Title: Learning Strategies — LearnCoachAssist

Q: What is spaced repetition?
A: A learning technique where material is reviewed at gradually increasing intervals. Each successful recall pushes the next review further into the future, optimising long-term retention.

Q: What is the forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus)?
A: Hermann Ebbinghaus's finding that memory decays exponentially over time without reinforcement — we forget ~50% within an hour and ~70% within 24 hours of learning.

Q: How does spaced repetition counteract the forgetting curve?
A: By timing reviews just before you would forget, each review resets and strengthens the memory trace, making the forgetting curve shallower with each repetition.

Q: What is retrieval practice (the testing effect)?
A: The act of recalling information from memory — rather than re-reading — strengthens memory more effectively. Tests are not just assessments; they are powerful learning events.

Q: What is interleaving in learning?
A: Mixing different topics or problem types within a study session, rather than blocking. Harder in the short term but leads to better long-term retention and transfer.

Q: What is elaborative interrogation?
A: A study technique where you ask "why" and "how" questions about material to connect new information to existing knowledge and create deeper understanding.

Q: What is the difference between massed practice and distributed practice?
A: Massed practice is cramming — studying a lot in one sitting. Distributed practice spreads study over time. Distributed practice leads to far better long-term retention.

Q: What is the generation effect in learning?
A: Generating the answer yourself (even if incorrect) before seeing it produces better memory than simply reading the answer. Struggling to retrieve is beneficial.

Q: What is desirable difficulty?
A: The principle that learning conditions that feel harder in the moment (retrieval practice, interleaving, spacing) often produce stronger long-term memory than easier conditions.

Q: What is the AGES model of learning?
A: A neuroscience-based learning model: Attention (focused), Generation (create your own connections), Emotion (emotional engagement), Spacing (distributed practice).

Q: What is metacognition?
A: Thinking about your own thinking — being aware of how you learn, what you know and don't know, and how to regulate your learning strategies.

Q: What is the Feynman technique?
A: Explain a concept in simple terms (as if to a 12-year-old), identify gaps in your understanding, go back and fill those gaps, then simplify again.

Q: What is elaboration as a learning strategy?
A: Connecting new information to what you already know, asking yourself how and why things work, and creating detailed mental models that weave new ideas into existing ones.

Q: What is concrete examples as a learning strategy?
A: Attaching specific, tangible examples to abstract concepts. The brain stores and retrieves concrete information more readily than abstract principles.

Q: What is dual coding?
A: Combining verbal information with visual representations (diagrams, charts, mind maps). Processing information through two channels strengthens encoding and recall.

Q: What is the serial position effect?
A: The tendency to remember items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list better than items in the middle.

Q: What is chunking?
A: Grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units (chunks) to overcome working memory limits. Experts chunk information from their domain automatically.

Q: What is the difference between declarative and procedural memory?
A: Declarative memory stores facts and events (explicit). Procedural memory stores skills and habits (implicit). Learning strategies work differently for each type.

Q: What is sleep's role in learning?
A: During sleep (especially deep sleep and REM), the brain consolidates memories — transferring information from short-term to long-term storage and integrating new knowledge.

Q: What is the 80/20 rule applied to learning?
A: Focusing on the ~20% of concepts that account for ~80% of the results in a domain — identifying core principles and high-leverage knowledge first.

Q: What is a "learning sprint"?
A: A focused period of intense study on one topic (e.g., 25–50 minutes), followed by a break, designed to maximise concentration and encoding.

Q: What is the Pomodoro Technique?
A: A time management method: work for 25 minutes (one "pomodoro"), take a 5-minute break, and after four pomodoros take a longer 15–30 minute break.

Q: What is the "input vs output" balance in learning?
A: Passive input (reading, watching) is far less effective than active output (writing, explaining, solving problems). Effective learners lean heavily toward output.

Q: What is overlearning?
A: Continuing to practice beyond the point of initial mastery. It can automate skills and reduce forgetting, but has diminishing returns compared to spaced retrieval.

Q: What is transfer-appropriate processing?
A: Memory is best retrieved when the conditions at recall match the conditions at encoding. Studying in conditions similar to the test or real-world application improves transfer.

