How Long Does It Take to Finish a Wordbook? It Depends on Book Size and Your Daily New-Word Goal
The short answer: time for a first pass ≈ number of words in the book ÷ your daily new-word goal. The daily goal defaults to 50, is adjustable anywhere from 10 to 1000, and lives in the progress ring on the card screen. At 50, a 676-word primary-school book takes about two weeks for one pass; a 7,419-word CET-6 book takes about five months. That is only "every word seen once" — after that each word follows its own review rhythm, scheduled for you by VocaX and not counted against your new-word quota.
One boundary first: a wordbook has no "completed" state, only a state per word, so no day will come when the app tells you "this book is done." If you want to go faster there are three options: raise the daily goal, switch to a smaller book, or work through the scenario library by topic. Below: how to do the maths, where to change the number, and where this estimate stops being reliable.
1. The maths: book size ÷ daily new-word goal
You need two numbers: how many words the book has, and how many new words you plan to study each day. The first is shown in the wordbook list; the second is your daily goal. Divide one by the other and you get the number of days until every word has been seen once.
VocaX ships with 15 wordbooks, ranging from a few hundred words to well over ten thousand — the spread is huge. Three real examples (counts may shift slightly between versions):
| Wordbook | Words | At 50 new words/day | At 100 new words/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary school | 676 | ~14 days | ~7 days |
| CET-6 | 7,419 | ~148 days (~5 months) | ~74 days (~2.5 months) |
| General English | 16,963 | ~339 days (~11 months) | ~170 days (~6 months) |
These are just the results of a division, meant to give you a sense of scale: a primary-school book is a matter of weeks, a large corpus is measured in years. For picking one that matches your current level, see how to choose a wordbook.
Time for a first pass ≈ book size ÷ daily new-word goal. Default 50, range 10–1000, step 10 — all changed in the daily progress ring on the card screen.
2. Where the daily goal lives, and what it can be set to
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Default | 50 new words/day |
| Range | 10–1000 |
| Step | 10 at a time |
| Where | The daily progress ring on the card screen |
Note the location: it is in the daily progress ring on the card screen — tap the ring to change it. It is not in Settings. This number only controls how many new words you get today; reviews are counted separately and do not eat into it.
As for what to set it to, how many words a day is right gives a few concrete options based on how many minutes you can actually sit down for.
3. After the first pass: reviews schedule themselves and cost no quota
"One pass" does not mean the book is finished. Every word comes back on its own rhythm afterwards: answer it confidently and the gap keeps stretching; keep missing it and it returns often. VocaX schedules those reviews for you on the day each word is due — you do not plan them yourself, and they do not consume your daily new-word quota.
- Just starting a new book: Few reviews; most of your time goes to new words.
- Halfway through: Reviews steadily increase; you work on a mix of old and new.
- Long after: Words you answer well stretch out and daily review volume actually falls; words you keep missing keep coming back until you have them.
So what you actually do each day is "new words + whatever reviews are due," and the second number is different every day. For which to do first, see review first or new words first.
A wordbook never "graduates" on a single day: early words already come back only rarely, while late words are still appearing often. That is not a progress bug — it is how it normally looks.
4. Three ways to go faster
- Raise the daily goal. Coverage moves faster; the cost is that the volume coming back for review rises with it. Fine for a run-up to a deadline, not something to leave on a high setting indefinitely.
- Switch to a smaller wordbook. The same word appearing in several books shares one learning record, so switching books does not wipe what you have already studied — it just changes the order you move through.
- Work through the scenario library by topic. 20 themes and 72 sub-categories; finishing everything for one situation (ordering food, job interviews) is easier to sustain than grinding through a whole book — see the scenario library.
And one option that is not fast but rarely gets abandoned: set the goal to something you can finish even on your busiest day.
5. Boundaries: where this estimate stops being reliable
- A wordbook has no "completed" state. There is only a state per word: which ones are still unfamiliar, which are in review, and which have not come back for a long time.
- Setting the goal too high builds a backlog. New words pile up fast and so does the volume due afterwards; skip a few days and you return to a screen you cannot clear — this is where most people quit.
- Missing your goal carries no penalty. VocaX does not mark it against you, sends no nagging notifications, and puts no streak pressure on you. Stop for a few days, come back, and carry on.
- This estimate does not predict your exam score. It only answers "how soon will I have seen every word once at this pace." What you score depends on everything else you do as well.
- Practising translation alone will not improve dictation or speaking. The three directions track progress separately — see translation, dictation and speaking are three separate skills.
This division only answers "how soon will I have seen every word once." It does not tell you how much you have retained, and it does not predict your exam score.
Frequently asked questions
At the default 50 a day, how long does a 7,000-word book take?
About 140 days for one pass. That is only the time until every word has been seen once; afterwards those words keep coming back on their own schedules.
Where do I change the daily goal? Can it be set to 0?
In the daily progress ring on the card screen — not in Settings. The range is 10–1000 in steps of 10, so the minimum is 10 and it cannot be set to 0. If you would rather not take on new words for a while, put your attention on current practice, Consolidation, or Flags instead.
Can I push the goal to 1000 and finish a book in days?
You can set it, but it is not advisable. New words move fast and so does the review volume due afterwards, which easily piles up beyond what you can clear. For exam prep, 100–200 is the more common choice.
I stopped for a week — do I have to start over?
No. Your records and each word's review schedule are still there; the reviews that fell due will cluster over the next few days. Clear those first, then carry on with new words. VocaX does not penalise you for taking a break.
If I study two wordbooks at once, how is the time calculated?
By the new words you actually get through, not by how many books are open. Words that overlap between two books share a single learning record, so switching books does not erase what you have studied.
Axiom One LLC — VocaX. Figures current as of 15 September 2026.