Module 7 · Lesson 37 of 39 · Free
How to study: a weekly routine
Twenty minutes a day add up to 7 × 20 = 140 minutes a week, more than a two-hour session on Sunday, and they stick better: an idea you meet again a few days later stays, while one crammed into a single evening fades. A good week mixes five things: a new lesson, practice, review, play and a look at your own hands.
The hand
You have about twenty minutes on most days and want to get better without wasting any of them.
Predict first
You pass a lesson's check today. When does the review schedule bring it back first?
- Tomorrow
- In 3 days
- In a month
Show the answer
Answer: In 3 days
A lesson you pass goes into the 3-day box. Each right answer on its due day moves it to a longer wait, 7 days, then 16, 35 and 80; a miss on its due day sends it back to 1 day.
Working it out
The spaced review behind the Review card keeps each lesson in a box that waits 1, 3, 7, 16, 35 or 80 days. Pass a lesson today and it comes back in 3 days; answer right then and it waits 7 days more, then 16, 35 and 80. Counted from today: 3, 3 + 7 = 10, 10 + 16 = 26, 26 + 35 = 61 and 61 + 80 = 141. A miss on the due day sends the lesson back to the 1-day box, so what you forget returns quickly. Before the due day, a right answer changes nothing and a miss drops the lesson one box.
A week that works: every study day starts with the reviews that are due; on some days you learn a new lesson and use its tool, on others you drill in Practice or play a session at the table with the coach; once a week you paste your own hands into Tools › My hands and see what they cost. Short and regular beats long and rare. The tool below builds such a week from your days and minutes.
Formula
Minutes a week = minutes a day × study days: 20 × 7 = 140. A passed lesson returns on days 3, 10, 26, 61, 141
Check your understanding
You study 25 minutes on 6 days a week. How many hours a week is that?
Show the answer
Answer: 2.5
25 × 6 = 150 minutes, and 150 ÷ 60 = 2.5 hours.
A lesson sits in the 16-day box and comes due on day 30. You answer its question right that day. On what day is it due next?
Show the answer
Answer: 65
A right answer on the due day moves it up to the 35-day box: 30 + 35 = day 65.
A lesson is due in 5 days. You practice it today and miss the question. What happens to it?
- It goes back to the 1-day box
- Nothing changes
- It drops one box
Show the answer
Answer: It drops one box
A miss before the due day drops the lesson one box. Only a miss on or after the due day sends it back to the 1-day box, and before the due day only a right answer leaves it as it is.