Everything you finish here is recorded as a checkpoint, and checkpoints are what your XP, your level, your streak and your HSK readiness are all computed from. This article is what actually counts, what it is worth, and why the number sometimes moves when you did not expect it to.
Checkpoints are the unit
A checkpoint is one completable thing: a lesson section read, an exercise set finished, a podcast played, an exam submitted. Every progress number on the site is derived from them, which is why the counts on your dashboard, in a lesson’s contents bar and in your tutor’s view all agree.
They are earned once. Re-reading a section does not pay twice, and nothing you have completed expires.
What things are worth
XP scales with how much a thing actually asks of you. The five tiers, roughly:
- Per-item — around 2 XP — A single character traced, a single word visited. Small by design; they add up through volume.
- Read or scroll — around 5 XP — Working through a section of reading.
- Interactive practice — around 10 XP — An exercise set. Twice a read, because producing is harder than recognising.
- Mission or graded — around 15 XP — A Mastery Mission, or anything marked.
- Exam or mastery — around 25 XP — A unit exam or a mock test. The biggest single awards on the site.
Levels
XP accumulates into levels, and levels carry titles that run from Sapling (萌芽) at the start through Seedling, Sprout, Branch, Bamboo, Pine, Plum Blossom, Crane and Dragon Apprentice, up to Master Calligrapher (书法大师).
They unlock nothing. They are a record of how much you have done, not a gate on what you may do next.
Streaks, and the freeze
A streak counts consecutive days on which you earned at least one checkpoint. Anything counts — a flashcard review, a Dragon Daily quiz, one section of a lesson — so keeping it alive on a busy day takes a couple of minutes rather than a session.
You also hold a streak freeze. Miss a day and the freeze is spent automatically to bridge it, and your streak survives. It is not a way to skip habitually; it is there so one genuinely impossible day does not undo a month.
HSK readiness
Separately from XP, the Stats panel shows how far through each HSK level you are. That is computed by counting completed checkpoints against the total for the level — a percentage of the syllabus, not a weighted score — so it answers "how much is left" rather than "how well am I doing".
Where to see all of it
The Stats tab in the red banner: XP, level, current and longest streak, words and characters learned, and per-level HSK progress. It opens over whatever page you are on, so checking costs you your place in nothing.
Common questions
Checkpoints pay once. Re-reading is useful and free, but it is not new progress, so the number stays where it was.