Q: What is worked-example fading?
A: A teaching technique that starts with fully worked examples and gradually removes steps as the learner develops competency — scaffolding toward independent problem-solving.

Q: What is mind mapping and when is it useful?
A: A visual diagram that branches out from a central concept to related ideas. Useful for brainstorming, understanding relationships, and creating study overviews.

Q: What is active recall vs passive review?
A: Active recall (flashcards, practice tests) requires you to retrieve information from memory. Passive review (re-reading, highlighting) creates an illusion of learning without the same benefit.

Q: What is the "illusion of knowing"?
A: The false sense of mastery that comes from familiarity with material (e.g., from re-reading) without being able to actually retrieve or apply it.

Q: What is intrinsic motivation in learning?
A: Learning driven by internal interest, curiosity, or satisfaction — as opposed to extrinsic motivation (grades, rewards). Intrinsically motivated learners tend to go deeper and retain more.

Q: Why is active recall more effective than rereading?
A: Actively pulling information from memory strengthens retrieval paths better than passively seeing the material again.

Q: What is chunking in learning?
A: Chunking groups information into meaningful units so the brain can process and remember it more easily.

Q: Why should learners test themselves before they feel ready?
A: Early self-testing reveals gaps and creates stronger memory than waiting until the material feels familiar.

Q: What is transfer in learning?
A: Transfer is the ability to apply knowledge or skill in a different context from where it was first learned.

Q: Why are examples and non-examples useful together?
A: They help learners understand the boundaries of a concept instead of memorizing a single pattern.

Q: What is overlearning?
A: Overlearning is continuing to practice a skill after initial mastery to improve reliability and retention.

Q: Why should study sessions include rest?
A: Breaks protect attention, reduce cognitive fatigue, and improve the quality of later recall.

Q: What is a study plan?
A: A study plan is a deliberate schedule of topics, review intervals, and practice methods matched to a goal.

Q: Why is feedback important for learning?
A: Feedback helps correct errors before they harden into habits or misconceptions.

Q: What is a retrieval cue?
A: A retrieval cue is a word, image, context, or association that helps you access a stored memory.

Q: What is a strong learning strategy principle?
A: Make studying effortful enough to create memory, but structured enough to stay consistent.

Q: Why should learners mix understanding with memory practice?
A: Deep understanding and reliable recall reinforce each other when both are trained intentionally.

Q: What does SM-2 stand for in spaced repetition?
A: SuperMemo-2 — a spaced-repetition algorithm devised by Piotr Woźniak in the mid-1980s that schedules each card's next review based on the user's self-rated recall quality.

Q: What are the standard SM-2 quality grades and their numeric values?
A: 0 = total blackout, 1 = incorrect but familiar, 2 = incorrect but easy once seen, 3 = correct with serious difficulty, 4 = correct after hesitation, 5 = perfect recall.

Q: How does SM-2 treat a fail grade (quality below 3)?
A: The repetition counter resets, the interval resets to 1 day, and the ease factor is reduced (minimum 1.3) — forcing the card back into short-term review.

Q: What is the "ease factor" in SM-2?
A: A per-card multiplier (default 2.5, floor 1.3) that scales each successive interval. Easier cards gain EF; harder cards lose it.

Q: How does SM-2 compute the next interval after a successful review?
A: After repetition 1 → 1 day; repetition 2 → 6 days; repetition n≥3 → previous interval × ease factor.

Q: What is the Leitner system and how does it differ from SM-2?
A: The Leitner system uses discrete boxes (typically 5) and moves cards up or down based on recall. SM-2 uses continuous ease factors and 0–5 quality grades for finer scheduling.

Q: What is Anki's default algorithm and how does it relate to SM-2?
A: Anki uses a modified SM-2 (with "easy bonus" and "hard interval" modifiers) that deck authors can override with per-deck settings.

Q: What does the "Again" button do in Anki on a mature card?
A: It resets the card into relearning, sets the interval to a short "learning step", and reduces its ease factor — placing it back into heavy review.

Q: What is the difference between Again, Hard, Good, and Easy in Anki?
A: Again fails the card and restarts learning; Hard repeats it sooner with reduced ease; Good applies the standard SM-2 multiplier; Easy awards a bonus that grows the next interval.

