CertamenPrep • Practice like it's real.

Master Latin.
Win Certamen.

Over 1,100 questions across Mythology, History, Language, Literature, Culture & Life, and Living Latin. They stream letter by letter, like a real toss-up. Buzz in, answer before time runs out, and climb eleven Roman ranks — from Miles to Legatus Legionis.

Try a Free Question

Download on the App Store

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Get it on Google Play

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FREE · No Ads · No In-App Purchases

Source on GitHub →

⚡ Sample Question · Living Latin · Easy

This Swedish car brand started life in 1911 as a name for iron ball bearings before becoming an automaker, and its name comes straight from the first-person singular form of a Latin verb meaning to roll, an unusually apt choice for any vehicle.

VOLVO · from volvō, "I roll"

In Your Pocket

Built for the way you actually study.

On the bus. Between classes. Five minutes before practice. Ubicumque, quandōcumque.

Challenge tab showing the current rank, set size choices, and progress through the Roman ranks

A Challenge question printing letter by letter above the BUZZ button

Review screen with an AI explanation and a box for a follow-up question

Available now on iPhone, iPad & Android

One tap. No paywall. No ads pretending to be questions.

FREE · grātīs

Download on the App Store

App Store

Get it on Google Play

Google Play

Certamen 101

A 2,000-year-old language.
A very competitive quiz bowl.

Certamen (Latin for "contest") is a fast-paced, Jeopardy-style academic competition where teams race to answer questions about Latin language, Roman history, mythology, and classical culture.

Organized by the Junior Classical League (JCL), it's played at school, regional, state, and national levels — with three divisions: Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced.

The problem? Preparing is hard. Flashcards get boring. Textbooks don't simulate the pressure of a tossup question flying at you at 200 words per minute. CertamenPrep does.

Read the full beginner’s guide →

"When Admetus forgot to make offerings to Artemis on his wedding night, he found his bridal chamber filled with — wait, is that going to be on the test? Yes. Yes it is." — The kind of question CertamenPrep will absolutely ask you

Features

Everything you need.
Nothing you don't.

Built by a Certamen player, for Certamen players.

A promise: Always growing. Always free. No ads, no in-app purchases — ever.

📚

Over 1,100 Questions

Over 1,100 questions across six categories — Mythology, History, Language, Literature, Culture & Life, and Living Latin. Topics are chosen mainly by frequency analysis of more than 8,000 real tossups from the Yale and Harvard Certamen archives, so you study what actually shows up. Every question is written in toss-up style and checked for duplicates and answer giveaways.

Mythologia · Historia · Lingua · more

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Difficulty & Ranks

Challenge Mode moves you through 11 Roman ranks, from Miles to Legatus Legionis. Each rank has its own pool of questions, and you move up by mastering them. Play Challenge at least once a day to keep your streak. Practice Mode lets you drill any category at any mix of Easy, Medium, and Hard without touching your rank or streak.

Easy · Medium · Hard

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Real Competition Pressure

Questions print letter by letter, like a moderator reading a toss-up. In Challenge Mode you have 10 seconds to buzz after the clue finishes, then 5 seconds to pick from four answers. Practice starts with the same clock and lets you change it in Settings.

Vēnī, vīdī, vīcī

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Explain with AI

Missed one? In Review, tap Explain with AI to see how each clue points to the answer, plus a little background. Still curious? Ask up to two follow-ups a day — like a Latin tutor in your pocket, minus the hourly rate.

Magister in arcā

📊

Your Mistakes, Remembered

Every question you miss in Challenge Mode is saved to Review, sorted by category. Master it there to clear it from your list and count it toward your rank. Practice misses stay out, so warm-ups never pile up.

Errāre humanum est

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A Note From the Maker

Built and maintained by one Latin student, in spare time between classes. The full source code is public on GitHub. Got an idea or found a bug? Write to support@certamenprep.org — I read every one.

Ab studiōsō, prō studiōsīs

Master Latin. Win Certamen.