AlphaGeorge Tips: Keeping Up Daily Exam Practice

AlphaGeorge takes you through six Cambridge English levels, A1 to C2, in 66 units, starting from the level your diagnostic test sets. I believe exam preparation sticks better in small daily amounts than in long sessions now and then. Whether it lasts depends less on the app’s features than on how you shape ten minutes or so each day. If a friend were starting out, this is what I would tell them. Take it as suggestions, not rules.

The diagnostic test and your first unit are covered in Getting Started with AlphaGeorge. This post is about what comes after, from day two.

Make the Warm-up your daily way in

The Warm-up on the home screen is a session of about five minutes, once a day. It is a short mix of dictation and shadowing, and the audio comes from one level below yours. Because it is a little easier, you can start it even on a tired day.

I suggest doing the Warm-up first and then going into a lesson. Getting your ears and mouth used to English first makes the lesson easier to begin. Mistakes in the Warm-up do not cost hearts. On a day with no time for a lesson, finishing just the Warm-up keeps listening and speaking in your routine.

When you finish, the card changes to Done for today.

One lesson a day

Each unit has five lessons, from Lesson A (Grammar & Reading) to Lesson E (Speaking), followed by Review and Progress Check. Each opens when you finish the one before.

I think one lesson a day lasts longer than trying to finish a whole unit in one sitting. At that pace a unit takes about a week. B1 Pre-intermediate has 12 units, so that is around three months. Working back from your exam date to decide how much to do each day saves you from deciding every morning.

Spread your hearts across the day

On the free plan you have up to five hearts. A mistake in a lesson, drill or test costs one, and one comes back every five hours. Tap the hearts on the home screen to see the time until the next one. When you run out, Watch ad gives you one back.

If you stay on the free plan, I think it works well to split practice into two sittings a day: the Warm-up and a lesson in the morning, another lesson in the evening. Hearts refill in between, and meeting the material twice with a gap helps it stay better than one long sitting.

Hearts only go down when you make a mistake. There is no need to be overly careful to save them. A wrong answer is a chance to read the explanation.

If you want long sessions at the weekend, or no ads, there is AlphaGeorge Premium: ¥1,200 a month or ¥6,000 a year on the Japanese App Store, as of October 2026. It removes ads, makes hearts unlimited and lets you replay finished lessons. Prices in other countries are on the in-app purchase screen. You can also keep going on the free plan.

Review your mistakes the same day

At the end of a lesson, Review your mistakes lets you go back over the questions you got wrong, with explanations.

I think this is where most of the learning happens. Do not stop at the score. Read the explanation for each mistake. If the same kind of mistake keeps coming up, that is your weak point for now.

In listening, look at the transcript last

In a listening question, Continue becomes available after you have heard the audio twice, and Show Transcript lets you read the text.

I suggest not opening the transcript until you have listened twice and answered. Then read it, and listen again to the parts you missed. That is the best way to learn why you missed them. Whether the word was new to you or a known word went by too fast changes how you should practise.

Speak where you can speak

In a speaking question, you say the phrase aloud and the device’s speech recognition checks it. On a train or anywhere you cannot speak, a quick drill such as Vocabulary suits better than a unit lesson.

In the Warm-up, if you cannot speak, tap Skip this one on a shadowing item and it is replaced with dictation.

Use quick drills for spare minutes

At the bottom of the home screen are quick drills: Vocabulary, Conversation Phrases, Dictation and Shadowing. They give you short practice without opening the course.

For a few minutes of waiting, one round of Vocabulary or Conversation Phrases is about right. Keep units for times when you can settle in, and drills for the gaps. Both become easier to keep up that way.

Read the Mid-Course and End-Course reports

Each level has a Mid-Course Test and an End-Course Test. Afterwards you get a report with your score, an estimated level, and for each area whether you are Strong, Progressing or Below the level.

Look at the report more than the score. Once you know which areas are Progressing or Below, you know what to pay extra attention to in the next units. When you reach the target level on the End-Course Test, the app suggests considering the official Cambridge exam.

If it is too easy, raise the level

If the course feels too easy, Raise course level on the course map lets you move up as far as the level your diagnostic test gave. You can also Retake diagnostic test.

After a few weeks, when things start to feel different, I think it is worth retaking the diagnostic test. If the course feels too hard, Premium members can use Lower course level to practise from an easier level.

Build the habit with stamps and reminders

On the home screen calendar, you tap today’s date to stamp it on days you study. A row of stamps is a visible record of keeping going. Do not worry about the gaps.

In Settings, Reminder notifications let you switch days on or off and set a time for each. Turn on Catch-up reminders, and if you have not practised yet that day, the app reminds you again later. I suggest the same time every day, such as your commute or after dinner.

Write your essays separately

Lesson D (Writing) in the app does not mark long pieces like the exam essays. For those, write answers to the sample papers on the official Cambridge English website, and if you can, have a teacher look at them.

How to approach the PET writing is in How to Prepare for B1 Preliminary (PET), and FCE in How to Prepare for B2 First (FCE). All the questions in the app were written for it. They are not Cambridge University Press & Assessment publications.

What to read next

If you are not sure which exam to aim for, see Which Cambridge English Exam Should You Take?. How AlphaGeorge compares with other ways to prepare is in AlphaGeorge vs Other Ways to Prepare for Cambridge English Exams.

This week, try the Warm-up followed by one lesson.