diff --git a/app/admin/review/page.tsx b/app/admin/review/page.tsx
index ad5b201..5228caa 100644
--- a/app/admin/review/page.tsx
+++ b/app/admin/review/page.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import { api } from "@/convex/_generated/api";
 
 export default function AdminReviewPage() {
   const isAdmin = useQuery(api.users.isAdmin);
-  const maps = useQuery(api.maps.getMaps, { isReviewed: false });
+  const maps = useQuery(api.maps.getUnreviewedMaps);
   const adminApprovalMutation = useMutation(api.maps.approveMap);
   const adminRejectMapMutation = useMutation(api.maps.rejectMap);
 
diff --git a/convex/maps.ts b/convex/maps.ts
index 9841252..ddafb1f 100644
--- a/convex/maps.ts
+++ b/convex/maps.ts
@@ -191,38 +191,23 @@ export const seedMaps = internalMutation({
   },
 });
 
+
+export const getUnreviewedMaps = adminQueryBuilder({
+  handler: async (ctx) => {
+    return await ctx.db
+      .query("maps")
+      .withIndex("by_isReviewed_level", (q) => q.eq("isReviewed", false))
+      .collect();
+  },
+});
+
 export const getMaps = query({
   args: {
-    isReviewed: v.optional(v.boolean()),
   },
   handler: async (ctx, args) => {
-    if (args.isReviewed !== undefined) {
-      // todo: take this out into a helper function
-      // if a manual query is made, check if the user is an admin
-
-      const userId = await getAuthUserId(ctx);
-      if (userId === null) {
-        return null;
-      }
-
-      const admin = await ctx.db
-        .query("admins")
-        .withIndex("by_userId", (q) => q.eq("userId", userId))
-        .first();
-
-      if (admin) {
         return await ctx.db
-          .query("maps")
-          .filter((q) => q.eq(q.field("isReviewed"), args.isReviewed))
-          .collect();
-      } else {
-        return null;
-      }
-    }
-
-    return await ctx.db
       .query("maps")
-      .filter((q) => q.eq(q.field("isReviewed"), true))
+      .withIndex("by_isReviewed_level", (q) => q.eq("isReviewed", true))
       .collect();
   },
 });
diff --git a/convex/schema.ts b/convex/schema.ts
index 0afd5ab..0c26702 100644
--- a/convex/schema.ts
+++ b/convex/schema.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ export default defineSchema({
     grid: v.array(v.array(v.string())),
     submittedBy: v.optional(v.id("users")),
     isReviewed: v.boolean(),
-  }).index("by_level", ["level"]),
+  }).index("by_level", ["level"])
+    .index("by_isReviewed_level", ["isReviewed", "level"]),
   scores: defineTable({
     modelId: v.string(),
     promptId: v.optional(v.id("prompts")),