For soroban teachers — the app that makes what happens outside the lesson visible

Between lessons two or three times a week, you cannot see how a student is practicing at home. Soroban Kingdom is the app that fills that gap. It fits teaching with a real soroban exactly as it is, and when you get one wrong, the bead move that most likely went wrong (worked out from the answer) is shown in a diagram. A school plan covers what students use at home (families pay nothing extra).

How Soroban Kingdom helps teachers

Home practice and teacher monitoring, at a glance

Bead-level error tracking — worked out from the answer, not from watching the hands

Example: 4 + 3. The correct move on the ones rod is +5 −2 (set the upper 5-bead, take away two lower 1-beads) → 7. If a child answers 8, the most likely reason is that only one lower bead came off. Soroban Kingdom shows that move for each wrong answer: the rod (ones), the bead (one lower bead left on) and the friends-of-5 rule to review, as a diagram, per student.

It is an inference from the answer — "most likely", a clue for your next lesson — not a recording of the child's hands or a camera. That is why it works with a real soroban (the child types only the answer), with the on-screen soroban, and for mental arithmetic, where no bead can be seen at all. Over weeks it tells you whether a habit (5-complements, 10-complements, carrying, borrowing) is fading or not.

Mapping your centre's levels to Japanese kyu and dan

Japanese kyu and dan grades belong to exam bodies, and their formats differ: Nissho / Nichishuren from 10th Kyu up, Zenshuren from 15th Kyu up to 10th Dan, and separate anzan (mental arithmetic) grades. Soroban Kingdom's level table runs 20th Kyu → 1st Kyu → 10th Dan; from 15th Kyu up the formats (digits and number of terms) follow published Japanese exam samples, and the teacher screen can switch the table to a Nissho/Nichishuren-style, Zenshuren-style, Zenshugakuren anzan-style or UCMAS-style ladder. Soroban and anzan levels are kept separate. The app's levels are a practice guideline, not an official grade — only an exam body awards a kyu or dan. Formats per level: levels page · how to build one table for your centre: grading systems compared.

What you can use right now

🖨 Homework worksheets: pick a level and a subject and get as many test-format question sheets as you like, with answers. Every sheet is different.

🏅 Mock test (SK Test): a time limit per subject, marked all at once. More about this.

🔍 Likely bead mistakes, as diagrams: not just right or wrong — for each student, a diagram of where it most likely broke down (friends of 5, friends of 10, carrying, and so on), worked out from the answer.

✋ About finger movement: Thumb and index finger: when to use each with diagrams, right down to the reason. Parents can teach it at home.

⚡ Flash Anzan, mental math, today's practice: a routine that keeps the test menu going every day (mental math 3 min × 3 → multiplication → division → addition).

How a school can use it

The teacher screen for schools

The teacher screen is ready to use. Sign in (Google, email and more) → enter your name (1 minute; email and password also work) → create a class → enter the students' nicknames → print the login cards. Children just enter the code and pick their name.

🏫 Open the teacher screen

Practice made visible per student, homework handed out and marked automatically, and a list of students to talk to (needs follow-up / struggling / ready to move up).

Students need a nickname only (we do not collect the child's real name or date of birth). The teacher registers the students, prints a login card for home, and hands it over. At home, a parent signs in with their account and enters the key from the card just once.

Guides for teachers

• Free printable: soroban mistake observation sheet (one page, 20 students, no sign-up)
• 7 things to check before paying for abacus class software
• Tracking 20 students' mistake types without a spreadsheet
• Moving homework from the workbook to a screen, keeping the real abacus
• Between lessons: seeing what students do at home
• A flash anzan progression that climbs without stalling
• How to read a child's mistakes · Homework that gets done · Grading systems compared

Pricing

Levels 20–16 are free forever — no sign-up. From 15th Kyu up: a school plan (Studio $149/month and up).

Try it free for 14 days — no credit card needed. It simply stops after 14 days. If you subscribe, billing starts that day.

Prices are in US dollars. Sales tax or VAT may be added at checkout, depending on where you live. The first payment is taken on the day you subscribe, then automatically on the same date every month (every year for yearly plans). Cancel any time from the customer page: the plan stops at the next renewal date and you can keep using it until then. No pro-rated refunds.

A school plan includes everything your students use at home — families pay nothing extra. Studio works out at under $4 per student per month, less than a single lesson. Families who don't attend a school can use the Home plan ($29/month).

Subscribe

Pay by credit card through Stripe. Please use the same email address as your teacher screen; your plan is applied automatically within minutes (1 business day at the latest).

Cancel or change your credit card any time from the customer page. Legal notice (Japan) · Terms · Contact

Founding Partner schools

Soroban Kingdom is an independent practice app developed in Japan. It is not affiliated with any abacus examination body or franchise, and works alongside any school's method.