How does XtraMath work?

XtraMath uses spaced repetition, an evidence-based learning technique, to strengthen students' recall of basic arithmetic facts. Think of it as an adaptive set of flashcards: the program continuously tracks which facts a student already knows well and which ones they're still unfamiliar with, then adjusts what's shown next. Instead of working through a fixed sequence, each student sees a mix of facts based on their own current strengths and weaknesses.

‍

XtraMath also follows a mastery-based approach to progression. To advance to the next operation, a student must reach a fluency score of 100 in their current operation — answering each fact correctly across successive attempts. This doesn't need to happen in a single session; it builds gradually through repeated daily practice.

Why this matters for instruction: as students build automatic recall of basic facts, they free up working memory that would otherwise go toward calculating simple sums or products. That extra capacity supports higher-order thinking — multi-step word problems, fractions, algebra — and tends to build confidence while reducing math anxiety along the way. XtraMath also gives teachers ongoing visibility into this growth through built-in progress tracking, making it easy to see where each student stands without a formal assessment.

XtraMath builds fluency — it does not teach the underlying strategies or concepts behind an operation. See Basic requirements for XtraMath for how to prepare students before they start.

For teachers and schools who want to go further, an XtraMath License adds a library of offline math and STEM activities in English and Spanish — a useful complement for building those conceptual foundations before students move into daily practice.