Welcome to PRCM | ASRL

PRCM | ASRL is an adaptive learning platform powered by three scheduling algorithms — SM-2, FSRS, and IRT — working together to surface cards at the optimal moment for long-term retention. This guide covers everything from getting started to fine-tuning the platform to your study style.

🧠
Tri-Algorithm Scheduling
SM-2, FSRS, and IRT work in concert — SM-2 sets intervals, FSRS models memory stability, and IRT estimates item difficulty for adaptive card selection.
🎨
Dark-First Design
Built dark by default. Choose from 12 accent colors, three font sizes, and full accessibility controls including reduce-motion and high-contrast.
📊
Live Analytics Dashboard
Forgetting-curve SVG charts, stability histograms, 365-day heatmap, KPI gate indicators, and AI insights powered by Groq · LLAMA-3.
KPI-Gated Sessions
Every session is measured against four gates: Accuracy ≥ 75%, Retention ≥ 70%, Avg Response ≤ 6 s, and Fatigue Drop ≤ 15%. Real-time feedback keeps you on track.

What's New

🌙 Dark-First Interface

The entire platform defaults to a deep-navy dark theme (#0b1120 base, #6366f1 accent). Light mode is available but dark is the primary design target.

🔬 FSRS + IRT Scheduling

Beyond classic SM-2, FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) models memory stability decay using R(t) = e^(-t/S). IRT (Item Response Theory) scores question difficulty and learner ability on the same logistic scale, enabling truly adaptive card selection.

📈 Advanced Analytics

GitHub-style activity heatmap, per-session performance trend, SM-2/FSRS ease histograms, forgetting curves at four stability levels, and AI-generated insights from Groq · LLAMA-3.

Getting Started

Get up and running with PRCM | ASRL in minutes. The platform runs fully in-browser — no install required for the demo.

System Requirements

  • Any modern browser — Chrome 100+, Firefox 100+, Safari 15+, Edge 100+
  • JavaScript enabled (required for algorithm calculations)
  • Internet connection for AI Insights (Groq · LLAMA-3); all other features work offline

Platform Options

🌐 Web App (Demo)

Access the full interactive demo at prcm-asrl.netlify.app. Try all three algorithms, analytics dashboard, and AI insights without creating an account.

💻 Self-Hosted

Clone the repository and serve locally. Pure static HTML/CSS/JS — no build step, no server required. python -m http.server 8080 is all you need.

📱 PWA (Coming Soon)

Progressive Web App support will enable offline-first study sessions on mobile with background sync when connectivity returns.

First-Time Setup

  1. Open the demo and press ▶ Start Session
  2. Choose your preferred algorithm (SM-2, FSRS, or IRT) in Settings
  3. Set your daily review goal and retention target
  4. Import a deck or use the built-in sample cards
  5. Complete your first session — the KPI gates will calibrate to your baseline

Creating Your First Deck

A deck is a collection of flashcards on a related topic. PRCM | ASRL organises your learning into decks so each subject has its own review schedule and analytics.

📂 What Is a Deck?

Think of a deck like a subject folder. Each deck tracks its own:

  • Card due dates (scheduled by SM-2, FSRS, or IRT)
  • Per-card stability and ease values
  • Session history and accuracy trends
  • KPI gate performance (accuracy, retention, response time, fatigue)

➕ How to Create a Deck

  1. Open the Decks tab from the top navigation or sidebar
  2. Click + New Deck in the top-right corner
  3. Enter a name (e.g. "Japanese Vocabulary", "Organic Chemistry")
  4. Set a daily new-card limit (default: 10) and review cap (default: 100)
  5. Choose the scheduling algorithm: SM-2, FSRS, or IRT
  6. Click Create Deck — your deck appears in the list immediately

✏️ Adding Cards

Manual Entry

Click Add Card inside a deck. Type the front (question) and back (answer). Supports plain text, code blocks, and LaTeX math notation.

Bulk Import

Import from a CSV file (columns: front, back, tags) or an Anki-format .apkg export. The importer detects duplicates automatically.

