Talking with Julius Caesar or Freud is interesting. But if you finish a 20-minute session and can't explain in one sentence what you learned, you spent 20 pleasant minutes — not 20 minutes studying. This guide is here to make the difference clear and to ensure you use Parlova in a way that will truly help you progress before a test, the brevet, or the bac.
Before Starting a Mission: Prepare Yourself in 2 Minutes
The most common mistake is to open Parlova directly without activating what you already know. Result: you spend the first few minutes asking the character who they are and what's happening — information you have in your course. Those two lost minutes are valuable.
Instead, start with this quick reminder: take a sheet of paper, write down in two minutes everything you know about the topic you're going to study. Dates, names, concepts, arguments. Don't look at your course. What you can't write down is what you'll look for in the mission. What you write easily, you already know — no need to waste time on it.
Your gaps are invisible as long as you have your course in front of you. Free recall makes them visible. Without it, you spend your session reviewing what you already know. With it, you work on exactly what you're missing.
Which Character to Choose According to Your Course?
- →Crisis of the Roman Republic (5e) → Julius Caesar, set in 49 BC, just before crossing the Rubicon.
- →Greek Mythology (6e-5e) → Zeus. He explains the logic of the Greek world from the inside, without the textbook gloss.
- →French Revolution and Empire (4e) → Napoleon, set in 1799. He can comment on the Revolution with the hindsight of someone who benefited from it.
- →World War II / 3e → the characters from the WWII saga available in the official program.
- →Philosophy Terminale — the unconscious, freedom, consciousness → Freud (from 1900) or Socrates (from 399 BC).
- →Psychology L1-L3 → the characters from the psychology program, classified by theoretical current.
If you're not sure, use the 'By Program' tab (explained below). You directly find the character associated with your chapter without searching.
How to Ask Questions That Really Help You Study
There are two types of questions. The first give the illusion of working: 'Who are you?', 'What happened during this period?'. The character answers, you read, you find it interesting — but your brain is in passive reception mode. These questions don't help you study.
The second force your brain to work: questions of contradiction, justification, concrete example. These are the ones that resemble what your teacher will ask you on the test.
The Trap to Avoid: Confusing Conversation with Comprehension
A good conversation with Julius Caesar is pleasant. You get up from your desk with the feeling of having understood something. It's often true — but this feeling must be verified. The sensation of understanding is not the same as understanding.
The simple test: can you explain out loud, without looking at your screen, what you just learned? If you stumble after ten seconds, you followed the conversation but haven't assimilated it yet. It's not a problem — it means you need to ask a follow-up question or note the point you're stuck on and reread it in your course.
After each response that seemed important to you, close the conversation tab and write the answer in your own words. If you can't, you haven't understood yet — you've just read.
After the Mission: The Only Thing That Matters
Once the mission is over, there's one step left — the quickest and most important. Close Parlova. On your initial free recall sheet, add in a different color what you know now that you didn't know before. Then write a single sentence: what you retain from this session.
This final sentence is what will stay in your memory. Not the 20 minutes of conversation, not the character's answers — the sentence you formulated yourself, based on what you understood. It's the trace. And it's what you'll need on test day: not the vague memory of a good conversation, but a clear idea you can articulate in 30 seconds.
Find Your Exact Chapter in 30 Seconds
If you don't know which character to choose, use the 'By Program' tab accessible from the mission homepage (play/history for history and geography, play/psychology for philosophy and psychology). Select your subject, your level, then your theme: the available missions appear directly. You don't waste time searching — you work.
All you need is a free teacher account. Your students join the mission with a link and a password.
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