Capture atomic cards
Turn one public outline slice into atomic cards. Do not open a second chapter.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Evidence96
Speed to gain55
Effort cost70
Exam fit94
Retention97
Beginner-friendly62
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Spaced repetition: What is this, in one honest paragraph?
A schedule that asks for a retrieval just before you would have forgotten, then lengthens the gap after a success.
Spaced repetition: What does the evidence actually say?
Ebbinghaus showed savings on relearning; Cepeda et al. found expanding gaps beat cramming for delayed tests; Leitner and SuperMemo turned the idea into boxes and algorithms.
Spaced repetition: How does it help a high-stakes exam?
It fits listing, definition and formula items that return on later papers. It does not grade a proof you have never written.
Spaced repetition: How fast is a first honest gain?
A first honest lift is often two to three weeks of daily reviews, not the first night of card-making.
Spaced repetition: What do beginners usually break?
They write encyclopedic cards, never fail a card, or pause the deck for a week and then blame the algorithm.
Spaced repetition: Which tools are enough to start?
A deck, a daily time box, and a rule that one card holds one fact. Paper Leitner boxes work if you actually move the cards.
Spaced repetition — a weekly ladder of sessions. Treat the week as a budget for atomic cards, not a festival of new items.
Scores here are relative ranks inside this atlas, not lab grades or official cut scores.
Week
Due before new
Finish due atomic cards, then add a capped set from the same slice.
Repair atomic cards
Rewrite every atomic cards that failed twice. It was usually two facts glued together.
Mix atomic cards
Let due atomic cards from different chapters sit in one queue. Do not re-sort into textbook order.
Audit public outline
Check ten mature atomic cards against public outline. Retire anything the outline dropped.
Light new
Halve new atomic cards and spend the rest on due reviews plus one closed-book dump.
Sessions
- Due-only sprint — Twenty minutes of due atomic cards, no browsing.
- New-item clinic — Thirty minutes to turn one public outline subsection into atomic cards.
- Repair surgery — Fifteen minutes: split, add a cue, or move the item off infinite grind.
- Closed-book dump — From memory, list this week's high-yield names, then only flip atomic cards for misses.
- Freeze rehearsal — Run a day with zero new atomic cards to feel the true review load before an exam week.
Ladder
- Novice — You can produce a first set of atomic cards from one public outline page in a single sitting.
- Stable — Due atomic cards stays inside a weekday time box and repairs happen within a week.
- Fluent — You can explain why today's atomic cards is due using the method, not "the app said so".
- Exam-ready — New atomic cards is frozen before a sitting and the remaining work is almost all retrieval.
Educational atlas — not an official syllabus, medical advice, or leaked item bank. Spaced repetition: Keep the public outline in view and treat this page as method, not a leaked key.
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