🏷️ Tags & Organisation

Tags let you cross-reference cards across decks. Use tags like chapter-3, difficult, or exam-ready to filter your review queue. Tagged searches work in the Statistics and Decks views.

Example CSV format for bulk import:
front,back,tags
"What is photosynthesis?","Conversion of light → glucose","biology,chapter-2"
"Mitochondria function?","ATP production via cellular respiration","biology,chapter-3"
"DNA replication enzyme?","DNA polymerase","biology,chapter-4"

Basic Study Session

A study session in PRCM | ASRL presents due cards one at a time, measures your response, and feeds the result into the scheduling algorithm. Here's exactly what happens at each step.

▶ Starting a Session

Click ▶ Start Session in the top bar or open a specific deck and press Study Now. The session header shows:

  • Deck name and algorithm badge (SM-2 · Ease 2.4 / FSRS · S=7d / IRT · θ=1.2)
  • Cards remaining and a thin progress bar
  • Session KPI gauges (accuracy, retention, response time, fatigue)

🎴 The Card Lifecycle

1. Front (Question)

Read the prompt. Press Space or tap the card to reveal the answer. Your think-time is measured from card display to flip.

2. Back (Answer)

Compare your mental answer to the revealed answer. Rate honestly — the algorithm only improves when ratings are accurate.

3. Rate Your Response

Four buttons appear with the next-review interval displayed under each:

  • Again (1) — wrong or blank · resets card · shown in ~10 min
  • Hard (2) — struggled · interval × 1.2
  • Good (3) — correct with effort · standard interval growth
  • Easy (4) — instant recall · fast-track interval × 1.3

4. Next Card

The scheduler queues the next card. Cards rated "Again" re-enter the queue within the same session. When the queue is empty, the session summary appears.

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Space — flip card (front → back)
  • 1 — Again    2 — Hard    3 — Good    4 — Easy
  • Ctrl+D — toggle dark/light theme
  • Esc — close settings or dialogs

📊 Session Summary

After the last card, a summary panel shows four KPI gates. Green = gate passed, amber = borderline, red = gate failed:

  • Accuracy ≥ 75% (Good + Easy) / total responses
  • Retention ≥ 70% reviews where recall was maintained
  • Avg Response ≤ 6 000 ms mean think-time per card
  • Fatigue Drop ≤ 15% accuracy decline from first-half to second-half

Failing a gate adapts the next session's card count or difficulty distribution automatically.

Appearance & Accessibility

Customize Anki's appearance to match your preferences and accessibility needs. Our comprehensive settings ensure a comfortable learning experience for everyone.

🌙 Theme Options

Light Mode

Clean, bright interface with colorful backgrounds perfect for daytime study sessions.

Dark Mode

Easy on the eyes with proper contrast ratios, ideal for evening study or low-light environments.

High Contrast Mode

WCAG AAA compliant design with maximum contrast for users with visual impairments.

Auto Theme

Automatically switch between light and dark modes based on your system settings or time of day.

🎨 Accent Colors

Choose from 12 beautiful accent colors to personalize your experience:

📝 Typography Settings

Text Size

  • Small: Compact view for more content on screen
  • Medium: Standard size for optimal readability
  • Large: Enhanced readability for comfortable viewing
  • Extra Large: Maximum readability for accessibility

Font Families

  • System: Your device's default font for familiarity
  • Inter: Modern, highly legible typeface
  • Roboto: Google's clean, friendly design

♿ Accessibility Features

Reduce Motion

Disable animations and transitions for users sensitive to motion or to improve performance.

Focus Mode

Minimize distractions by dimming non-essential UI elements during study sessions.

Keyboard Navigation

Full keyboard support for navigation and card interactions without requiring a mouse.

Animation Controls

Fine-tune your visual experience with comprehensive animation settings. Control everything from subtle shimmer effects to card transition speeds.

✨ Shimmer Effects

Intensity Control

Adjust the intensity of shimmer animations on cards and UI elements. Set to low for subtle effects, or high for more pronounced visual feedback.

