# Student manual Welcome to AGS Vocab! This guide helps you sign in, take tests, earn kudos, and understand your score. No technical jargon — just what you need to know. > Reading age target: Grade 5 and up. Younger learners may want a teacher or parent to walk through the first session. --- ## 1. What is AGS Vocab? AGS Vocab is a friendly game that figures out which words you know. It picks one word at a time and asks you about it. Each answer tells the system a little more about your vocabulary, so the very next question is matched to *you* — not too easy, not too hard. At the end, you get a **Vocabile score** — a number between 0 and 1500 that tells you roughly what grade level your vocabulary is at. --- ## 2. Signing in (and joining your class) You don't need a password. ### Joining a class for the first time (with a QR code) Your teacher will give you a **QR code** to scan or a **class code** like `BAY-7A4K`. 1. Open your phone's camera and point it at the QR code (or visit the link your teacher shared) 2. You'll land on a page that says "Join {your class} at {your school}" 3. Type your **email address** (or **phone number** if your school uses SMS) 4. Tap **SEND CODE** 5. Check your email — you'll get a 6-digit code, like `438129` 6. Type the code in 7. Tap **JOIN {your class}** — you're in! 🎉 If your camera can't read the QR, your teacher can give you the plain code instead. Go to your school's site + `/join` (e.g. `bayview.agsvocab.com/join`) and type it. ### Signing in after you've already joined 1. Open the AGS Vocab app 2. Type the same email or phone you used to join 3. Tap **Send code**, enter the 6-digit code, sign in That's it! The code is good for 10 minutes. If you don't see the email, look in your **junk / spam folder**. If it's still not there, tap **Resend code**. ### Joining more classes You can be in more than one class. Your teacher will give you a new QR for each one — scan it like the first time. You'll only need to sign in once after that; new classes get added to your account automatically. --- ## 3. Choosing a test After signing in, you see three test types on the home screen: ### Vocab Diagnostic (the "where am I?" test) - Tap this **first** if it's your first time - It figures out your current vocabulary level - **No lives lost**, **no kudos earned** — it's just a measurement - Takes 15 to 40 questions, about 8–15 minutes - You can only retake this once every 30 days (unless you have premium) ### Skill Practice (the "let's work on something specific" mode) - Pick a **focus** — for example "nouns", "Grade 4 words", or the "sports" genre - Practise 10 questions in that area - **Lives count** — wrong answers cost you a life - **Kudos earned** for every correct answer - Doesn't change your Vocabile score — it's pure practice ### Vocab Path (the "keep going" mode) - Premium only (unlimited lives subscription) - 10 questions handpicked to keep stretching your vocabulary - Avoids recently-seen words so it feels fresh - **Updates your Vocabile score** each session --- ## 4. Taking a test Once you tap **Start**, the screen looks like this: ``` ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ⭐ 23 ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │ What does "luminous" mean? │ │ 🔊 (tap to hear it) │ ├─────────────────────────────┤ │ A. Heavy and slow │ │ B. Giving off light │ │ C. Made of metal │ │ D. Very loud │ └─────────────────────────────┘ ``` ### What everything means - **❤️ Lives** (top-left) — how many wrong answers you have left. Each life regrows in 20 minutes. - **⭐ Kudos** (top-right) — points you've earned. They never go away. - **The question** — the word and what to do with it. Some questions ask the **meaning**, some ask for a **synonym**, some ask you to **finish a sentence**. - **🔊 Speaker** — tap to hear the word read out loud. A friendly stickman character will appear and "read" along. - **A / B / C / D** — your choices. Tap the one you think is right. ### After you answer - ✅ **Right answer** → the screen flashes green, a happy sound plays, kudos float up (`+3`) - ❌ **Wrong answer** → soft red flash, gentle sound, one ❤️ disappears Then the next question appears. ### Skip / give up There's no skip button — every question counts. If you run out of lives mid-test, the game shows you an **Out of Lives** screen and asks you to wait or buy more. Your progress is saved. --- ## 5. Your Vocabile score When you finish a Diagnostic or Vocab Path session, the **Results** screen shows: ``` Your Vocabile score ┌───────┐ │ 720 │ └───────┘ Grade 3-4 ``` ### The scale | Score | Grade band | |---|---| | 0–100 | Kindergarten | | 100–200 | Grade 1 | | 200–300 | Grade 2 | | 300–400 | Grade 3 | | ... | ... | | 1200–1300 | Grade 11 | | 1300–1400 | Grade 12 | | 1400+ | Beyond Grade 12 | A higher score means you know **more words** — including harder, rarer, more specific ones. Your score can go **up** or **down** between Diagnostics depending on how you do. That's normal! Even adults score differently on different days. ### How to grow your score 1. Take **Skill Practice** sessions in areas you find hard 2. Try lots of different **genres** — sports, science, fairy tales, news 3. Use the **🔊 read-aloud** to hear words you've never heard before 4. Read **outside the app** — books, comics, articles. The app measures what you already know; reading is how you actually *learn* new words. --- ## 6. Lives — how they work You have **5 lives** to start with. They look like ❤️ at the top of the test screen. - Get an answer **wrong** in Skill Practice or Vocab Path → lose 1 ❤️ - Get an answer **right** → no change (you don't *gain* lives, you just don't lose them) - Wait **20 minutes** → 1 ❤️ regrows automatically - Go to **0 lives** → you have