ICS Program Map
ICS Program Map
The stages of the ICS program are listed in order, each with links to the wiki notes that cover it. The
wiki is organized by theme (Dimensions, Self-Management, etc.). These links are a view over that wiki
in the program’s own sequence: Kickstart → High-yield → Growth. The source corpus is stored privately in
raw/private/ICS and is not linked. Only distilled wiki notes are linked.
[!note] Mappings confirmed against the program, with gaps marked Each stage-to-wiki mapping is confirmed against the ICS stage pages. A remaining ⚠️ mark is a real gap: the stage has source material but no wiki page yet. These marks stay in place as a list of stages still to synthesize.
Related syntheses: ICS System · First Principles of Learning · How Top Performers Learn · Minimally Viable Learning System
Kickstart phase
How to navigate the program, and the principles that make learning faster. These basic principles are the difference between students who struggle and high performers.
Introduction
Catalyst: retrieval for fast results
High-yield phase
The techniques that give the largest improvement for the least time spent. You can apply them right away. Making them part of how you study takes months.
| Mastery | 6–8 weeks |
| Impact | Immediate |
| Difficulty | Low–moderate |
| Technique range | Very high |
Rapid Start: prioritisation, time management, procrastination
- Procrastination a System Problem
- Time Management, Attention and Scheduling
- Attention Management - Preserving Flow
Fundamentals: the basics that separate high performers
Key dimensions: retrieval, deep processing, mindset.
- Spaced Interleaved Retrieval · Interleaving Table: the core of SIR
- Marginal Gains
- Are You Learning, or Just Using Techniques: “the problem with studying”
30-Day Plan: an ultra-strategic 30-day plan (challenges split by dimension)
- 30-Day Challenges (hub)
- 30-Day: Deep Processing · 30-Day: Mindset · 30-Day: Retrieval · 30-Day: Self-Management · 30-Day: Self-Regulation
Fundamentals 2: the high-yield suite; master first if time-pressed
Key dimensions: deep processing, self-regulation, self-management, retrieval.
- Non-Linear Note-Making · Revision · Study Scheduling · Rote Learning and Memorisation
- Exam Technique · Live Learning Events
Growth phase
Slower, deeper change. It retrains how you encode information and how you manage yourself. Improvements come over weeks/months.
| Mastery | 6 months+ |
| Impact | 2 weeks+ |
| Difficulty | Moderate–high |
| Technique range | Moderate |
Briefing: bring techniques into one cohesive system; avoid periods with no progress
Key dimensions: all five.
- Kolbs Experiential Cycle: “right vs wrong way to practise” (one of the main techniques)
- Skills Audit: diagnosing your own learning
- Common Traps: deathly spirals, bandwagon fallacy, misfitting techniques
- Techniques in School (incl. time-boxing); Must-do’s recap → Prestudy, Focus
Technique Training: inquiry-based learning; meaningful relationships & networks
Key dimensions: deep processing, self-regulation, self-management.
- Inquiry Based Learning (Traffic Light System) · Order Control
- Cave Theory → Survive and Thrive (analogous & in-context relationships) · Memory Handling
- How to Unlearn Old or Bad Habits Efficiently: unlearning
- Loss Aversion: the “good enough” trap
Ascent I: Aim (step 1 of the Bear Hunter System encoding)
Ascent II: Shoot (non-linear note-taking)
Ascent III: Skin (optimise chunk structure for retention/depth)
Base Camp: resume self-management; combine advanced encoding
Camp I: lower-order memorisation for when there’s no alternative
Camp II: the most advanced interleaved retrieval methods
Summit: personalise + perform under pressure; the multipass system
- Multipass System · Cramming
- Exam Execution (hub) → Breaching Questions · ReCOVer System · Silly Mistake Syndrome · Group Study
Support library
These supplementary modules in the corpus are not part of the linear path. Learning Support is the largest of them.
Learning Support: synthesized 2026-05-29 (36 clips consolidated into 6 pages): Measuring Learning (mastery levels, efficiency, rate limiters) · Marginal Gains in Practice (stacking, tracking, vs Kolb/30-Day) · Encoding and Retrieval (the trade-off, spacing, troubleshooting) · Non-Linear Note-Making (arrows-vs-lines, spiderwebbing, reverse causality, references) · Motivation (using motivation strategically vs depending on it) · Pacing Skill Development (2–3 processes, Swiss-cheese / missing details). The other clips were mapped to existing pages (Higher Order Learning, Prestudy, Inquiry Based Learning, Skills Audit, How to Ask for Feedback, Interleaving Table, Silly Mistake Syndrome, Kolbs Experiential Cycle). Only “Recommended apps” (an affiliate list) was left unsynthesized.
- Decision-making → Decision Making · judging a decision by its process · Changing Decisions · Choice Throttling · Decisional Delays · Positional Decisions and Expected Value
- Exam execution → How to diagnose and fix exam mistakes · How to prepare for ultra high volume exams
- Mindset / Neuroticism → Fixed vs Growth Mindset · Marginal Gains · Neuroticism
- Self-management & feedback → How to Ask for Feedback · Skills Audit · Reverse Goal Setting · Kolbs Experiential Cycle
- Self-regulation / wellbeing → Recovery · How to Maintain Sustainable Energy Under Pressure · How to shift your brain to be motivated (when you don’t feel like it)
- Mind maps → Mindmaps
- Syntopical / dense reading → Syntopical Reading - Learning from Multiple Dense Resources
Coverage notes (cross-check vs raw/private/ICS, 207 source files)
- Strongest coverage: Ascent (Bear Hunter Aim/Shoot/Skin), Summit (Multipass), Camp II (interleaved retrieval), Catalyst (retrieval). For these stages the wiki notes map ~1:1.
- Gaps filled 2026-05-29: Camp I memorisation (Rote Learning and Memorisation, Flashcards, Method of Loci); Fundamentals 2 (Non-Linear Note-Making, Revision, Study Scheduling); Summit (Cramming + the Exam Execution cluster: Breaching Questions, ReCOVer System, Silly Mistake Syndrome).
- Filled 2026-05-29 (round 2): Technique Training (Inquiry Based Learning, Order Control, Survive and Thrive, Cave Theory, Loss Aversion); Fundamentals 2 (Exam Technique, Live Learning Events); Briefing (Common Traps, Techniques in School).
- Filled 2026-05-29 (round 3): the Learning Support library, 36 clips consolidated into 6 pages (listed under Support library). The only unsynthesized clip is “Recommended apps”, an affiliate list with no lasting learning content.
- Coverage: the full linear program path and the Learning Support library are now covered. The remaining corpus items are minor (a few duplicate-variant clips and Live Clinic transcripts).
- Resolved: the 30-Day Plan stage is the five dimension-split challenges (deep processing / mindset / retrieval / self-management / self-regulation) under 30-Day Challenges.