Toggle On/Off

Completely disable shimmer effects to reduce visual distraction or improve performance on older devices.

🔄 Card Transitions

Flip Effects

Choose between different card flip animations when revealing answers:

  • Classic Flip: Traditional card flip animation
  • Fade Transition: Smooth crossfade between question and answer
  • Slide Reveal: Answer slides in from the bottom
  • Instant: No animation for fastest response

Speed Settings

  • Slow: 0.5s transitions for relaxed study pace
  • Normal: 0.3s balanced speed for most users
  • Fast: 0.1s quick transitions for rapid reviews

⏳ Loading Animations

Deck Loading

Customize loading indicators when opening decks or syncing data. Choose from spinner, progress bar, or skeleton loading styles.

Card Loading

Control how new cards appear during study sessions with smooth entrance animations.

Animation Performance Tips:
• Disable animations on older devices for better performance
• Use "Fast" transitions for speed reviews
• Enable "Reduce Motion" if you're sensitive to movement
• Customize intensity based on your display brightness

Statistics & Analytics

Track your learning progress with comprehensive analytics and interactive charts. Understand your study patterns and optimize your learning strategy.

📊 Activity Heat Map

365-Day Learning Calendar

Visualize your study consistency with a GitHub-style activity heat map showing your daily review counts over the past year. Darker colors indicate more intensive study days.

Study Streaks

Track your current streak and longest streak of consecutive study days. Maintain momentum and build lasting study habits.

📈 Performance Charts

Accuracy Trends

Monitor your accuracy percentage over time across different decks and subjects. Identify areas for improvement.

Difficulty Distribution

See how your cards are distributed across difficulty levels and track your progress from "Again" to "Easy".

Time Analysis

Understand your study patterns with time-of-day performance data and session duration trends.

🧠 Algorithm Analysis

Ease Factor & Stability Histograms

Visualize the distribution of SM-2 ease factors and FSRS stability values across your deck. Cards bunched at low stability indicate overdue reviews.

Forgetting Curves

Live SVG chart showing R(t) = e^(-t/S) at four stability levels (3 d, 7 d, 15 d, 30 d). See exactly when each cohort of cards crosses the 90% retention threshold.

IRT Ability Estimate

Track your θ (theta) ability score over time. A rising θ means cards are getting easier relative to your skill — the platform will introduce harder material automatically.

Sample User Stats (Alex Chen):
Total Reviews: 8,932
Overall Accuracy: 87%
Current Streak: 23 days
Longest Streak: 45 days
Average Session: 15 minutes
Favorite Study Time: 7-9 PM

User Profile

Manage your account, track achievements, and customize your learning experience with comprehensive profile settings.

👤 Profile Overview

Alex Chen

Member since: January 2023

Total Reviews: 8,932

Overall Accuracy: 87%

Current Streak: 23 days

Study Goal: 50 cards per day

Preferred Study Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

🏆 Achievement System

🔥 Streak Master

Maintain a 30-day study streak

Progress: 23/30 days

📚 Knowledge Seeker

Review 10,000 cards

Progress: 8,932/10,000

🎯 Accuracy Expert

Achieve 90% accuracy rate

Progress: 87/90%

⏰ Early Bird

Complete 7 morning study sessions

Earned ✅

📊 Study Statistics

Weekly Summary

  • Cards reviewed this week: 347
  • New cards learned: 42
  • Average session length: 18 minutes
  • Most studied deck: Japanese Vocabulary
  • Peak performance day: Wednesday

⚙️ Profile Settings

Study Preferences

  • Daily review goal: 50 cards
  • New cards per day: 10
  • Review ahead limit: 4 days
  • Notification time: 7:00 PM
  • Auto-sync: Enabled

📤 Export Options

Full Profile Export

Export your complete study data including:

  • All card history and statistics
  • Deck configurations and settings
  • Learning progress and achievements
  • Study session logs and analytics

Available formats: JSON, CSV, PDF Report

Import & Export

Move data in and out of PRCM | ASRL using standard formats. All imports are non-destructive — existing cards are never overwritten without confirmation.

