Frequently Asked Questions
General
IXL is an educational tool that helps students improve their math skills through practice and tracks their performance.
For technical support, send e-mail to help@ixl.com. For questions about your membership or subscription, send e-mail to orders@ixl.com. To contact IXL by phone, call (650) 372-4040 or 877-282-4400 x2.
Memberships and Subscriptions
Memberships are offered to parents who want to help their children achieve their math goals. Subscriptions are offered to teachers and institutions who want to offer their students a way to practice math that is aligned with their testing requirements.
Go to www.ixl.com and click the Membership tab.
You add and remove child accounts from the Account management window. Sign in and click Account management at the top of the window.
With a classroom license, you add and remove student accounts on the Roster tab. Sign in and click Roster. If you have a site license, IXL loads your roster into the system for you.
If you paid with a credit card, your membership is renewed automatically. Otherwise, you can renew by going to the Membership tab and clicking Renew.
If you are on the monthly plan, you can put your membership on hold from the Account management window. Sign in and click Account management at the top of the window. You cannot put your membership on hold if you have a yearly plan.
You can cancel your membership from the Account management window. Sign in and click Account management at the top of the window.
Signing In
If you enter an incorrect username or password, IXL prompts you to request the information. Click the appropriate link for either your forgotten username or your forgotten password in the pop-up window and follow the screen prompts. IXL will e-mail the information to you. If you do not have e-mail access, contact IXL at 877-282-4400 x2.
Parents can change the password for the membership in the Profiles and settings window. Children cannot change a password, but they can manage their secret word in the Profile and settings window. Sign in and click Profile & settings at the top of the window.
Teachers can change their own password in the Profile and settings window. Sign in and click Profile & settings at the top of the window. Teachers can also change passwords for their students, on the Roster tab. Sign in and click the Roster tab.
Students can change their passwords in the Profile and settings window. Sign in and click Profile & settings at the top of the window.
If a child forgets his secret word, the parent can sign in to retrieve it from the Profiles and settings window. If a parent forgets the secret word, click the Forgot secret word link in the user selection window. IXL will reset it and send the parent an e-mail with the information necessary to proceed.
Math Practice
Yes, you can practice up to 20 math problems in a 24-hour period without a membership or subscription. However, you will not be able to earn awards or run reports, and IXL will not save your work.
You earn medals when you master skills, and you win prizes based on the challenges IXL poses to you on the Awards tab.
Family memberships provide you with a free parent account, which you use to manage and monitor your membership. If you need another account that has full access to math practice and awards, you must add a user to your membership.
Educator subscriptions for site and classroom licenses provide free access for teachers so that they can manage rosters and monitor student progress. If you need more student accounts than you currently have, you must request more student accounts from IXL.
When you begin working on a skill, your initial score for that skill is zero. When you answer a problem correctly, your score increases. When you enter a wrong answer, your score decreases. This is IXL's sophisticated SmartScore technology. It analyzes your answers and determines your current level of understanding, continually reassessing you.
SmartScore takes into consideration such factors as number of problems completed, number of problems correct and incorrect, problem difficulty, and consistency. You'll only find SmartScore on IXL.
As you work through a skill and your score rises, the problems become more difficult and your score increases in smaller jumps. Likewise, your score may decrease only slightly if you enter a wrong answer when you begin working on a skill, but as you progress towards mastery, wrong answers cause your score to decrease in larger and larger dips.
If you leave an answer blank when you submit it, the system treats it like a wrong answer.
IXL also rates your score as Needs Improvement (<70), Satisfactory (70-79), Good (80-89), Excellent (90-99), Mastered (100), and Provisional. A Provisional rating means IXL cannot accurately rate your score because you have answered fewer than 4 problems in that skill. If you have mastered a skill, your rating for that skill remains "Mastered" even if you continue to practice it later and score lower.
IXL provides comprehensive reporting features. Sign in and click the Reports tab.
User Information
A secret word is similar to a password but it is used to secure user accounts within family memberships. You need the membership password to sign in to IXL. Then, you use the secret word to access your user account.
Customization
By default, IXL displays grade levels as Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, First grade, and so on. You can hide these designations. IXL will replace the text with Level A, Level B, Level C, and so on. To hide grade levels, sign in and click Profile & settings at the top of the window. In the Settings section, select the Hide grade levels check box. Click Submit to save your change.
The left navigation menu provides an alternate means of accessing grade or level pages in IXL. You can hide this menu. To do so, sign in and click Profile & settings at the top of the window. In the Settings section, select the Hide skill menu check box. Click Submit to save your change.
Many students feel pressured when faced with a timer while practicing, so IXL allows you to hide the timer. Note that IXL still records the amount of time students spend practicing, but the time is hidden from the student. To hide the timer, sign in and click Profile & settings at the top of the window. In the Settings section, select the Hide timer check box. Click Submit to save your change.
Need more help? .
If you still have questions, contact us at 877-282-4400 x5, or e-mail your question to help@ixl.com.
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