Instructions - the ranking system

The app has a ranking system to give you some incentive to use it and also to give you a chance to see how your skills are improving. There are separate rankings for each question, ranging through the following categories:

1. Novice
2. Freshman
3. Sophomore
4. Junior
5. Senior
6. Bachelors
7. Masters
8. Ph.D.

Each question type has its own ranking, so your rank in one does not have an impact on your ranking in any of the others. Each ranking is earned by a earning a particular score on that type of question (each question type has its own score as well). Your score goes up by a certain number of points for every question you answer correctly within the time limit. The number of points will depend on the type of question as well as your rank (e.g., you will earn more points at higher ranks and more points for some question types). The current score for that question type is displayed at the bottom of the app screen. If your score is above zero, it displays in green, and if it's below zero it is in red so that you have a visual indication of your status. At lower levels, you have more time to answer the question. As your rank increases, you have less time to answer the question if you want to earn points. If you surpass the time limit and give a correct answer your score doesn't change. if you give an incorrect answer, regardless of how long it takes you to give it, you lose points (like a correct answer the number of points will vary by question type and your rank). When you reach a certain number of points, you will earn a higher ranking and your score will reset to 0. The number of points you need to earn also increases as you go up, making it more difficult to earn those rankings. 

To prevent you from just guessing to earn ranks, for every question you answer incorrectly, you lose points. If you lose too many points, you will lose a ranking and your score resets to zero. The number of points you have to lose before you drop a rank varies by level as well.

If you are at the lowest rank for a question you cannot drop any lower, regardless of how many question you answer incorrectly, but you will get a warning if you answer too many incorrectly and your score will reset to zero.