Unfortunately I am one of the Rocket Languages failures. I spent my first few months doing what I believed the course asked me to do -- one lesson per day with extra study. After 4 months I had finished the first level of Spanish. I could say hello to folks, order a simple meal in a restaurant -- check in to a hotel, etc., but when I met with my Spanish speaking friends I could not understand what they were saying . So following the recommended learning path was not working for me.
I also noted that the course admins reward points as an indication of learning. Yet, in my case, I could not see any relationship between points and my knowledge of the material. Also a glaring weakness is that one can earn points by repeatedly answering the same questions. I found that I was memorizing the answers to all of the questions. I then thought if I could present the materials to myself in a different way, I could learn the materials better. I began pulling down many of the lessons at one time -- taking them into a little program I developed that would then present the material to me in various ways. My hope in doing this is that by so doing, I would more effectively learn the materials.
Response from Rocket Languages
The issue was not about whether or not you were trying to game the points the system. The issue was that it is impossible to get 50,000 points on a continuous daily basis without manipulating the system, which as you allude to in your review, you did. It's not fair to our other users to let that continue to happen.