Junior Avyukt Gupta makes school history by becoming the first student to complete the entire Membean program.
At Becton Regional High School, the English Department requires all students in grades 9 through 11 to complete regular Membean training. The program is designed to enhance vocabulary retention, improve reading comprehension, and support overall language development.
Membean is an adaptive online platform that helps students build lasting word knowledge through personalized, interactive study. By incorporating memory strategies, repeated exposure, and engaging content, Membean supports vocabulary growth, writing fluency, and standardized test preparation. Its ability to tailor to each learner’s pace makes it a powerful tool in the classroom.
Gupta’s journey began back in ninth grade, when students were placed into levels based on their vocabulary proficiency. While Gupta started at Level 1, his friend, Adam Almshref, was placed at Level 3. That small difference sparked a lighthearted rivalry—and serious motivation.
“I never planned on finishing Membean,” Gupta admitted. “I just wanted to catch up to Adam. But once I realized it was actually possible to finish the whole thing, I committed to doing it.”
Gupta’s persistence paid off. Over the course of two years, he completed every level of Membean, a feat that required hundreds of sessions and thousands of vocabulary words. He credits the program with enhancing his reading comprehension and exposing him to words he might not have otherwise encountered.
“I understand a lot more esoteric words that may not show up in day-to-day life, all the while teaching me words that often appear in the material I read. Therefore, it has proved salutary to my reading comprehension,” he shares.
Staying consistent with a long-term goal is never easy, but Gupta had a clear finish line in mind. “Knowing that seniors don’t do Membean gave me a hard deadline,” he explained. “That pushed me to keep going. I didn’t want to leave it unfinished.”
When Gupta finally reached the end of the program, he was elated. “I took a screenshot of the final screen, which told me I was well-versed in Membean’s lexicon, and immediately sent it to all my group chats. It was really gratifying knowing that I had finished the program,” he said. “I also emailed the people at Membean to thank them for doing such a great job with the program and for helping me learn words for the AP exams and the SAT. It felt amazing to finish.”
Membean recognized his accomplishment with a congratulatory package containing a T-shirt, a beanie (or “membeanie”), pens, stickers, and a card from the team.
He also offers advice for students still working through the program, “Don’t overthink it. It’s just 15 minutes a day. I especially see some people waiting till the last second to answer questions, which makes the time seem as though it is passing much slower. In my personal experience, try and turn it into a game where you try to correctly answer the questions as quickly as you can, similar to Kahoot, Quizzes, Gimkit, Blooket, etc.”
Gupta’s achievement not only reflects his dedication but also shows what’s possible with consistency and motivation—plus a little friendly competition!