Q: What is a "young" vs "mature" card in Anki?
A: Young: interval < 21 days. Mature: interval ≥ 21 days. Mature cards are considered reliably learned but still need periodic review to remain stable.

Q: What is the "graduating interval" in Anki?
A: The interval a learning card receives on its first successful graduation into the review queue — typically 1 day, then 4 days for the second graduation.

Q: What is a "leech" in spaced repetition and what should you do?
A: A card flagged after many lapses (Anki default: 8) signals a bad card, not a bad memory — rewrite it, split it, or delete it.

Q: What is "expansion" of the review interval in Anki?
A: A small multiplier (e.g., ×1.1–×1.3) added to long-interval cards slows accumulation of overdue cards and trims daily review load.

Q: What is a reasonable daily new-card limit for an adult learner?
A: Most experts recommend 10–30 new cards per day per deck — more and review backlogs compound quickly.

Q: What is "interleaved spacing" vs blocked spacing?
A: Interleaved mixes cards from many topics per session; blocked reviews all cards from topic A before topic B. Interleaved usually wins for long-term retention.

Q: What is "varied context" practice and how does it aid transfer?
A: Studying a concept in multiple settings (different examples, locations, problem framings) builds richer retrieval cues and supports application in new situations.

Q: What is the difference between recognition and recall memory?
A: Recognition: identifying the correct answer among options (multiple choice). Recall: producing the answer with no prompt. Recall is far harder and a stronger learning event.

Q: What is "context-dependent memory" and how can learners exploit it?
A: Memory is retrieved best in the environment in which it was encoded. Studying in a setting similar to the test or work context improves retrieval.

Q: What is "state-dependent memory"?
A: Memories are easier to retrieve when internal state (alertness, mood) matches encoding. Vary study states to build robust, context-independent retrieval.

Q: What is the "testing effect" also called?
A: Retrieval practice — the finding that actively trying to recall information produces better long-term retention than passively re-studying it (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).

Q: What is "pre-testing" as a study technique?
A: Taking a short quiz on material before you have studied it. Even wrong guesses prime the brain to encode the upcoming information more deeply.

Q: What is "post-testing" as a study technique?
A: Testing yourself shortly after a study session. Produces significantly better delayed retention than re-reading the same material.

Q: What is the "lag effect" in spaced practice?
A: Longer gaps between study and test lead to better long-term retention — provided each study session ends with successful retrieval, not pure re-exposure.

Q: What is "expanding rehearsal"?
A: Re-reviewing at gradually lengthening intervals (e.g., 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 days). It mirrors SM-2/Anki behaviour and outperforms fixed-interval review.

Q: What is the difference between "uniform spacing" and "expanding spacing"?
A: Uniform: fixed intervals between every review. Expanding: gaps grow over time. Expanding is more efficient for the same total retention.

Q: What is "deep processing" and how does it differ from shallow processing?
A: Deep: thinking about meaning, connections, applications. Shallow: focus on surface features (font, colour, repeated reading). Deep processing produces stronger, longer-lasting memory.

Q: What is the "levels of processing" framework?
A: Craik & Lockhart (1972): memory depends on encoding depth. Structural → shallow, phonemic → mid, semantic → deep. Deeper levels produce stronger, longer-lasting memories.

Q: What is the "self-reference effect"?
A: People remember information better when they relate it to themselves ("how does this apply to me?"). One of the most reliable encoding boosts in cognitive psychology.

Q: What is the "method of loci" and how does it work?
A: Placing items to be remembered along a familiar mental route (rooms in your house). Recalling the route sequentially re-triggers each item — extremely powerful for ordered lists.

Q: What is a "peg word" mnemonic?
A: A pre-memorised list of rhyming pegs ("one is a bun, two is a shoe...") used as fixed hooks to hang new items onto — useful for short ordered lists.

Q: What is the "keyword method" for learning vocabulary?
A: Link a foreign word to a familiar-sounding English word (the keyword) and imagine a vivid mental image linking keyword to meaning. Effective for paired-associate vocabulary.

Q: What is the "acronym" vs "acrostic" difference?
A: Acronym: a pronounceable word from initial letters (NASA). Acrostic: a sentence whose initial letters encode the items (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge).