📥 Importing Decks

CSV Import

Required columns: front, back. Optional: tags, deck. Max 50 000 rows per file. The importer shows a preview before committing.

Anki .apkg

Import Anki deck packages directly. Card content, media, and note types are preserved. Scheduling data is converted to FSRS stability estimates.

JSON Backup

Restore from a PRCM | ASRL full-export JSON file. This preserves all scheduling history, ease values, and session logs.

📤 Exporting Data

What you can export

  • JSON (full backup) — all decks, cards, scheduling history, session logs, settings
  • CSV — card content only (front, back, tags), compatible with any spreadsheet app
  • PDF Report — formatted study report with statistics charts, streak history, and KPI summaries
  • Anki .apkg — export to Anki-compatible format for use in the original Anki desktop app

Access exports from Profile → Export Options or from the three-dot menu on any individual deck.

☁️ Sync & Backup

Study data is saved to localStorage in your browser. For cross-device access, export a JSON backup and import it on the second device. Auto-sync to cloud storage is on the roadmap.

Tip: Set a weekly reminder to export a JSON backup. The file is typically under 2 MB even for large decks.

Understanding Spaced Repetition

PRCM | ASRL runs three algorithms in parallel — SM-2, FSRS, and IRT — each contributing a different signal to produce the most accurate review schedule possible.

🧠 The Forgetting Curve

Ebbinghaus Memory Model

Retention decays exponentially: R(t) = e^(-t/S) where t is time since last review and S is the card's stability (in days). FSRS estimates S from your response history; SM-2 approximates it via ease × interval multiplication.

⚡ SM-2 Algorithm

Interval Scheduling

SM-2 adapts intervals based on each response:

  • Again (Red): Card resets — shown again in 1–10 minutes
  • Hard (Orange): Interval × 1.2 — slight increase, ease penalized
  • Good (Green): Interval × ease factor — standard progression
  • Easy (Blue): Interval × ease × 1.3 — fast-track for well-known cards

🔬 FSRS Scheduler

Memory Stability Model

FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) treats memory stability S as a learnable parameter per card. It predicts the probability of recall at any future time using R(t) = e^(-t/S), then schedules the next review at the point where R(t) crosses your target retention threshold (default 90%).

FSRS is more accurate than SM-2 at the extremes — very easy cards get longer gaps, very hard cards get shorter ones, without the ease "hell" problem.

📐 IRT (Item Response Theory)

Difficulty & Ability Estimation

IRT models both question difficulty (b) and learner ability (θ) on the same logistic scale. The probability of a correct response is:

P(correct) = 1 / (1 + e^(-(θ - b)))

This allows the platform to select cards that are appropriately challenging — not too easy (boring) and not too hard (discouraging) — by targeting items where P(correct) ≈ 0.7.

How They Work Together

SM-2 provides the base interval. FSRS refines it using stability decay. IRT selects which due cards to show first, prioritizing items near your current ability level.

KPI Gates

Every session is evaluated against four gates: Accuracy ≥ 75%, Retention ≥ 70%, Avg Response ≤ 6 s, Fatigue Drop ≤ 15%. Failing a gate triggers an adaptive adjustment to the next session's card selection.

Example FSRS Schedule (S = 7 days, target R = 90%):
Day 0: Learn new card (S = 1.0 d)
Day 1: Review — Good → S = 3.2 d
Day 4: Review — Good → S = 9.1 d
Day 13: Review — Good → S = 23.4 d
Day 36: Review — Good → S = 57.8 d
(Intervals grow faster than SM-2 for well-retained cards)

Card Types

PRCM | ASRL supports several card formats. Choose the type that best matches how you want to test your knowledge.

📇 Basic (Front / Back)

The standard two-sided card. The front holds a question, prompt, or term; the back holds the answer, definition, or explanation. Works for vocabulary, facts, formulas, and concepts.

Example front: "What does the mitochondria do?"
Example back: "Produces ATP via cellular respiration (oxidative phosphorylation)."

