Last week, I challenged my self to gain 1000xp per day on DuoLingo. I probably average around 100.
A few things I learned:
- Like many things, this exercise reinforced my favourite lesson from economics: people respond to incentives. When the incentive isn’t too maximise learning, but points tallying, then inevitably behaviour shifts towards grinding out the most xp per minute exercises. Not a terrible use of time, but not optimal.
- A lesson from psychology is that laziness often equals efficiencies. The fastest way to 1k points is by acquiring, and then using, the score multipliers. By completing certain tasks, you unlock a 10 minute, 3X multiplier. Catching these boosts is where you can shoot up the ladderboard.
- A lesson from sports: being able to see your opponents is a huge advantage. I was a keen 200m sprinter while a school student, and there was a benefit from being in the inside lane, as you could see everyone as you came round the bend. Similarly, in rowing, if you were able to get an early advantage, you could see all the crews behind you. Being in one of the very last time zones is that in my league, I could see who had scored what, and I could optimise my strategy around that. When the weekly tally was closed at 8pm my time, all my competition in Europe, Africa, and Asia were already asleep.
The result of my seven day DuoLingo Blitz? I won the Diamond League, the highest possible result you can get in their current iteration.
My prize? A meaningless badge, a mild sense of accomplishment, and zero enthusiasm again to repeat the process.
I feel DuoLingo is really dropping the ball here.
Leave a Reply