A flashcard interval is not mastery of an objective

The interval belongs to one card

A spaced-repetition app stores how many days until it shows a card again. That number is about the card: the front and back you wrote. A long interval means the app is waiting longer. It does not mean an objective id was finished.

A card that says “443” can support a port fact. It does not list every objective that mentions ports.

The objective lives in the tracker

Coverage of an objective is a line in the objectives tracker: the id, what you did, and whether you marked it. A card can be linked there if you write the id on the card or in the tracker. If you did not, write “objective not on this card.”

Do not mark a whole domain done because several cards in that topic have long intervals.

What to write down

File the card’s front, the interval, and any objective id that is actually written on it. File practice scores from the practice product, not from the interval.

Lab: twenty-one days read as a finished objective

A card whose front is “TCP 443” shows an interval of 21 days. The tracker’s objective about secure protocols is still unchecked. A draft marks that objective complete because the card will not appear for three weeks.

The note says 21 days is the scheduler’s wait for that card. The objective id was not on the card and stays unchecked. The interval is not a score.

card front: TCP 443
interval: 21 days
objective id on the card: none
tracker line: still unchecked
write: scheduler wait for this card
not: the objective is complete