Three Years on the Path: What Level 16 Actually Looks Like
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Joshua Lubben started learning Greek with BMA in January 2023. He had no previous Greek experience. Three years later he is at Level 16, reading the Psalms from the Septuagint in the morning and working through the Greek New Testament on his lunch breaks, with young children at home and a full schedule that leaves most evenings unavailable for study.
When a newer member asked what the path ahead looked like, Joshua shared this. We are publishing it here with his permission because it is a great real-world example of what small, consistent steps can actually achieve.
“Seeing other members who were ahead of me has been a huge encouragement to me to keep going, as this is actually possible.
I started with BMA in January 2023 with no previous Greek experience. We were using Plummer’s textbook at the time as Beginning Greek in Small Steps was not a thing yet, and I struggled. Looking back it was more that I didn’t know how to learn or set habits than it was just the grammar I was using.
After I ‘finished’ Beginning Greek in 6 months, I felt like I didn’t know anything. I knew I needed to review, so I reviewed using Mounce’s grammar while continuing on the success path. I cannot stress how important it is to keep learning vocabulary and keep reading actual books after you finish Beginning Greek. Many of the concepts from Beginning Greek in Small Steps did not stick for me until I had read several books of the Greek New Testament, and after I reviewed Beginning Greek more than once.
I have gone through the following Beginning Greek grammars: Plummer, Mounce, Harris, BGSS and Decker. I found listening to another voice share basically the same information in a slightly different way helped it stick for me. If your budget allows, I would recommend it. If not, don’t worry about it and review BGSS as it is really well done.
(I’ve been here long enough to give my honest feedback. And I am here because BMA is awesome and I don’t think there is anything else like it.)”
Daily routine at Levels 6 to 8
“Here is what I did for a daily routine back where you are at around levels 6 to 8:
- Paradigm review: 5 minutes a day, until they stuck
- ParseGreek: 5 minutes a day, until I felt reasonably comfortable with my parsing (BMA now has its own parsing exercise built into Tutor that does the same job)
- Read from the Greek New Testament: 10 minutes a day, growing over time as I worked through more books
- Vocabulary review: at least 10 minutes a day if not more. Vocabulary is the key and still is. If you do not know your vocabulary, you will struggle to read books. I find reading books helps the vocabulary stick, but vocabulary is extremely important.
- Grammar textbook: work through whatever grammar I was using until I had a good grasp of the concepts. Not perfection. I mean that if someone mentioned a 2nd aorist verb or a 3rd declension noun, I already had it in my head what the main concepts were along with a good idea of the paradigms.
Total: around 30 to 40 minutes on a typical day.”
Daily routine at Level 16
“Here is the ideal daily routine for where I am now:
- Wake up at 5:00 AM, grab a cup of coffee and listen to worship music for 5 minutes
- Do Biblingo for 5 to 10 minutes (I find it a fantastic supplement to the grammar-translation method as it helps my fluency and wakes up the Greek part of my brain)
- Read a Psalm from the Septuagint for 5 to 10 minutes
- Read the Greek New Testament for 10 minutes
- Review vocabulary for 10 minutes
- Later in the day on my breaks at work, do more vocabulary and read more over my lunch hour
Above is the ideal. What actually happens most of the time:
- Wake up somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 AM
- Grab coffee, listen to a song, do 3 minutes of Biblingo
- Read for 5 to 10 minutes, either the Septuagint or the Greek New Testament, if one of my young children doesn’t wake up
- Review vocabulary on my breaks at work depending on how busy the day is
- Hit my 10 minutes of vocabulary and reading during my lunch break
- Evenings are full most of the time
Once you get to where you have a good grasp on parsing and paradigms, not perfection, focus on vocabulary and reading.”
How I read a new book
“Here is an example of how I went through 2 Corinthians.
The first read through the book is always a struggle for me. The Gospel of John was the exception.
In my NA28: read verses 1 to 7 twice, then verses 8 to 11 twice, then re-read verses 1 to 11, then verses 12 to 14 twice, then verses 15 to 24 twice, then re-read the entire chapter. I try to re-read the chapter I am working through at least twice, most of the time more. Before I start the next chapter, I re-read the one before. So before starting chapter 2, I re-read chapter 1. Then I read chapter 2 working through it the same way, then re-read it before starting chapter 3, and do that until I finish the book. That is my first read through.
Then I re-read the entire book again in my NA28, and this time is much easier. Then I re-read it again in my Tyndale House Greek New Testament, and it is even easier.
The biggest takeaway is vocabulary and re-reading, and reaching out to the BMA community when you feel stuck. BMA has helped me get unstuck and not give up several times over the past three years, and I am eternally grateful.”
The path Joshua describes is the Greek Mastery Membership success path, walked by members at every stage. If you are further back than Joshua, the members ahead of you are there, willing to say the same thing he told us: this is actually possible.
The Greek Mastery Membership opens three times a year. If it is currently closed, you can join the waitlist and we will let you know as soon as the next intake opens.