🔳 Cloze Deletion

Fill-in-the-blank format. Wrap the tested word or phrase in {{c1:: }} markers. The cloze is hidden on the front and revealed on the back.

Example: "The powerhouse of the cell is the {{c1::mitochondria}}."
Becomes: "The powerhouse of the cell is the _______."

Use c2, c3… for multiple blanks in one card — each generates a separate review.

🖼️ Image Occlusion

Overlay rectangles on a diagram or image to hide labels. Great for anatomy, maps, circuit diagrams, and labelled charts. Each occluded region becomes its own testable question.

💻 Code Cards

Render syntax-highlighted code blocks on either side. Supports JavaScript, Python, Rust, SQL, and 50+ languages. Ideal for API signatures, algorithm snippets, and regex patterns.

Reversible Cards

Mark a card as "bidirectional" to auto-generate the reverse. One card becomes two: the original and its mirror, each scheduled independently.

Rich Media

Embed audio pronunciations, images, or LaTeX math (via MathJax). Media is stored locally and survives offline sessions.

Deck Management

Keep your knowledge base organised with deck hierarchies, sharing options, and maintenance tools.

📁 Nested Decks

Use :: in a deck name to create a hierarchy. For example, Biology::Chapter 3::Cells appears as a nested tree in the sidebar. Sub-decks inherit the parent's algorithm setting unless overridden.

⚙️ Deck Options

Each deck has an Options panel:

  • New cards/day — throttle introduction rate (default 10)
  • Max reviews/day — cap the review queue to prevent overload
  • Algorithm — SM-2, FSRS, or IRT per deck
  • Retention target — FSRS uses this to compute next-review intervals (default 90%)
  • Leech threshold — cards rated "Again" more than N times get flagged for manual review

🔀 Reordering & Filtering

Custom Study

Build a filtered deck by tag, difficulty range, due date window, or IRT θ gap. Useful for exam cramming without disturbing your main review schedule.

Suspend / Bury

Suspend cards you want to skip indefinitely. Bury cards to defer them to tomorrow's queue (useful when you're tired or have already studied similar content today).

🗑️ Maintenance

  • Empty cards: Scan and delete cards with missing front or back
  • Duplicate check: Find near-duplicate fronts across all decks
  • Reset progress: Clear scheduling data for a card or entire deck (useful after re-learning a topic from scratch)
  • Archive: Move inactive decks out of the main view without deleting them

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions to help you get the most out of PRCM | ASRL.

🔧 Common Issues

Sync Problems

Issue: Cards not syncing between devices

Solution: Check internet connection, log out and back in, or force sync in settings.

Performance Issues

Issue: App running slowly or lagging

Solution: Disable animations, reduce text size, or clear app cache.

Display Problems

Issue: Text too small or hard to read

Solution: Increase text size, enable high contrast mode, or switch to dark theme.

🎯 Optimization Tips

  • Study consistently at the same time each day
  • Don't skip difficult cards - they need more practice
  • Use the "Hard" button when you struggled with a card
  • Keep study sessions under 30 minutes for better focus
  • Review new cards before old ones when possible

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I study?

Consistency is key. It's better to study 15 minutes daily than 2 hours once a week. Aim for daily reviews to maintain optimal retention.

What's the difference between "Hard" and "Again"?

"Again" means you got it wrong and need to see it soon. "Hard" means you got it right but struggled, so the interval increases only slightly.

Can I study without an internet connection?

Yes — all three scheduling algorithms (SM-2, FSRS, IRT) run entirely in your browser. Only the AI Insights panel requires a network call to Groq · LLAMA-3.

How do I backup my data?

Study data is stored in localStorage. Use the Export feature (Profile → Export Options) to download a JSON backup. Import it on any browser to restore your history.

Which algorithm should I use?

Start with FSRS — it outperforms SM-2 for most users by modeling memory decay more accurately. Switch to IRT if you want fully adaptive difficulty selection. SM-2 is the most battle-tested if you prefer a proven baseline.