Your BrainHQ Stars

The stars you earn when you complete each level in a BrainHQ exercise give you an idea of how your score compares to others who completed that level. Five stars means your score was among the best!

In addition to the stars for each level, BrainHQ also keeps track of the total number of stars you earn throughout all of your training. Now, we are revising how we tally this number. Find out more about the change and why we are making it below.

What is changing?

  • The way we calculate total stars
  • Your current number of total stars

What is not changing?

  • What the stars represent when you complete a level. They will continue to show you how your score compares to others who have completed that level. In this case, the range of stars you can earn is from 1 to 5. The best you can do is 5 stars.
  • The star map on the progress screen. This shows your best score (out of 5 stars) in each level you have completed. You will still be able to use this map to find your strengths and weaknesses. If you have less than 5 stars on a level, there is still room to improve!

Until now, how was the star total calculated?
Previously, the total stars were the sum of your best star scores in each level. Let’s say you trained in two levels of an exercise If you repeated the first level four times, you might earn these stars: 2, 2, 4, 3. If you then did another level of the same exercise and repeated it twice, you might earn these stars: 3, 3. Your total star score in that case would be 7 stars, because your best star score in the first level was 4 and your best star score in the second level was 3. And as we all know, 4 + 3 = 7. This star total was a measure of performance across the levels you completed.

How the star total is calculated now?
Now the total stars is the sum of your star scores for every repetition of every level. As in the example above, if you trained in two levels in Stage 1 an exercise and you repeated the first level four times with the star scores 2, 2, 4, 3, and the second level with the star scores 3, 3 your new star total would be 17. Instead of adding your best score from each level (4 + 3), we will add the star score for every time you do the exercise (2 + 2 + 4 +3 + 3 + 3). This star total is a measure of performance and effort combined.

Why are we changing the star total?
Many of you asked for it. There was some confusion about why the stars displayed at the end of a level weren't always added to the total. They would be the first time, but not when they matched or were were less than the best star score previously earned in that level. We think the new method will be more intuitive.

In addition, we believe there is great deal of training benefit to repeating levels multiple times to maximize performance in that level. That’s because when you train at your “threshold,” where your brain is truly challenged, you are most likely to improve. Pushing yourself to break through to a new star level is a great way to show improvement in threshold. We were concerned that the old star total encouraged moving quickly to new levels, and did not take into account the importance of repeating levels. The new method equally rewards repeating levels and moving to new ones. Since both of these training choices are good ways to improve your brain, we wanted the star total to reward them both.