Q: What is "cued recall"?
A: Recall assisted by a partial prompt — a card front, the first letter, or a category. Intermediate in difficulty between free recall and recognition.

Q: What is the difference between mastery learning and spaced repetition?
A: Mastery: a topic isn't moved past until ≥80–90% accuracy. Spaced repetition: mastery is assumed once and reviews continue to prevent forgetting. They are complementary.

Q: What is the difference between formative and summative assessment?
A: Formative: low-stakes checks during learning (quizzes, flashcards) used to guide study. Summative: high-stakes final check (an exam) measuring outcomes.

Q: What is "low-stakes testing" and why is it so effective?
A: Frequent, no-consequence quizzes that re-trigger retrieval. They produce large retention gains at minimal cost and reduce test anxiety vs rare high-stakes exams.

Q: What is "blocked practice" vs "interleaved practice"?
A: Blocked: many problems of the same type consecutively. Interleaved: mixed problem types in a session. Blocked feels easier; interleaved produces better long-term transfer.

Q: What is "transfer of learning"?
A: Applying what was learned in one context to a new, similar context. Positive transfer helps; negative transfer (old habits interfering) hurts.

Q: What is "near transfer" vs "far transfer"?
A: Near: applying knowledge to a closely related context (algebra word problem → physics word problem). Far: applying it to a very different domain (music theory → programming logic).

Q: What is a "schema" in expert learning?
A: A rich mental structure grouping patterns in a domain, letting experts recognise situations and chunk information quickly. Building schemas is the goal of most instruction.

Q: What is the difference between a "schema" and a "chunk"?
A: Both group related elements into one unit. Chunks are smaller/perceptual (a phone number); schemas are larger conceptual frameworks (a chess position, a disease category).

Q: What is "deliberate practice" and what are its key features?
A: Ericsson: structured practice aimed at specific weaknesses, with immediate feedback, full concentration, and effort beyond the comfort zone. Quantity alone is not deliberate practice.

Q: What are the three core requirements of deliberate practice?
A: (1) Effortful focus beyond current ability, (2) immediate informative feedback, (3) repetition with progressive refinement.

Q: What is wrong with the "10 000-hour rule"?
A: Gladwell's claim that 10 000 hours guarantees expertise ignores quality of practice, individual differences, and that many domains show diminishing returns far earlier.

Q: What is the "expertise reversal effect" in instructional design?
A: Instructional aids that help novices (worked examples, explicit prompts) can hurt experts by adding redundant processing — design must adapt as the learner advances.

Q: What is the expertise reversal effect's implication for flashcard design?
A: Early on, full-context cards with examples help. As expertise grows, minimal-context cards (single facts) become more efficient.

Q: What is the difference between recognition-based and production-based flashcards?
A: Recognition: "Which of these is X?" — easy to pass without learning. Production: "Define X" — requires actual retrieval. Production cards almost always beat recognition.

Q: What is the minimum effective dose for a daily study habit?
A: 15–25 focused minutes/day of active recall typically beats 2 hours of passive reading — consistency and effortfulness matter more than duration.

Q: What is the "mere exposure effect" and how does it mislead learners?
A: Repeated passive exposure to material increases familiarity and the subjective feeling of knowing — without improving actual recall. A major cause of the illusion of knowing.

Q: What is the "fluency illusion"?
A: Smooth, easy reading of material is mistaken for understanding. Learners should test themselves rather than trust ease of reading.

Q: What is "highlighting" and why is it a poor study strategy?
A: Marking text feels productive but produces almost no retention gain — passive, not effortful, and creates a false sense of progress.

Q: What is "re-reading" and why is it weak despite feeling helpful?
A: Re-reading boosts short-term familiarity sharply but produces minimal long-term retention. Each re-read feels easier (fluency) but adds little new encoding.

Q: What is "summarization" as a learning strategy?
A: Writing concise summaries in your own words. Effective when summaries are generated without looking at the source; weak when learners copy or paraphrase without transformation.

Q: What is the "Cornell note-taking system"?
A: Divide the page into cues (left), notes (right), and summary (bottom). After class, write cue questions and a bottom summary — making the notes themselves a retrieval surface.

