# How XP, Levels, and Badges Work

**A Score for Doing the Work, Not Logging In:** XP runs quietly underneath everything in Boost Academy. It is not a vanity metric: it tracks the two things that actually make an operator better here, which are working through material and helping other people.

## What earns you XP

**Four Sources, Deliberately:**

- **Finishing lessons and completing courses.** Longer and members-only courses are worth more, and each course page shows exactly what it awards before you start.
- **Completing goals** you set yourself on **Account > Goals**. Work you did on the floor counts, not just what you watched.
- **Getting upvoted in the community.** When another operator marks your answer useful, that credit comes back to you.
- **Accepting a friend request**, which pays both people.

That mix is the point. You cannot climb by only watching videos, and you cannot climb by only posting. The people near the top have done both.

## Levels

**A Bar, Not a Cliff:** Your profile shows your current level with a progress bar toward the next one, so you can see how much is left rather than just a running total. Your level travels with you: it shows on the **Leaderboard** next to your XP.

## Badges

**Milestones Worth Marking:** Badges are awarded for specific achievements, like finishing your first course. They sit next to the level bar on your profile, showing the first few with a count if you have earned more than fit.

## When something lands

**You Will See It Happen:** Earning a badge or reaching a new level raises a short on-screen notification wherever you happen to be in the app. You do not have to be on your profile to find out, and you will not miss it because it happened on a page you never visit.

## Where to see where you stand

**The Leaderboard:** Rankings by XP across the whole community, filterable to all-time, this month, or this week. The weekly board resets, so a good week puts a newer member near the top quickly.

## Ready to dig in?

Log in to Boost Academy, check your level under **Account**, then go finish something.

***Access:** All members*