Exams
Preparation for a specific, dated examination — bounded syllabus, real deadline, and a clear definition of ready.
An exam is different from a board and from a programme in one respect that governs everything else: there is a date. The syllabus is bounded, the format is known, and readiness is a question with an answer.
That makes scheduling the central problem rather than an afterthought. Practice has to be paced backwards from the date, revisiting things at widening intervals so they are still there on the day rather than merely learned once and forgotten in April. This is spaced retrieval, and it is the single best-supported finding in the learning-science literature — the same principle the blog writes about at length.
It also changes what a parent needs to be told. During term time the useful report is about how a child is thinking. In the run-up to a dated exam the useful report additionally answers: what is still weak, how much time is left, and is the current rate of progress enough. Sophoz reports both.
One caution stated plainly. Exam preparation invites a kind of practice that looks productive and is not — working through past papers with the answers alongside, or re-reading notes until they feel familiar. Sophoz is built to force retrieval instead, which is harder and feels worse in the moment. That is the point, and it is worth a parent knowing before they start.