Card mastery levels in Keeplet
In Keeplet, a card's mastery tells you how well you know it. In the statistics of the website and of the Android and iPhone app, cards are split into three groups: new (never reviewed), learning (you are still fixing them) and learned (they only come back now and then). A card becomes "learned" when you have remembered it more than 10 times in a row and its ease factor is at least 2.5.
The three groups in the statistics
On the Statistics tab of the app and on the Statistics page of the website, under "Where you stand with your N cards", you will find:
| Group | Label | Description in the interface | When a card falls into it |
|---|---|---|---|
| New | "N new" | never reviewed | The successful-reviews counter is at zero: a card never reviewed, or one whose last rating was Not at all |
| Learning | "N learning" | you are still fixing them | At least one successful review in a row, but not yet learned |
| Learned | "N learned" | they only come back now and then | More than 10 successful reviews in a row and an ease factor of at least 2.5 |
Below that you will also find the "By notebook" list, showing how many cards in each notebook are learned and how many are due today.
When a card becomes "learned"
Two conditions are needed together:
- More than 10 successful reviews in a row, that is, from the eleventh on. The counter counts the ratings other than Not at all since the last time you got it wrong.
- An ease factor of at least 2.5, the starting value of every card.
The second condition matters more than it seems. With Great (website) or Perfectly (app) the factor rises by 0.10 at every review; with Somewhat (website) or Fairly well (app) it drops by 0.14, with A little by 0.32. A card you always rate Somewhat / Fairly well never reaches the learned group, because its factor falls below 2.5 at the very first rating. To get there you mostly need Great / Perfectly. The calculations are in The SM-2 algorithm in Keeplet.
If a learned card receives Not at all, the counter goes back to zero and in the app the card returns to "new", because the group looks at the successful-reviews counter. Then it climbs again: "learning" from the first successful review, "learned" again after more than 10.
What the interface says
The note under the website chart says: "Learned: more than 10 successful reviews in a row and ease of at least 2.5." This is the same rule described above, applied by the server. The statistics screen of the app shows the same sentence.
Differences between the website and the app
- Thresholds. The thresholds for the "learned" group are the same in the app and on the website: in the app the phone calculates them, on the website the server does.
- New and learning. The app counts a card as "learning" right after the first review. On the website a card's status updates one review late, because the server calculates it on the number of reviews before the one just done: a card reviewed only once may still show among the new ones until the second review.
- Numbers. For these two reasons, website and app counts can differ slightly when cards have been reviewed only recently.
The five levels described on the website
The public "Spaced repetition" page of the Keeplet website and the Info panel describe a five-level scale, based on the accuracy of your answers (the share of successful reviews out of the total):
| Level | Condition described |
|---|---|
| New | Not yet reviewed |
| Learning | You have started reviewing it but accuracy is still low |
| Intermediate | Accuracy between 70% and 90% with at least 3 reviews |
| Advanced | Accuracy of at least 90% with at least 5 reviews |
| Mastered | "Mastered" status assigned by the calculation (the same conditions as learned cards) |
These five labels do not appear on individual cards or in the website or app statistics: there you only see the three groups from the previous section. The app does not use the five levels.
How to use these numbers
There is no target to hit: the "learned" group tells you which cards you have consolidated, the "learning" group which ones still need close-together reviews. If many cards stay in "learning" or fall back to "new", try writing shorter cards and rating more honestly, as explained in How to rate a card.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't my card become "learned" even though I always remember it?
Almost always because of the ease factor: if you rate it Somewhat / Fairly well, the factor drops and stays below 2.5. With Great / Perfectly it rises. You also need more than 10 successful reviews in a row.
What happens to a learned card if I get it wrong?
With Not at all the successful-reviews counter goes back to zero and the ease factor drops by 0.80. In the app the card returns to "new" and rebuilds its path from the start.
Are learned cards no longer reviewed?
They keep coming back, but at very long intervals. The "learned" group carries the hint "they only come back now and then".
Where do I see mastery in the app?
On the Statistics tab, in the "Where you stand with your N cards" section, and in the "By notebook" list. It also works without an account.