Q: What is the "Zettelkasten" method?
A: A personal knowledge system of atomic, interlinked notes (originally by Niklas Luhmann). Each idea gets a unique ID and links to related notes — designed for synthesis, not just storage.

Q: What is the "Zeigarnik effect" and how can learners use it?
A: Unfinished or interrupted tasks are remembered better than completed ones. Stop mid-session and resume — the open loop primes recall.

Q: What is "priming" in learning?
A: Exposure to a stimulus increases the speed/accuracy of responding to a related stimulus later. Reading a chapter's summary primes the body to be encoded more deeply.

Q: What is "consolidation" and how long does it take?
A: The process by which labile short-term memories become stable long-term memories. Takes hours; interference risk is highest in the first ~6 hours after encoding.

Q: What is "reconsolidation"?
A: When a recalled memory briefly becomes labile again before being re-stored. Reconsolidation windows (a few hours after recall) are the best time to update or strengthen a memory.

Q: What is a "distributed lag" study schedule?
A: Multiple study sessions spread across days, each separated by increasing gaps. Strongest form of distributed practice; outperforms cramming by wide margins.

Q: What is the study session length sweet spot for new material?
A: About 25–50 minutes of focused work followed by 5–10 minutes of rest (matches Pomodoro). Beyond ~90 minutes without a break, encoding quality drops sharply.

Q: What is the "Yerkes-Dodson law" as it applies to learning?
A: Performance rises with arousal up to an optimum, then falls. For learning, mild challenge is helpful; severe stress or exhaustion blocks encoding almost completely.

Q: What is "cognitive load theory" and who proposed it?
A: John Sweller's framework explaining how working memory limits constrain learning. Effective instruction manages intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load.

Q: What are the three types of cognitive load?
A: Intrinsic: inherent task complexity. Extraneous: wasted by poor design. Germane: effort invested in building schemas. Goal: minimise extraneous, manage intrinsic, maximise germane.

Q: What is the "worked example effect"?
A: Novices learn more from studying worked-out solutions than from solving equivalent problems unaided. Effect diminishes as expertise grows.

Q: What is a "completion problem" in worked-example design?
A: A problem where most steps are shown but one is blanked out for the learner to complete. Bridges full worked examples and full problem solving — a key step in fading.

Q: What is "fading" of worked examples?
A: Gradually removing steps from worked examples so the learner must supply more and more on their own. The most efficient path from novice to independent problem-solver.

Q: What is "self-explanation" as a learning strategy?
A: Verbally explaining (or writing out) why each step in a worked solution is needed and how it follows from the prior step. Consistently outperforms passive study of the same examples.

Q: What is the difference between "rote practice" and "variable practice"?
A: Rote: repeating the same problem with identical numbers/conditions. Variable: practising the same underlying skill with varying surface features. Variable practice produces much better transfer.

Q: What is "parameter variation" in variable practice?
A: Changing non-essential features of a problem (numbers, names, contexts) while holding the underlying structure constant — trains flexible application of the principle.

Q: What is the difference between "deep" and "surface" approaches to learning?
A: Surface: memorise for the test, focus on facts, no integration. Deep: seek meaning, integrate with prior knowledge, look for principles. Deep approaches predict far better long-term outcomes.

Q: What is the "approaches to learning" inventory (ASSIST)?
A: A validated questionnaire (Entwistle, Tait) measuring students' predominant learning approaches — surface, deep, strategic — used to diagnose study habits.

Q: What is "strategic learning"?
A: Organising study around assessment demands — practising past papers, learning marking schemes. Effective for exams but less so for transferable understanding.

Q: What is the difference between "learning" and "performance"?
A: Learning: durable change in knowledge/skill. Performance: temporary demonstration during practice. A learner can show high performance yet low learning.

Q: What is the "fluency trap" in self-assessment?
A: Confusing the ease of recognising correct answers with effort-free recall. Fluency is a poor proxy for learning — only delayed, unprompted retrieval tells the truth.

Q: What is "calibration" in metacognition?
A: The accuracy of your confidence in your own knowledge. Well-calibrated learners know what they know and don't know — and study accordingly.

Q: What is the "Dunning-Kruger effect" in learning?
A: Beginners often rate their knowledge far higher than it deserves because they lack the expertise to recognise gaps. The effect fades with deliberate, feedback-rich practice.

