I don’t often download new apps, because I just don’t have time for countless more social media networks or to play games. But when I heard about Elevate, I was intrigued.

Elevate is different than a regular productivity app or a game. It’s a training program to help you exercise critical thinking, reading, writing and math skills. Sounds boring, I know. But as more and more research comes out about how true the “Use it or lose it” thing is for NOT getting Alzheimer’s once you’re older, finding small new ways to challenge your brain is becoming increasingly important.

And what I like about Elevate is that it’s not just a word or math game. I think 24/7, be it concentrating at work and brainstorming new pitch ideas, writing my blog or balancing my budget. So I know my brain is hard at work. But there’s no day where I’m exercising all parts of my brain at once, and not being in school, exercising different skills sounds like a good idea.

You can set up your own training program, or just choose all the topics to get a really well-rounded experience like I did. Every day you get 3 new challenges, and you race against the clock and your previous score to complete them. You’re pinged to remember to complete your training for the day, as you can also rack up a “streak” of days in a row.

There are 24 different challenges, each targeting a different skill. Below are descriptions and screenshots of a select few of them!

Writing/Brevity – Here you read the sentences on the screen, then click on the redundant parts of the sentence. For example, “She flew solo on her own” has a redundancy of”on her own, so you would click on that phrase. This is a really useful skill you can apply to real life.

Discounting – I am in no ways a math wizard, and checking out at a store is always a surprise for me as I’ve usually grossly underestimated how much I’m about to spend. The discounting section is really helpful for me. You rank the items in order from least to most expensive – but have to account for things like “20% discount,”10% sales tax” and “$3 markup”. Again, a super-useful real-world skill to develop.

Synthesis – A narrator reads aloud 4 passages, and you have to answer questions. At the end, all the answers go into a connected web about the topic (i.e. space, Alan Turing, etc.). It shows how all these details are connected in a main idea.

Memory/Speaking – The app will give you a definition and you have to recall from memory the word. The letters on the screen (some of them extraneous) will help.

Focus/Listening – The narrator will read a passage aloud, and you have to move circles into other circles. There will be 3 main ideas, represented by stationary circles. Then details will appear in smaller circles, and you have to drag them onto the correct stationary circle. Takes lots of concentration.

Proportion – A totem pole features pie charts, fractions, decimals and percentages. You have to rotate the quarters on the totem pole so that all the numbers match up (i.e. 50% with half a pie chart, 0.5 and”).

You can download Elevate for free on Google Play or the iTunes Store. Best of all, it’s free!

Disclosure: This post is not associated with Elevate in any way. I received no compensation for this post.