How Contests Work for Students in Book Taco

Contests are reading challenges created by your teacher or school. They run for a set period of time and have a goal you need to reach to win a prize. You can track your progress, see the countdown, and check results all from the Contests page in your sidebar.

• Step 1: Find Your Contests
• Step 2: Understand the Contest Details
• Step 3: Track Your Progress
• Step 4: Check the Results

Step 1: Find Your Contests

Go to Contests in the sidebar. Each contest appears as a card with its cover image, name, and status badge. If you have an active contest, it also appears on your Dashboard with a live countdown and a View more button.

Click View results on any card to open the full contest detail page.

Step 2: Understand the Contest Details

Each contest shows the following information:

• Based on — the activity that counts toward your goal, such as books read, quizzes passed, or pages read.
• Goal — the number you need to reach to win.
• Prize — what your teacher is offering to the winner.
• Dates — when the contest starts and ends.
• Game Coins — some contests award bonus coins on top of the prize.
• Who's Competing? — either Individual Effort (you compete on your own) or Classroom Effort (the whole class works together toward a shared goal).
• Required Books — if the contest is linked to specific book lists, only books from those lists count toward your goal. The books are shown in a scrollable carousel on the detail page.
• Teacher's instructions — any extra notes your teacher added appear here.

Step 3: Track Your Progress

The contest detail page shows a progress card that updates automatically as you read.

• In an Individual Effort contest, the card shows your personal progress bar with your current count and percentage toward the goal.
• In a Classroom Effort contest, the card shows both your individual progress and a Class Collective Progress bar combining everyone's contributions. Your classmates' avatars appear alongside the class bar.

A live countdown shows the days, hours, minutes, and seconds remaining until the contest ends.

Step 4: Check the Results

A contest moves through three statuses before it is fully resolved:

• Active — the contest is running. Keep reading and earning points.
• Closed — the contest period has ended. Your teacher is reviewing the results. Wait for the final outcome.
• Finished — results are confirmed. If you reached the goal, the page shows a congratulations message and asks you to contact your teacher to collect your prize. If you did not reach the goal, an encouragement message appears instead.

A Super User badge on a contest card means the contest was created by your school's Super User and applies to all classrooms, not just yours.