Q: What is "overconfidence bias" in study?
A: Overestimating how well you know material — typically because you confuse familiarity with mastery. Calibration improves with frequent self-testing.

Q: What is "minimum information principle" in card design?
A: Each card should test exactly one fact or idea. Avoid stacking multiple facts on one card — partial knowledge then masquerades as full recall.

Front: What is a "cloze deletion" card?
Q: A fill-in-the-blank card where one or more words are masked (e.g., "Ebbinghaus discovered the [...]."). Efficient and well-aligned to context.
A: forgetting curve

Q: What is "image occlusion" in Anki?
A: Hiding parts of an image (e.g., a diagram) and revealing them on click. Excellent for visual subjects like anatomy, geography, or UI screenshots.

Q: What is the recommended maximum length for a single Anki card?
A: About 20–30 words on the front and a short, unambiguous back. Longer cards punish skim-reading and reduce the depth of retrieval.

Q: What is the "20-card rule" for starting a new deck?
A: Test the first 20 cards on a new topic before generating more. If you can't phrase them as clean questions, you don't yet understand the material well enough to encode it.

Q: What is a "reverse card" and when is it appropriate?
A: A second card with the answer on the front and the original question on the back, allowing bidirectional recall (e.g., country ↔ capital). Useful for paired facts; doubles deck size.

Q: What is the difference between "passive recognition" and "active recall" in flashcards?
A: Passively flipping the card over and reading the answer is recognition. Force yourself to say or write the answer before flipping — that's active recall and the whole point of the card.

Q: What is the "minimum interval" in Anki and why set one?
A: The smallest gap Anki schedules between two reviews of the same card (typically 1 day). Without it, the algorithm may re-show a card many times in one session.

Q: What is "maximum interval" in Anki's deck options?
A: A cap on how far out the algorithm can schedule a card (e.g., 365 days). Prevents a single card from disappearing for years and being forgotten entirely.

Q: What is the "starting ease" in Anki's deck options?
A: The initial ease factor (default 2.5) given to new cards. Decreasing it makes new cards harder at first; increasing makes them easier but may produce later overdues.

Q: What is "fuzz factor" in Anki's scheduling?
A: A small random jitter (typically ±5%) added to intervals so multiple cards reviewed on the same day don't all come due at once — spreads review load.

Q: What is the difference between "learning steps" and "graduating interval" in Anki?
A: Learning steps: short review intervals during the initial learning phase (e.g., 1 min, 10 min). Graduating interval: the longer interval used once the card passes into the review queue.

Q: What is "intrinsic motivation" vs "extrinsic motivation" in self-directed learning?
A: Intrinsic: curiosity, interest, mastery. Extrinsic: rewards, deadlines, social pressure. Intrinsic generally produces deeper engagement and persistence — extrinsic is useful but fragile.

Q: What is "contextual interference" in motor skill learning?
A: Forgetting between attempts caused by switching between different skills. High contextual interference hurts performance during practice but improves long-term retention.

Q: What is the "specificity of practice" principle?
A: The closer practice conditions match test/performance conditions, the better the transfer. Studying in the same modality, posture, and pace as the real task improves results.

Q: What is the difference between "effortful" and "automatic" processing in learning?
A: Effortful: requires attention and working memory (early in learning). Automatic: runs with little conscious control (after extensive practice). Strong learning begins effortful and ends automatic.

Q: What is a "knowledge gap" and how do you find it?
A: A specific thing you don't yet know. Most efficiently identified by self-testing on the topic — not by re-reading, which hides gaps behind familiarity.

Q: What is "errorful learning" vs "errorless learning"?
A: Errorful: try to produce the answer before being shown it (some errors expected). Errorless: study pre-corrected material only. Errorful often wins once initial encoding is secure.

Q: What is the "hypercorrection effect"?
A: Mistakes a learner is highly confident about are corrected more durably than low-confidence mistakes. Implication: surface and test confidence levels, not just answers.

Q: What is "test-enhanced learning"?
A: Taking a test on material improves later retention of that material beyond any equivalent time spent studying. The test itself is the learning event.

