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What do levels mean?

I love the levels feature on brilliant. I find myself constantly going back to stats and evaluating how I am doing. Now the issue is I don't understand where I stand based on levels. There is no benchmark to compare myself to. Does level 3 mean I am at high school level? does level 2 mean I am average at Algebra? Does Level 5 mean I can go ahead and get a PHD? My goal is not to be the best at math, I just want to keep myself refreshed at least to a level that I can be called a high school student who was decent or good at math (I sucked at math, I think I still do)

Note by Namit Jain
1 year, 9 months ago

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Roughly, (these are my opinions based upon the problems that I've seen and/or solved in this community and also upon my friend circles) :

• Level 5 means you're at the level of a good JEE ADVANCED aspirant (exception: calculus)
• Level 4 means you're at the level of a good JEE MAINS aspirant
• Level 3 means you're at the level of a pretty smart class 10 guy
• Level 2 means you're at the level of an average class 10 guy
• Level 1 means you're at the level of a pretty smart class 9 guy

Note: Sometimes few problems also end up in a level that don't deserve, I'm barring these.

- 1 year, 9 months ago

Hi Namit,

As a rough guide, level 2 corresponds to graduating High school with a B in mathematics, and level 3 corresponds to questions that challenge someone with an A in mathematics. Level 4 and 5 correspond to higher difficulties of problem solving and understanding of mathematics. It would typically take months, if not years, to level up through.

Getting a PhD requires additional skill sets on top of problem solving. If someone is currently struggling with level 2 and 3 problems, I would not recommend that they start a PhD programme immediately. However, getting a PhD does not guarantee that you can solve the Level 4 and 5 problems.

Staff - 1 year, 9 months ago

Wow, thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. So my aim now should be to be good at level 3. Probably somewhere in the middle of Level 3 as I think brilliant starts giving Level 4 problems to someone at the peak of Level 3. Hope to reach Level 4 someday. Funny how 15 year olds here reach level 5, a bit embarrassing but a great eye opener. Again, thanks for the clarification.

I suggest you guys mention this on the page where you already explain levels. Also can we know more about percentiles as well? I mean I am at 95 Percentile which feels great but I know for sure I am not good enough to be that high. The percentile rankings are definitely far from accurate, someone might just lay back thinking he's that good, can you guys add more stats to show a much clear picture?

- 1 year, 9 months ago

Yes, we challenge you with problems just beyond your ability, to provide you with the added encouragement and satisfaction when you finally conquer those problems.

X percentile means that out of all of the people on Brilliant, your rating is higher than X% of all ratings in the topic. It is a simplistic way to understand how you compare to the total community.

Staff - 1 year, 9 months ago

I am sorry I wasn't clear. I understand what Percentiles mean. What I meant was I needed a base to measure my percentile. I am 95 percentile out of of how many people is my doubt. For me personally, there's nothing to be happy about being 95 percentile among a couple of thousand people, 95% of how many active users on brilliant, to go deeper specifically for that topic would be a great base figure to understand where I stand.

- 1 year, 9 months ago

Ah ic. Noted.

Staff - 1 year, 9 months ago