wait as I think it's a lot more fun than rapid review
((although at least with rapid review you can do it any time you like from the learning path)) ๐โโ๏ธ
but either way, you've always got a varied timed challenge to choose from
just don't expect to be making as much xp as you could from match madnes!
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so yeah,
Duolingo's 3 timed challenges in a nutshell.
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which one's your fave? ๐ค
โlet me know :)