MindBuilding check-up or training record: what to compare

Start with the question, not the biggest score

Ask what you want to understand: your best performance on a practised exercise, or the results of a scheduled check-up compared with your own starting point. MindBuilding keeps these separate. A new exercise record answers a narrower question than a change across check-up tasks. Write down which screen, task and date you are reading before drawing a conclusion. Neither result supplies an IQ score or a clinical diagnosis.

Compare records with matching exercise settings

The record book groups results by exercise, preset and preset version, using sessions eligible for records. Compare the same combination before describing a personal best as an improvement. For example, an easier preset and a more demanding preset should not be treated as interchangeable because they share an exercise name. Keep the unit attached to the result, too: elapsed time, accuracy and another exercise’s score do not form one common scale.

Separate accumulated practice from a personal best

MindBuilding’s lifetime totals count sessions, minutes and trials, including interrupted sessions. Its personal records use a separate eligibility rule. A rising session total therefore describes accumulated activity, not proof that a best score improved. If you stopped early, acknowledge the practice you completed while checking whether that session qualified for a record. Do not interpret an unchanged personal best as evidence that the session was worthless.

Read the check-up against your own baseline

The check-up results view compares you with your own starting point and leaves unmeasured axes grey. It does not provide a population percentile. An unmeasured axis is missing information, not a low score. On a retest, read the task result together with the displayed range and explanation of retest effects. These are the app’s estimates and interpretation rules; a label about change is not independent proof of a broad cognitive improvement.

Follow the scheduled check-up rather than rehearse it

The check-up agenda separates the starting assessment, subsequent baseline tasks and scheduled retests. It can leave the next task for another day; task availability also depends on the available language content. Follow what is actually offered instead of assuming a missing task failed. The app separates assessment tasks from training exercises to limit direct rehearsal. That design does not eliminate every familiarity or measurement effect, and it does not validate the check-up as a clinical test.

Use each result for a modest next decision

For an exercise record, keep the preset fixed when you next want a comparable attempt. For a check-up, note relevant conditions such as interruption or tiredness and wait for the next scheduled comparison. Track an everyday goal separately if that is what matters to you; an app result alone cannot establish transfer to daily life. Research reviews distinguish practised-task gains from broader effects. We publish MindBuilding and this guide, so this is not an independent evaluation of the app.

Further reading

• Simons et al. (2016) — Do Brain-Training Programs Work?