Although I don’t ever think you should cheat at Duolingo since that defeats the purpose of using the app to learn a language, there are certain days when I am thinking more about the game instead of learning. So I’ve put together a list of the fastest ways to get XP on Duolingo so that you can “level up” faster!

And in case you want to make sure I know what I’m talking about, my stats from Duolingo show I have earned over 60,000 XP since I joined in 2016!

However, I haven’t done this while being consistent (I rarely have a streak on Duolingo).

But I do love learning languages and tend to binge Duolingo when I am in a language-learning craze.

I seriously would not be able to learn languages without italki (I’m taking 3 classes per week right now) try out a class and you’ll thank me later. They’re usually $9 or less!

And those crazes have taught me quite a few things about how to earn XP as fast as possible so that I can cram in as many new vocabulary words and grammar drills as possible. Here they are!

P.S. Did you know that with XP you go up in levels in Duolingo? The highest level you can get is 25! Go read my post on “things most people don’t know about Duolingo” to see where you can find out your level!

The Fastest Ways to get XP on Duolingo:

1. Use the Desktop Version

Most users don’t even realize that there is a desktop version of Duolingo, which can be one of the fastest ways to get XP!

Why? Because you don’t lose any “health” when using the desktop option, so you can complete a lot of lessons without needing to watch ads or use your gems to buy back health.

Also, for those of you who are faster at typing on your computer, this means you can complete lessons WAY quicker than if you had to type on your phone!

For me, this is a bonus as well since it helps me to practice spelling and make sure that I really know the grammar.

This is also how to hack Duolingo and get around paying for Duolingo Plus (which I think is a waste of money!)

If you’re super into language learning like me, or maybe just want to get into it, you should definitely check out this book on Amazon about how to stay fluent in a language over time without losing fluency!

2. Attend a Duolingo Event

You earn 250 XP for every Duolingo Event that you attend! This is probably the fastest and easiest way to earn a ton of XP at once, plus it’s a great way to practice your language skills!

Duolingo Events are usually free and are organized by other Duolingo users. It’s basically a Skype video call with other language learners who want more conversation practice outside of their regular Duolingo lessons.

In order to earn the XP, you need to actually join the event. If you’ve never attended a Duolingo Event before, this guide will walk you through the whole process.

3. Complete Stories (If they are available in your language)

For now, Duolingo stories are available for English speakers learning Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese (and they just added Italian!!)

But these are an awesome way to seriously rack up XP quickly and without much effort.

If your language has stories, there will be a tab that looks like a book on the bottom of the screen.

UPDATE: Duolingo Stories no longer has its own tab, but you can find Stories if your language has them in the main course. Along the path, you’ll see lessons that look like a book and those are Stories! If you want to have Stories on demand, Super Duolingo has now added that as a feature or you can use the desktop version of Duolingo which still currently has Stories in a separate tab (desktop hasn’t switched over to the new update yet).

All you need to do is listen to a story and it asks you to match the words to what was said. At the end of the short story, you just match a few vocabulary words and you’re done!

The more you get right, the more XP you get.

The first set of stories is about 14 XP per story, but as you graduate to the more difficult sets of stories, the amount of XP you can get goes up!

I earn about 28 XP per story now on my French Duolingo and it often only takes a minute or two to complete it! It’s an awesome way to get a Duolingo XP boost!

4. Do Ramp Up Challenges in the League Tab

These challenges just recently popped up with the new update and I’m not sure they are available all the time, but they are an awesome way to earn XP very quickly!

Read this post to find out how to earn even more XP using the Duolingo Ramp Up Challenge.

All you need to do is go into your “League” tab (the one that looks like a shield) and check in the bottom right corner. If there is a purple lightning bolt, click on that!

That’s your ramp up challenge! I think they do this to encourage people to get competitive in the leagues and help you to jump up in the ranks quickly.

Basically, it’s a super-easy way to get 40 XP in just one lesson and one of the best Duolingo points hacks there is!

Have a friend who loves learning languages? Or maybe want to make sure you get what you want? lol Here are 9 language gift ideas for your friend (or maybe to send to your mom!)

5. Go Back to Easier Lessons

If the lessons are getting harder or you just want to get more XP as fast as possible, head back to the top of your Duolingo path to start breezing through lessons again!

You can turn these lessons “Legendary” and earn 40 XP!

Here’s what the old Duolingo looked like before the update:

Not only will this get you a ton of XP quickly, you will also be able to see just how much you have learned! Remember when those first lessons used to be hard?!

If you want to learn a language faster than ever, I also highly recommend reading Benny Lewis’s book on how to learn a language in JUST 3 months.

6. Choose Automated Answers Instead of Typing (When Possible) on the mobile app

Sometimes Duolingo only gives you the option to type, but if you would rather have the word bubbles that you just have to put in order, pay attention to the bottom left corner when completing the lesson.

You may be able to change to the automated answers instead of typing, although like I mentioned before, this isn’t always possible!

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7. Click “Can’t Speak Now” or “Can’t Listen Now.”

Sometimes when I’m watching TV (or even if I have a really badly behaved kid when I’m teaching for VIPKID) I open up Duolingo and go to the easier lessons and just barely pay attention enough to get the answers right.

As you are completing a lesson, you’ll notice that when it asks you to “Speak” or “Listen” there is an option to choose “Can’t Speak Now” or “Can’t Listen Now.”

If you hit that button, that type of question will be turned off for an hour. You’ll have to choose that option for both speaking and listening when they come up.

