About Study Guild
The Leitner system
Sebastian Leitner, a German science journalist, described the box system in So lernt man lernen (1972). Each card lives in a compartment. Get it right and it moves to one you review less often; miss it and it goes back to the first.
It is a practical form of two of the best-replicated findings in learning research:
- Spacing. Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted & Rohrer (2006), a meta-analysis of 317 experiments in Psychological Bulletin, found that spaced study beats massed study, and that the best gap grows as the test moves further away. Kornell (2009, Applied Cognitive Psychology) showed it with flashcards: one large, spaced stack beat several small stacks studied separately, and beat cramming the day before.
- Retrieval practice. Karpicke & Roediger (2008, Science): once words were learned, testing them again produced large gains on a test a week later, while studying them again produced none.
- In the classroom. Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan & Willingham (2013, Psychological Science in the Public Interest) rated ten study techniques. Only two earned “high utility”: practice testing and distributed practice. A Leitner box is both.
In Study Guild the ranks are the compartments, and every card is a test. A card starts at F-Rank and climbs one rank for each right answer on the day it comes back; a miss sends it back to F-Rank.
| Rank | Comes back after |
|---|---|
| F-Rank Recruit | 1 day |
| D-Rank Apprentice | 2 days |
| C-Rank Adept | 4 days |
| B-Rank Vanguard | 8 days |
| A-Rank Elite | 16 days |
| S-Rank Legend | Checked at 30, 60, 120 and 240 days, then mastered for good |
Sources
- Leitner, S. (1972). So lernt man lernen. Freiburg: Herder. The Leitner system
- Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354
- Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317. doi:10.1002/acp.1537
- Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968. doi:10.1126/science.1152408
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266
Why Study Guild exists
I used a Leitner box to prepare for the US Navy's Air Warfare qualification exam. According to my board, I was the first to ace it.
Memorising isn't always the right way to learn something. But a lot of growth rests on having the facts ready: you can't reason with what you have to look up.
When I moved to the Netherlands and had to learn Dutch, I was disappointed by what was available. So I built the tool I wanted, and made it something people build together: a guild.
Kevin
How Study Guild works
Ranks
Every card in your stack sits on one rank, and each rank comes back less often than the one below: after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 days, from F-Rank Recruit to A-Rank Elite.
F-Rank cards can be trained any time and climb to D-Rank on a right answer. From D-Rank up, a card can only be answered once it is due: a right answer climbs one rank and the card waits longer. A miss drops a card to F-Rank, due tomorrow, from any rank.
A card that clears A-Rank becomes a Legend at S-Rank, checked at 30, 60, 120 and 240 days. Pass the last check and the card is mastered for good: it leaves your reviews and stays at S-Rank on your ladder. Miss a check and it drops to F-Rank like any other card.
The daily goal
A card is ready when its day has come. Today's due set is your ready cards up to your daily goal (30 unless you change it in settings). When more are ready than that, your own cards come first, then the highest rank, then recent misses, then the cards that have waited longest.
“Add 10” adds 10 more for today only: ready cards past the goal first, then new cards from your guilds. Reaching the goal pays 20 XP, once a day.
On days you have cards due and haven't reached your goal, we send a short reminder email at the time you choose. You can change the time or turn reminders off in your settings.
Streaks and freezes
Your streak counts the days in a row with at least one graded answer.
Every 7 days in a row earns a streak freeze, and you can hold up to 2. A missed day spends a freeze instead of ending the streak.
Your day follows your time zone, which Study Guild takes from your browser. You can change it in settings once a day.
XP
XP is for learning: it comes from cards climbing ranks and Legends holding theirs, never from answering alone. Your own cards pay like any other. XP is earned in a guild and adds to that guild's XP and to your total.
| Answer | XP |
|---|---|
| F-Rank → D-Rank | 10 |
| D-Rank → C-Rank | 12 |
| C-Rank → B-Rank | 14 |
| B-Rank → A-Rank | 16 |
| A-Rank → S-Rank | 18, +25 on reaching S-Rank |
| A Legend holds its check | 20 |
| A miss | 0 |
Combos: every 5 right answers in a row in a session add +5 to each climb or check, up to +20.