Q: What is the difference between "closed-book" and "open-book" self-testing?
A: Closed-book: maximum retrieval effort. Open-book: lower effort, weaker learning. Closed-book self-tests dominate for retention; open-book tests help only when they still require synthesis.

Q: What is a "concept map" and how does it help?
A: A diagram showing nodes (concepts) and labelled links (relationships). Constructing one forces you to organise knowledge and reveals gaps and misconceptions.

Q: What is the difference between "rote", "meaningful", and "elaborative" rehearsal?
A: Rote: silent repetition. Meaningful: linking to existing knowledge. Elaborative: generating associations, images, or explanations. Elaborative rehearsal produces the strongest long-term memory.

Q: What is a "study schedule" vs a "study plan"?
A: Schedule: specific calendar of what/when to study. Plan: longer-horizon set of goals, priorities, and methods. A study plan produces a study schedule.

Q: What is "spaced practice" of motor skills?
A: Distributed practice of physical skills (typing, instruments, sport). Same spacing principles as declarative learning — short daily sessions beat occasional marathon practice.

Q: What is the "85% rule" for optimal learning difficulty?
A: Material should be at ~85% accuracy — challenging enough to feel difficult but not so hard that errors dominate. Maps to the desirable-difficulty sweet spot.

Q: What is "motivation depletion" and how do you avoid it?
A: Willpower and focus drain over a study session. Avoid by scheduling hardest material early, taking real breaks, and capping session length at 60–90 minutes.

Q: What is a "study environment cue"?
A: A consistent physical context (desk, playlist, lighting) that becomes associated with study. Over time the cue itself helps focus and signals "study mode" to your brain.

Q: What is the "testing effect" magnitude for lecture material?
A: Studies (Roediger & Karpicke) show a single short quiz after a lecture roughly doubles retention after one week vs re-reading the same material.

Q: What is "encoding specificity" in retrieval?
A: Retrieval cues work best when they match the encoding context. Studying the same material in different ways builds more retrieval routes.

Q: What is "deep encoding" via multisensory input?
A: Engaging multiple senses during encoding (reading + speaking + writing) builds overlapping retrieval cues and improves both speed and reliability of recall.

Q: What is "interference theory" of forgetting?
A: Forgetting caused by competing memories — proactive (old learning interferes with new) or retroactive (new learning interferes with old). Spacing and interleaving minimise interference.

Q: What is "retroactive interference" and how to minimise it?
A: Newer learning overwriting older memory. Minimise by leaving a gap before studying similar material and interleaving dissimilar topics in between.

Q: What is "proactive interference" and how to minimise it?
A: Older learning interfering with new learning. Minimise by fully retrieving old material before starting new, and by varying contexts between study sessions.

Q: What is the "overlearning" cost-benefit tradeoff?
A: Extra practice beyond mastery improves short-term reliability (e.g., for tomorrow's test) but yields diminishing long-term returns compared to additional spaced review of weaker material.

Q: What is "learning by teaching" and why does it work?
A: Preparing to teach material forces deeper organisation, identifies gaps, and triggers retrieval during rehearsal. Often called the "protégé effect".

Q: What is the "protégé effect"?
A: Tendency to learn material more deeply when expecting to teach it — even if no teaching ever occurs. A reliable free boost from reframing study intent.

Q: What is the recommended "spacing curve" for newly learned facts?
A: First review after ~1 day; next after 2–3 days; then ~7, ~21, ~60 days — roughly matching SM-2's default scaling for an average card.

Q: What is "state of mind" matching for exam prep?
A: Studying under conditions similar to the exam (time of day, caffeine intake, posture) tends to improve in-exam retrieval — though robust retrieval still needs varied contexts.

Q: What is "blended learning" in self-study?
A: Combining multiple complementary techniques in one session (read, summarise, test, explain). Synergistic because each step triggers different cognitive processes.

Q: What is the "one-thing-at-a-time" rule for flashcards?
A: Each card asks exactly one question. Bundling two facts lets "I knew one of them" feel like success and lets gaps persist.

Q: What is "card review queue" prioritisation in Anki?
A: Anki orders due cards by interval (shortest first) so urgent reviews come first. A small "learning queue" of new and lapsed cards runs alongside the main review queue.