Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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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 — triage and high-yield first passes. For a fast pass, freeze new atomic cards two weeks out and only retire leeches and high-yield lists.
Scores here are relative ranks inside this atlas, not lab grades or official cut scores.
Weeks
- public outline → atomic cards
Build atomic cards only for facts that can reappear as a name, number or list.
- High-yield first
Put high-yield lists into atomic cards before commentary.
- Daily due only
If time is short, drop new atomic cards and pay the due queue. That is the pass, not a failure.
- Exile chronic fails
Move chronic fails off infinite atomic cards and learn them as a one-page list.
- Freeze and retrieve
Two weeks out, zero new atomic cards. Leftover minutes go to closed-book dumps.
- Eve light
Do a short due pass of atomic cards, then sleep. Do not inflate the pile at 1 a.m.
Shortcuts
- One-fact rule — If the answer for atomic cards has an "and", split it.
- Hide the answer — atomic cards that shows the answer in the prompt is reading practice, not recall.
- Ten-second map — Suspend atomic cards you cannot map to public outline in ten seconds.
- Image one label — For a diagram, hide one label per atomic cards, not the whole figure.
- Sleep after due — A short due pass of atomic cards then sleep beats a 1 a.m. rewrite binge.
Triage
- Must-name facts — Keep atomic cards for names, numbers and lists that can be asked verbatim.
- Skip unasked prose — Do not turn commentary into atomic cards unless the sitting asks you to recite it.
- Procedure off-queue — A multi-step procedure belongs on a worked sheet first, then maybe one atomic cards per step.
- Freeze before sitting — New atomic cards stops when the calendar says the sitting is inside two weeks.
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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