Daily goal: +20 XP the day you reach it.
Invites: +50 XP for a friend who joins through your link and trains (see Invites).
Training XP stops for the day at 30 × your day's target: with a goal of 30, that is 900 XP. The goal bonus comes on top.
Levels
Level n needs 20 × (n − 1)2.5 XP, so every level takes longer than the one before.
| Level | XP |
|---|---|
| Lv. 2 | 20 |
| Lv. 5 | 640 |
| Lv. 10 | 4,860 |
| Lv. 25 | 56,436 |
| Lv. 50 | 336,140 |
| Lv. 100 | 1,950,374 |
The same curve runs for each guild (“Guild Lv.”) and for all your guilds together (“Lv.”), so being level 5 in two guilds makes you level 6 or 7 overall. The first levels come in the first sessions; level 100 is about five years of dedicated training across several guilds.
Contribution Points
Contribution Points (CP) measure what the guild made of your cards: a point for every card you wrote that another member studies, plus every vote on your cards. A card nobody else has in their stack earns nothing yet; its point comes when someone takes it up.
Every card another member learns (answers right) is an upvote for its author. Votes, and learning, count once the voter has trained on 7 days. You can vote only in guilds you've joined.
The Guild Leaderboard counts CP in one guild; the site leaderboard adds up all your guilds.
Leaderboards
The site leaderboard has two boards: Learners, by XP, and Contributors, by CP across all guilds. Each guild page has its own Guild Leaderboard: the CP its members earned there.
Every name on a board links to that member's page.
Feats
Feats are milestones you earn once and keep, shown in your trophy case.
Learning
- First Climb: Climb a card out of F-Rank.
- First Legend: Bring a card to S-Rank.
- Ten Legends: Hold 10 cards at S-Rank.
- Fifty Legends: Hold 50 cards at S-Rank.
- Hall of Legends: Master 10 cards for good: every S-Rank check passed.
Levels
- Guild Lv. 5: Reach level 5 in one guild.
- Guild Lv. 10: Reach level 10 in one guild.
- Guild Lv. 25: Reach level 25 in one guild.
- Guild Lv. 50: Reach level 50 in one guild.
- Guild Lv. 100: Reach level 100 in one guild.
- Lv. 5: Reach level 5 overall, across all your guilds.
- Lv. 10: Reach level 10 overall, across all your guilds.
- Lv. 25: Reach level 25 overall, across all your guilds.
- Lv. 50: Reach level 50 overall, across all your guilds.
- Lv. 100: Reach level 100 overall, across all your guilds.
Streaks
- A Week Strong: Train 7 days in a row.
- A Month Strong: Train 30 days in a row.
- Centurion: Train 100 days in a row.
- Goal Getter: Reach your daily goal on 7 days.
Contribution
- Author: Write 10 cards other members study.
- Prolific: Write 100 cards other members study.
- Well Taught: Write a card with 25 upvotes.
- Editor: Improve 5 of other members' cards.
Community
- Founder: Found a guild that reaches 5 members and 20 cards.
- Guildmate: Invite a friend who trains for a week.
- Herald: Invite 5 friends who train for a week.
- Envoy: Invite 25 friends who train for a week.
Invites
Every guild you've joined gives you an invite link on its page. When a friend joins through it and trains on 7 days, you get 50 XP in that guild, and your friend gets a streak freeze.
Not for me and Bad card
Not for me hides a card from your stack only: no vote, nothing public, and the daily flow won't bring it back unless you unhide it.
Bad card asks why:
- Not appropriate for this guild
- Abuse or inappropriate for this site
- Factually incorrect
It counts as a downvote, takes the card out of your stack, and the report is kept for moderation.
Limits
You can add up to 100 new cards per guild and found 2 new guilds in any 24 hours.
Leaving a guild keeps your stack for 30 days: rejoin within that time and your cards, ranks and level are where you left them. XP you earned stays yours.