Q: What’s the difference between Banked Words and Mastered Words?

Banked Words are words your students have practiced during their weekly word list and successfully passed in an initial test. These are words they’ve been introduced to—but haven’t fully locked in yet. Once a word reaches this stage, we mark it as “Banked” to show it’s on the road to mastery.

Mastered Words are words that students have fully locked. To reach this level, they must pass the proficiency test three times across different review sessions. Once a word is mastered, it’s considered a “life word”—a word that’s truly become part of their vocabulary.

To encourage students to keep reviewing, Vocab Loco offers positive motivation through Zoodle House—a virtual pet experience. Each time a student passes a test, they earn Zoodle Minutes—reward time to play with their digital pet. It turns review into something students want to do.

Students can even track each word’s journey on the Word Road, watching their vocabulary grow from Banked to Mastered.

Our ultimate goal? Turning weekly word lists into “life words.”