About LexiMap

Our Mission

LexiMap exists to help students build lasting vocabulary skills — not through rote memorization, but through the science of root-based learning and spaced repetition. We believe that vocabulary knowledge should be durable, transferable, and genuinely useful, not something that evaporates after test day.

We built LexiMap for families preparing for entrance exams where verbal reasoning matters. These tests reward flexible vocabulary, context clues, analogies, and word relationships — skills that cannot be crammed in a weekend. Our goal is to give every student a structured, research-backed path that fits into a busy schedule and produces knowledge that lasts.

The Root Word Approach

Most vocabulary programs hand students a long list of words to memorize. LexiMap takes a different approach. Instead of memorizing definitions one word at a time, students learn Latin and Greek roots — the building blocks that recur across thousands of English words. Over 60% of English words have Greek or Latin roots, and up to 90% of academic vocabulary is Latin/Greek-derived (Rasinski et al., 2008). LexiMap's curated root set targets the academic vocabulary most heavily tested on the SSAT and ISEE.

Consider the Latin root bene, meaning "good" or "well." A student who internalizes this single root can unlock the meaning of benefactor (one who does good), beneficial (producing good results), benediction (a good saying or blessing), benevolent (wishing good), and dozens of other words — without having to study each one individually.

This strategy is grounded in morphological awareness, the ability to recognize and manipulate the meaningful parts (morphemes) of words. Research in reading science has consistently shown that morphological awareness is a strong predictor of vocabulary size and reading comprehension, particularly for academic and low-frequency words — exactly the kind that appear on standardized tests.

Rather than learning 2,000 isolated definitions, a student who masters a focused set of roots develops a transferable skill: the ability to break down any unfamiliar word into recognizable parts, infer its meaning, and confirm that inference from context. This is far more durable and flexible than rote memorization. For a complete reference of the roots we teach, see our complete list of Latin and Greek roots for SSAT vocabulary.

FSRS Spaced Repetition

Knowing a root once is not the same as knowing it permanently. Without reinforcement, newly learned information fades — a phenomenon documented by over a century of research on the spacing effect and forgetting curves. LexiMap addresses this with the FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler)algorithm, one of the most advanced open-source scheduling algorithms available.

FSRS tracks each student's memory state for every root word individually. After each practice interaction, the algorithm updates its estimate of how well the student knows that root and calculates the optimal time for the next review. Roots the student finds easy are scheduled further out; roots that are still shaky come back sooner.

LexiMap uses the FSRS algorithm (Ye, 2023) — a modern spaced repetition scheduler designed to optimize long-term retention by timing reviews based on individual performance. Research consistently shows that this approach produces stronger long-term recall than massed practice (cramming). The result is that students spend their study time where it matters most — on the roots they are closest to forgetting — rather than re-reviewing material they already know well.

For families preparing for the SSAT or ISEE, this means that vocabulary learned in August is still accessible in November, and a student who practices 10 to 15 minutes per day builds a steady, cumulative foundation rather than a fragile one that evaporates after a cramming session. For a detailed breakdown of how to structure daily practice and set realistic verbal-prep timelines, read our parent's SSAT/ISEE verbal prep guide.

The Root Mastery Progression

Recognizing a root in a multiple-choice list is not the same as using it to decode a novel word in context. LexiMap practices every root through five distinct retrieval formats, ensuring that students develop deep, flexible knowledge rather than shallow recognition:

• Recognition — Identify the correct meaning of a root when presented with options. This is the foundational skill: can the student recall what bene means?
• Construction — Build words from component parts. Given the root bene and a set of prefixes or suffixes, can the student assemble a real English word?
• Derivation — Work backward from a complete word to identify its root and infer meaning. Given malevolent, can the student identify mal (bad) and vol (wish)?
• Context — Determine the meaning of a word using root knowledge plus sentence context, mirroring how vocabulary is actually tested on the SSAT and ISEE.
• Analogy — Recognize relationships between words that share roots or have complementary meanings, directly practicing the analogy question format used on the SSAT.

Every root in LexiMap is practiced through all five retrieval formats. A root is not considered mastered until the student demonstrates proficiency across all five, ensuring genuine depth of knowledge.

18 Interactive Practice Modes

Vocabulary practice should not feel like a chore. LexiMap uses a growing set of interactive practice modes to keep sessions engaging and to exercise different cognitive pathways. Examples include:

• Drag & Drop Matching — Drag roots to their correct meanings or derived words.
• Tap Select — Quickly tap the correct answer from a set of options.
• Swipe Sort — Swipe words left or right to categorize them by root family.
• Word Builder — Assemble words by combining roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
• Context Clues — Read a sentence and select the word that fits based on root meaning.
• Analogy Chains — Complete word-pair analogies, directly mirroring the SSAT format.
• Root Radar — Identify the hidden root inside a set of related words.
• Speed Round — Timed rapid-fire recognition to build automaticity.
• Story Fill — Complete a short passage by choosing root-derived words that fit the context.

Sessions are organized as quests — short, focused practice runs of 8 to 12 questions that typically take 3 to 5 minutes. The quest structure makes it easy for students to fit practice into a busy schedule and provides natural stopping points. Each quest mixes game modes and skill types based on the student's current learning needs, as determined by the FSRS scheduler.