Although the speaking and listening parts of a Duolingo lesson are usually super easy and quick, sometimes you are in a situation where you can’t do those things but you still want to be learning and earning XP. So just turn them off!

They will turn back on in an hour so it’s not a permanent thing and you will be able to practice a lot more often!

8. Get Golden Lessons Then “Restore” Them / Review Them

When you finish all of the levels in one of the topic bubbles, the circle will turn gold. After a while, the gold will break and give you the opportunity to “restore” it for 10 XP.

UPDATE: So far with the new Duolingo Update, the path no longer breaks lessons so you can restore them, instead they stay gold and you have the choice to review for 5 XP or turn it Legendary for 40 XP. They may choose to add back the broken lessons in the future, but for now, they aren’t there!

Here’s what the app looked like before when restoring lessons:

Now here are the options you are given in the new Duolingo Path:

9. Do Lessons in a Language that You Know Better

Speak more languages than just the language that you are currently learning on Duolingo? Head to that language to earn some XP fast before going back to your new language.

For example, I am currently learning French and Italian but I am already fluent in Spanish.

So sometimes when I am low on health or just want to get as much XP as possible, I head to Spanish and complete lessons and stories there that are super easy for me!

You can even try switching from learning Spanish (or whatever language you’ve chosen) for English speakers to English for Spanish speakers!

This might not be easier in some cases, but give it a try! I talk more about how to do that in this post.

10. Test Out of Units

I don’t recommend doing this in a language that you are new in, but if you have been learning for a while and just are starting on Duolingo, or if you are already fluent in a language, this is a super-easy way to get XP quickly!

With the Duolingo Update, you now test out of Units by scrolling down on your Duolingo path until you see a button that says “Jump Here?”

Once you click on that, it will ask you if you want to jump to that Unit, then you will take a test to see if you’re ready. When I took the test, it was allowing for 5 mistakes, but Duolingo is known to change this often.

To jump up one Unit from where I was earned me 50XP, so I tried to skip two units to see if it would give me more XP, but I was only rewarded 50XP.

So to get the most out of testing out of Units, make sure to do one at a time so you earn 50XP each time.

Also, these lessons are obviously going to be slightly longer and more difficult since you are skipping a whole level and earning a lot of XP at once.

This is what testing out used to look like, when you needed to use gems to buy the test (which is no longer required, so far):

11. Complete All Levels of Match Madness

In the League tab, you can find the Match Madness Challenge. It’s not always available and it will tell you how long it is going to be there.

You need 30 Gems for each level or to be a Super Duolingo subscriber to participate.

Each level you have a certain amount of time to match words to their translations, and you can choose to buy time boosts or row blasts (gets rid of one row of matches for the whole level) with gems to make sure you earn all your XP.

The reason why Match Madness earns you so much XP so fast is that you can do it as many times as you want until the Match is over.

Each level also gives you more XP than the last level. For example, level one earns you 40 XP, level 2 50 XP, and so on, until you get to the highest level. That’s when you can just keep repeating that level as much as you want and continue earning that number of XP each time you complete the level!

12. Earn & Use XP Boosts

Although you can’t always predict when you’ll earn an XP Boost, if you get the notification that you’ve earned one, make sure to do as many lessons as you can in the time period that it gives you!

For example, after earning my daily XP goal, I was notified that for the next 30 minutes, all the XP I earned in lessons would be doubled.

However, about an hour later, I was offered an XP Boost after finishing a lesson and that XP Boost was only for the next 15 minutes.

If you have your notifications on for Duolingo, it should let you know when the “Early Bird Reward” XP Boost opens up and you can use that to earn double the XP.

You can check when that will be available by clicking on your gems at the top of the app and looking at the “Special Offers” section.

13. Buy Harder Lessons to Earn Double the XP

Every once in a while, you’ll start a lesson and Duolingo will give you the option to take a harder lesson and earn double the XP, but you’ll need to use your gems to buy this. Right now they cost 20 gems.

13. Complete Audio Lessons with Auto-Play On

UPDATE: For now, Duolingo has removed Audio Lessons, but they may add them back in the future, either for Super Duolingo subscribers or within the Path is my best guess.

Not every language has audio lessons, but if yours does then you should definitely be using them to earn XP way faster! Honestly, they’re my favorite new add-on to Duolingo and I think it’s the direction Duolingo will continue to go in.

Instead of typing your answers, with Audio Lessons you actually have to say them.

After they introduce all the new words to you, they will even ask you just to translate out loud without giving you the answer which I think is something that has been missing on Duolingo up to this point.

Plus, you can just set the Audio Lessons on auto-play and you don’t even need to touch your phone to do them.

When they as you to repeat something or translate something out loud, it automatically listens for you to talk without needing to push any buttons to start recording.

Then it will continue onto the next lesson automatically. You can complete these lessons hands-free!

You earn 20 XP per individual lesson and there are usually 4 lessons together, meaning you can earn 80 XP if you have auto-play on and you complete every lesson in that section.

Well, I wish you luck on your quest to get as many XP as possible! Feel free to follow me on Duolingo at Dayna255732 or leave a comment with other ways that you have found to earn XP fast!

Of course, this is not meant at all to be a way at cheating Duolingo but just a few more ways to motivate yourself to learn a language even if it means you have to turn it into a game at times!

MORE ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING:

• The Perfect Study Plan for Duolingo
• Find Out Your Duolingo Language Level (It’s Not in the App!)
• How to Get 40XP Per Lesson With the Duolingo XP Ramp-Up Challenge
• Should You Upgrade to Duolingo Plus?
• The Ultimate Guide to Changing Your Duolingo Daily Goal