How spaced repetition works on GoldenKube

The short version

Every question you have answered sits in one of three states: unseen, learning or mastered. Answer a new question correctly and it is mastered at once. Answer it wrong and it becomes a learning question that must climb a three-step ladder before it counts as mastered: a review after 12 other answers, then a review after 1 day, then a review after 4 days. Each correct answer moves it up one step, and any wrong answer drops it back to the bottom. The ladder only applies to questions you have missed, which keeps your review queue short and focused on what you actually find hard instead of repeating everything you already know.

The first repeat: 12 answers later

When you miss a question, GoldenKube records the answer and holds the question until you have given 12 more answers of your own. The count is yours alone: other people practicing on the site do not shorten it. Once the twelfth answer is recorded, the question is due and is shown before any new question. The gap is based on answers rather than time, which keeps the repeat close enough to be useful and far enough that you are recalling it, not just holding it in short-term memory. Because the count uses your own answers, practicing in several short sessions and one long session produce the same first repeat, so you do not need to plan around the clock.

If you stop practicing before 12 answers have passed, the question simply waits. When you come back it is still held until the count is reached, then it takes priority.

The 1-day and 4-day reviews

Answering a stage-0 question correctly moves it to stage 1 and schedules it for the next day. Answering it correctly again moves it to stage 2 and schedules it 4 days out. A third correct answer completes the ladder and the question is mastered. The intervals are fixed at 1 day and 4 days, not adjusted by how quickly you answered or how confident you felt. When a review date arrives, the question is due and appears ahead of new material. Because the later steps are measured in days, a question climbs the full ladder only across several days of practice; cramming everything in one evening can clear the first step but not the others.

• Stage 0, answered correctly: due again 1 day later.
• Stage 1, answered correctly: due again 4 days later.
• Stage 2, answered correctly: mastered, no further reviews.
• Any wrong answer at any stage: back to stage 0 with the 12-answer gap.

How the next question is chosen

The order is simple. First, any learning question that is due, oldest first. Second, a new question from the weakest subdomain that still has unseen questions. Third, if no eligible weak subdomain remains, for example because the only one left is the one just repeated five times, any unseen question. When nothing is due and nothing is unseen, practice is exhausted for that certification, and you can choose to include learning questions that are not due yet. Focus mode narrows the pool to one domain or subdomain you choose, or to your bookmarked questions, and the same ladder applies inside it. The practical effect is that your review queue stays short while new material keeps coming from the areas where you need it most.

This ordering means the questions most likely to need work come first, and new material is only introduced when your review queue is clear.

What counts as your weakest subdomain

For each subdomain that still has unseen questions, GoldenKube divides your correct answers by your total answers. The lowest ratio is the weakest. A subdomain where you have given fewer than 3 answers scores as zero, so ground you have barely touched is visited early rather than ignored. Ties go to the subdomain with fewer answers. To avoid monotony, once five questions in a row have come from one subdomain it is skipped for the weak-area pick, as long as another subdomain still has new questions. This only affects which new question is shown: due reviews always come first and are not capped, so a weak subdomain never delays a missed question from coming back on schedule.

On the progress view, the same idea is shown as a level: fewer than 3 answers shows no level yet, below 60 percent is weak, 60 to 85 percent is middle and above 85 percent is strong. Use it as a guide to where to spend your next session.

Using the ladder well

The ladder works if you practice a little most days, because the 1-day and 4-day steps need real days to pass. Answer from memory before reading the options too closely, and read the explanation even when you were right, since a correct guess still counts as a correct answer. Treat the weak-area list as your study plan, and keep a record of what you keep missing. Multiple-choice exams are a single timed sitting, so steady recall is what you are training; check the exact question count and time limit on the certification page of your exam. Finally, do not skip due reviews to reach new questions; the reviews are where the schedule does its work, and clearing them first is exactly what the ordering is built to encourage.

The format figures come from the Linux Foundation multiple-choice documentation; CNPA is the documented exception with a longer exam. See the certification page of your exam for its exact numbers.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Multiple-choice exam FAQ, Linux Foundation certification docs, checked 2026-10-23
• Multiple-choice exam instructions, Linux Foundation certification docs, checked 2026-10-23