Contrary to popular belief, solving the crossword or playing puzzle games may not make you smarter. However, some apps can help you train your brain over time to improve a range of mental skills. Elevate is one such app that promises to make you smarter using fun games.
Created by Elevate Labs in 2014, the app has won Apple’s App of the Year award. Elevate aims to strengthen your writing, reading, listening, speaking, and math skills. But is the app any good or just another marketing gimmick? We tested Elevate out, and here’s all you need to know.
How to Set Up Elevate
When you first open Elevate, you're given a two-minute skill test to assess your mental capacity (alternatively, you can choose to skip it and select your skill levels manually). The test comprises simple vocabulary, grammar, and some elementary-level math problems.
Once you’ve completed the test, Elevate calculates your Elevate Proficiency Quotient (EPQ). EPQ is a proficiency scale created for the app. The initial skill assessment does not give the most accurate EPQ results. The first test score can be considered as an approximate baseline. Therefore, don't let a low EPQ score deter you.
The next step is account creation, and this is the first barrier in terms of accessibility. When you click on the sign-up option through Google or Facebook, you will have to enter your credit card details to use the seven-day free trial. Unless canceled within the trial period, the subscription will auto-renew at $39.99/year. In the trial period, you get uninterrupted access to all the features Elevate has to offer.
Alternatively, you can opt for a limited-time free account by signing up with your email and closing the next window. The only downside of the free account is that you do not get access to all the best features of the application; you can play up to three games per day, with access to only 22 games in total. Also, the free version does not give you a comprehensive EPQ report. Hence, it is better to opt for the seven-day trial period to get the full experience.
Download: Elevate for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
Elevate's Training Sessions
Once you’ve created your account and logged in, you can begin training right away. Every day you are provided with five new training sessions. These consist of everything from vocabulary building to math and memory skills and gradually increase in difficulty with every repetition. Elevate recommends training on its app at least four times per week for the best results.
Riddles, cryptograms, crosswords, and other common free puzzle games tend to get repetitive and boring. Elevate stands out in that regard. It uses gamification creatively to train you.
Brevity is the first game that you play on Elevate. It’s a great game to improve your writing skill by spotting redundancies. The game has several timed rounds. A short sentence flashes on the screen briefly. You need to select a redundant phrase from the given sentence before the timer runs out. If you do so quickly, you get an extra speed score that adds up.
Another cool mini-game called Processing helps you increase your reading speed. With each round, the words-per-minute increase. Words from a passage appear in rapid succession one above the other, building a tower. You need to keep up and read them as fast as you can. Finally, answer a question at the end of the round to prevent your tower from falling. The timed nature of these games always keeps you on the edge.
Similarly, there are over 40 mini-games designed in collaboration with experts to keep you engaged. The training sessions feel like building muscle memory. It's confusing at first, but you get better with practice and Elevate intuitively gauges your performance and increases the difficulty accordingly.
Every training session has several timed rounds, and you have limited lives. When you get an answer wrong, the app penalizes you. But it also shows you the right way to solve a problem. At the end of each game, you will receive a report on your performance and a high score.
Another thing that stands out is the sound effects throughout the games. The SFX makes the games more satisfying, fun, and enjoyable.
Tracking Your Performance in Elevate
The performance tracking within Elevate is adequate, and helps you understand whether the app is working for you. You can track your EPQ score throughout the months and measure your activity. However, you will have to use the application for a lot longer than the seven-day trial period to see visible results.
However, the EPQ scale created by Elevate is a bit oversimplified. The scale is not a recognized metric for measuring mental proficiency in the scientific community. The increment or decrement to the scale takes place in real-time (based on the results of each mini-game).
Considering the difficulty graph of the games, you are bound to perform well over time. Integrating the standard IQ (Intelligence Quotient) or a similar metric could’ve made the results even more accurate.
Earning Rewards in Elevate
Many educational apps follow a gamified approach with badges, trophies, and other awards. Elevate also has a reward system to keep users motivated. Improving or learning a new skill is a repetitive process and needs to be done every day to see real results.
Therefore, the app has a streak count of the days you train. Based on the number of streaks, you can unlock a new section. For example, if you train continuously for five days, you can access specially curated study materials.
Additionally, if you navigate to the profile tab, you’ll find a long list of achievements waiting to be unlocked. Elevate hands out several types of achievement badges based on your performance and streak count. Also, in the performance section, you can view the rankings of your friends and other community members. Think of it like a leaderboard of EPQ scores.
Is Elevate Worth It?
Games have proven to improve academic performance significantly. An independent study conducted by Dr. Dana Nakano from California State University found that students who used Elevate had a 69% improvement in academic performance compared to non-Elevate users. That's a marked difference.
Therefore, the idea that engaging with the app for a prolonged period will make you smarter does hold merit. That said, the app cannot help you extraordinarily excel in your academic or professional pursuits. However, it will drastically improve your analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Should you pay $39.99/year for Elevate? If you’re looking for a brain training app with an impeccable UI, a long list of fun games, and comprehensive performance tracking, then yes. Elevate is a well-made product that delivers on its claims, provided that you follow through with the training regimen. You can enroll in the seven-day trial to decide whether it’s worth your time and money.