to wait or buy more before you can practise again ### The Diagnostic doesn't cost lives You can take the Diagnostic with 0 lives — it never deducts. It also never gives kudos. It's a measurement, not a game. ### Premium learners If your account is **premium** (unlimited lives), the ❤️ shows as ∞ and you never run out. Ask your school administrator if you think you should have premium. --- ## 7. Kudos — how to earn them Kudos are your reward points. Every correct answer in Skill Practice or Vocab Path gives you between **1 and 7 kudos** depending on how rare the word is: | Word difficulty | Kudos per correct | |---|---| | Common (you'd hear it every day) | 1 | | Familiar | 2 | | Standard | 3 | | Advanced | 4 | | Challenging | 5 | | Rare | 6 | | Very rare | 7 | The Diagnostic gives **0 kudos** (because it's a measurement, not practice). Kudos **never go down**. They are forever. ### What kudos are for Kudos travel with you across the AGS family — AGS Vocab, AGS Math, and any other AGS app — and contribute to your total **All Gifted** score. Ask your school for more info on what kudos unlock. --- ## 8. The read-aloud feature 🔊 Every question has a speaker button. Tap it and a **friendly stickman character** appears to read the word out loud. - 14 different stickman characters share the reading — sometimes you get a "Jolly Aunty", sometimes "Smart Coach", sometimes "Adventurous Boy" - They all have different voices to match — male, female, younger, older, different accents - Your school chooses which **accent family** the voices come from (American, British, Australian, Singaporean, or Indian) If the voice sounds robotic or muffled, that's because your device hasn't installed the "natural-sounding" voices yet. Ask your parent, teacher, or admin to install them — instructions are in the admin manual. --- ## 9. Tips for getting a great score 1. **Don't guess randomly.** If you really don't know, the system can tell — it'll show you easier words next. Random guessing makes your score look higher *and* lower than it really is. 2. **Use the speaker.** Sometimes you can recognise a word when you *hear* it even if you don't recognise it when you *see* it. 3. **Read the whole question.** Some questions are about meaning, some about synonyms, some about finishing a sentence. Make sure you know what's being asked. 4. **Take your time.** There's no timer. Thinking longer never costs you anything. 5. **Try practice between Diagnostics.** Skill Practice in your weak areas is the fastest way to lift your real vocabulary — and your next Diagnostic score will reflect it. 6. **Different days, different scores.** If you're tired, your score will look lower. That's normal. Take the Diagnostic when you're fresh. --- ## 10. Questions you might have ### "Why did I lose a life on a word I've never seen?" The test is supposed to push the edge of what you know. If every word were familiar, the system wouldn't be learning anything about you. Wrong answers on hard words are completely fine — they help measure where your "edge" is. Lives are just a gentle nudge to think carefully. ### "Why is the next question easier / harder than the last one?" Because the system adapts! After every answer it updates its guess of your level and picks the next question to match. Getting one right? Next one will be a bit harder. Got one wrong? Next one will be a bit easier. This is normal. ### "Can I retake a test if I bombed it?" - **Skill Practice** and **Vocab Path** — yes, anytime (subject to lives) - **Diagnostic** — once every 30 days (unless you have premium). This is so your "official" score reflects steady progress, not last-minute repeated attempts. ### "Why don't I get kudos in the Diagnostic?" The Diagnostic is for measurement, not gameplay. If it gave kudos, people would farm easy Diagnostics for points and the gamification would become unfair. Skill Practice and Vocab Path are where you collect kudos. ### "Will my friend see my score?" No. Your scores are private to you and your school admin. Other learners can't see what you scored. ### "Where do the words come from? Are they fair?" The test draws from a carefully chosen mix of word lists used by real linguistics researchers and teachers around the world — including the **New General Service List** (2,800 most-useful English words), the **Academic Vocabulary List** (3,000 academic words), and the **Dale-Chall list** of words known to most 4th-graders. Plus the AGS team has hand-written items for the harder ranges. Every test you take samples from this mix according to your current ability, so you only see words near your level — never just easy or impossibly hard ones. If you're curious about the full list of sources, your school admin can show you `docs/word-sources.md`. ### "What happens to my account if I stop using the app?" Nothing automatically. Your account, scores, and kudos all stay safe. Just sign in again whenever you're ready. ### "Can I delete my account?" Ask your school administrator. They can delete you from the system and wipe your scores. Account deletion isn't yet available as a self-service button. --- ## 11. If something goes wrong | Problem | Try this | |---|---| | "Couldn't reach the server" | Check your WiFi or mobile data. Ask your teacher if the app server is online. | | Didn't get the OTP email | Check spam. Wait 30 seconds, tap **Resend**. | | Speaker button does nothing | Tap it again. If still nothing, your browser may have muted the page — click the address bar speaker icon. | | App keeps freezing | Sign out, close the app fully, reopen. | | Lost all my kudos / lives showing weird number | Tell your teacher — they can check your **Lives events** ledger and fix it. | Have fun, and keep building your word power!