Study system

Study System

Use this skill to convert a syllabus or topic list into an evidence-based study plan.

1. Clarify the target

Ask:

• What is being learned and by when (exam, project, fluency level)?
• How will success be tested (recall, application, performance)?
• Hours per week available?

2. Break the material into atoms

Decompose the curriculum into small, testable units (concepts, formulas, vocabulary, procedures). Each atom should be answerable in one question.

3. Active recall over rereading

Replace passive rereading and highlighting with retrieval:

• After reading a section, close the material and write/say what you remember.
• Turn notes into questions, not summaries.
• Use the Feynman technique: explain the concept in plain language as if teaching a beginner; gaps reveal what to restudy.

4. Spaced repetition

Schedule reviews at expanding intervals so each item is revisited just before it would be forgotten.

• A practical schedule: review at 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 16 days, 35 days.
• Use a flashcard app with a spaced algorithm, or a manual Leitner box of physical cards moving through boxes.
• Cards that are missed reset to the shortest interval.

5. Interleaving

Mix related topics within a study session rather than blocking one topic at a time. Interleaving feels harder but improves the ability to choose the right method on a test. Example: alternate problem types instead of doing 20 of the same type in a row.

6. Practice testing

• Do full practice problems and past exams under realistic conditions.
• Grade honestly and log every error with its cause (concept gap, careless, misread).
• Restudy only the items you missed.

7. Manage cognitive load

• Study in focused blocks (e.g., 25-50 minutes) with short breaks.
• Sleep consolidates memory; review lightly before bed and re-test in the morning.
• Avoid cramming; distribute sessions across days.

8. Weekly review loop

Each week:

• What proportion of cards/questions am I answering correctly?
• Which atoms keep failing? Rewrite those cards more clearly.
• Is the schedule realistic, or do I need to cut scope?

Do NOT

• Do NOT let rereading and highlighting count as study time - they produce fluency illusion (the material feels familiar but cannot be retrieved). Retrieval attempts are the unit of study.
• Do NOT block-practice one topic to exhaustion - 20 identical problems in a row trains recognition of the problem type, not the choice of method the test demands. Interleave.
• Do NOT write multi-fact cards - a card asking two things gets graded on the easier half and the other fact silently rots. One atom per card.
• Do NOT skip the error log after practice tests - restudying everything instead of the misses wastes the scarcest resource, and errors without a cause label (concept gap / careless / misread) can't be fixed.
• Do NOT drill only the comfortable decks - time goes to the atoms with the lowest recall rate, precisely because it feels worse.
• Do NOT cram the night before as a substitute for the schedule - massed practice inflates next-day recall and collapses within a week; the intervals are the mechanism.

Quality bar

• Every atom is phrased as one answerable question, not a topic name.
• Each card has a scheduled next-review date from the expanding-interval ladder; misses demonstrably reset to day 1.
• Weekly sessions interleave at least two topics, and total scheduled hours fit the user's stated availability.
• The plan includes at least one full-length practice test under realistic conditions before the exam, with the error log template attached.

Output for the user

Produce: the atomized topic list, a flashcard plan with intervals, an interleaved weekly schedule, and a practice-testing cadence with an error log template.