Progress
Track which notes you have studied and how confident you are, and see your progress across each course.
Progress shows where you are in each course: which notes you have studied, how confident you feel about each one, and how your study adds up over time. Everything it shows comes from what you do in Margin: the notes you open, mark and rate, and the flashcards you review. Nothing is estimated.
Statuses#
Every note has one of four confidence levels:
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| New | Not studied yet |
| Learning | Still working through it |
| Confident | Can do most questions on it |
| Mastered | Exam-ready, nothing left to learn |
Separately, a note is either studied or not. Rating a note marks it studied. You can also mark a note studied without rating it; it then counts as Learning in the charts and in the Planner.
Setting progress on a note#
Below the title of every note is a progress bar with three controls:
- Mark as studied marks the note studied. It changes to Studied; press it again to unmark the note, which returns it to New and removes the activity you logged for it today, so a mis-click leaves no trace.
- Learning, Confident and Mastered set your confidence. Hover a level to see what it means. Picking a level also marks the note studied.
- Last studied shows when you last marked or rated the note, such as "yesterday" or "3 days ago".
Opening a note is also recorded, once per note per day. It counts towards your activity and streak but does not change the note's status.
You can rate notes from two other places:
- the Topics list in the Planner, which shows every note in a course with the same three levels
- the Planner's week view, where ticking off a planned session for a note marks that note studied
The home dashboard#
The home page shows a strip of four tiles. Each one opens the tool behind it:
| Tile | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Streak | Your current run of active days, with your best run |
| This week | How many notes you have studied since Monday |
| Flashcards due | Cards due for review now |
| Next exam | A countdown to your nearest exam date |
The Progress tab#
Open Progress from the sidebar, the home dashboard or the command palette. The tabs along the top filter the whole page: All subjects, or one subject at a time. With a subject selected, flashcard numbers only count cards made from that subject's notes.
At the top are four numbers:
| Number | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Current streak | Consecutive days with any activity, and your best streak |
| Notes studied | Notes you have studied, out of every note available |
| Cards reviewed | Flashcard reviews in the last 30 days |
| Recall | The share of reviews in the last 30 days that you did not answer Again |
A streak survives until you miss a whole day. If you have not studied yet today, yesterday's streak still counts and the home dashboard reminds you to study today to keep it.
Study activity#
A calendar of the last 16 weeks, one column per week starting on Monday. Each square is a day, shaded from light to dark by how much you did, relative to your busiest day in the period. A day's activity is the number of notes you opened, plus the number of notes you studied or re-rated, plus the number of flashcards you reviewed.
Hover a square, or focus the calendar and use the arrow keys, to see what you did that day. Beside the calendar is a summary of the period: active days, how many of the last seven days were active, notes studied, notes opened, cards reviewed and your busiest day.
Completion#
Every course with its share of notes at each level, as a single bar: Mastered, Confident, Learning and not started, darkest to lightest. The count on the right is notes studied out of the total. Click a course to expand it into its units, each with its own bar.
Weakest topics#
Up to six notes worth revisiting. A note appears here if you have studied it but rated it only Learning or Confident, or if its flashcards keep lapsing in review. Lower confidence, a longer time since you last studied it and more forgotten cards all push a note up the list. Notes you have not started are not listed: they are not weak, just not begun.
Each row says why it was picked, for example "Learning · 2 weeks ago · forgotten 3× in review". Choose the arrow to open it.
Upcoming exams#
Your exam dates from the Planner, nearest first, each with a countdown and a readiness bar. Readiness is the share of the course's notes you have rated Confident or Mastered. Exams whose date has passed are left out. Planner opens the planner to add or change dates.
Flashcards#
A chart of reviews per day over the last 30 days, split by the rating you gave. Beside it, your cards by stage:
| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| New | Not reviewed yet |
| Learning | In the short learning or relearning steps |
| Young | Learned, with a memory stability under three weeks |
| Mature | Learned, with a memory stability of three weeks or more |
Due now and Next 7 days count cards waiting for review. When cards are due, a Review button opens Flashcards. See Flashcards for what stability means.
How the Planner uses progress#
Confidence levels are the Planner's main input. When you choose Generate plan, it schedules Learning notes first (including notes marked studied but not rated), then notes you have not started, then a single pass over Confident notes. Notes still at Learning or New come round a second time later in the plan, and Mastered notes are left out. See Generating a plan.
Rate notes honestly as you go. A course where everything is Confident gives the Planner nothing to prioritise, and gives you nothing to look at under Weakest topics.
Where it is saved#
Progress is saved with the rest of your study data: your confidence levels, studied dates and the activity log behind the charts. As a guest it is kept in your browser; when you sign in it is stored in your account and syncs across your devices, and anything you recorded as a guest moves into your account. See Accounts and sync.