Which challenge mode should I pick?
Explainer · Updated
The mode decides who a challenge is for and how its progress is counted: each student on their own goal, everyone pooling toward one goal, or groups racing on a leaderboard. You pick it first when you create a challenge, and it can't be changed afterward.
The six modes
| Mode | Who's competing | How progress counts | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Challenge | Each student against their own goal | Each student's own total | Personal goals, like a 40-book challenge or a summer reading list |
| Book BINGO | Each student against their own card | A finished book on each square, until a full row, column or diagonal | You want variety: a mystery, a poem, a book set in another country |
| Team Quest | Everyone together, across every class in it | One combined total for the whole challenge | The whole class (or several) works toward a shared number |
| Class Clash | Class against class | Each class's combined total, on a leaderboard | Friendly rivalry between two or more classes |
| Grade Gauntlet | Grade against grade | Each grade's combined total, on a leaderboard | A schoolwide race between grade levels |
| House Rivalry | Team against team | Each team's combined total, on a leaderboard | Your school has student teams |
Who takes part
Only students who've joined a challenge count toward it.
- Your own class: students aren't added automatically. Open the challenge's row on Challenges → Manage readers → Add all students to this challenge. Or tick Allow students to opt in or out of this challenge, and students can join it themselves from Challenges you can join on their dashboard.
- Other classes: after saving, edit the challenge and use Invite a class (from a class) or Add a class (from the school dashboard). Every student in a class you add joins at once.
What you can track
- Individual Challenge can track individual books (with genre, topic or specific-title rules), reading totals, or reading days.
- Team Quest, Class Clash, Grade Gauntlet and House Rivalry track reading totals (Books read, Pages read, Minutes read or Words read) or reading days.
- Book BINGO uses a card instead: choose a Board Size of 5x5, 4x4 or 3x3 and write a prompt for each square. Squares left blank become Free Space. Students click Add book on a square and pick a finished book that fits.
Following an Individual Challenge
Click the challenge's name on Challenges to open its dashboard:
- Every student in one table: books read, progress toward the goal, whether they're on pace, what they've finished in the last 14 days, and when they finished their last book. Click a column to sort by it.
- Books read and credit side by side: when long books count extra, a book that counts as 2 is still one book read, so the table shows Books read next to Credit. Switch the chart between them with Books read and Challenge credit.
- A line for every student: the chart shows how each student's total has grown, with the middle student and the pace that reaches the goal on the last day. Hover a student's row, or their line, to pick them out. Click the row to see their books.
- On pace counts from a student's own start date when you've set one (Manage readers → Set custom start date).
- Every class at once: when the challenge runs in more than one of your classes, switch between them or pick All classes.
- Export CSV downloads the table.
- Certificates prints a certificate for every student who reached the goal, one page each, in English or Español and in one of two designs (Classic, or Reading Star with confetti and the challenge's reading character): their name, the challenge and its goal, the day they reached it, and a line for you to sign above your name. A student who finishes sees Print certificate at the top of the challenge, and so do you when you click their row.
How the leaderboard modes work
- Totals add up, they aren't averaged. A bigger class or grade has an edge. For a fairer race, track something like Minutes read over a short window, or set a goal and celebrate everyone who reaches it.
- The goal is optional. With a goal, the challenge asks which group can be first to reach it. Set the goal to 0 and it asks which group can read the most.
- You need at least two groups. The Leaderboard only appears once two classes, grades or teams are in it. Below it, the Progress board shows each group's climb toward the goal in its own lane, and Present opens it full screen for the class.
- Students see their side. A student sees "You are part of" their class, grade or team, and how much they've contributed. Student names in Details are shown only to that class's teachers.
Grade Gauntlet
Classes are grouped by the Grade set in each class's Settings. Set it in every class first: a class with no grade, or Mixed-grade, isn't on the leaderboard.
House Rivalry
It only appears once your school has teams. Create it from the school dashboard (Reading Challenges → Add challenge) or from a class in the school; either way the leaderboard shows every team. See Student teams.
Before you save
- Check the starting goal. Picking a mode fills in a goal: 1,000 pages for Team Quest, Grade Gauntlet and House Rivalry, 500 pages for Class Clash, and 10 books for an Individual Challenge. Adjust it to fit your students.
- The mode is fixed. To switch modes, create a new challenge. Duplicate challenge keeps the same mode.
Still stuck?
Email us or book a call. A person on the Bookroo team will help.