Getting Started · Core Concepts

How to read your Knowledge Map

What the Knowledge Map's Mastery Score, dashes, short bars and Review button mean, what moves a score and what doesn't, and what to do next about a gap.

8 min read

In Ritsu, the Knowledge Map is the panel beside a learning session that scores every concept in your source from 0 to 100, earned by practice, never by self-rating. Open it when you're deciding what to study next: a dash means no evidence yet, a short bar means the idea is still shaky, and a long bar means you've shown you can use it. There is one map per source.

Before you begin

  • A learning session on a source. The map sits in the session, next to the lesson, and covers the source you're studying.
  • Nothing to set up. The map fills in from the work you already do in the session. You never rate yourself.
  • Your plan. What each plan includes for the Knowledge Map is listed in the Knowledge & Progress rows of the pricing page.

How do you read the Knowledge Map, step by step?

  1. Open the map. In a learning session, click the map icon (a folded map, second in the group of buttons at the top right). The Knowledge Map panel opens beside the lesson, and the icon turns into an X that closes it again. (The screenshots on this page come from two sessions on a course about language models, with scores and counts blurred.)

A new source with the map panel open beside the lesson: the score is a dash, every unit shows a dash, and the line under the score says the map lights up as you learn and practice

  1. Read the Mastery Score at the top. It's out of 100 and covers every concept in this source. Under the label you'll see a word for where you stand overall, such as Familiar, and how many of the source's items (concepts) you've explored. On a new source the score is a dash, and the line under it reads "The map lights up as you learn and practice."

    The score covers every concept in the source, including the ones you haven't touched yet. Early in a source it stays low even when the concepts you've worked on score high, so a low number on day one usually means "not covered yet", not "wrong". (We read this from the panel's own numbers in sessions recorded on October 2, 2026: the overall and unit scores matched the concept scores only when untouched concepts were counted. The exact formula isn't published.)

  2. Open a unit. The units match the units of your learning path. Click a unit's name to show or hide its concepts. Each unit row shows how many of its concepts you've explored out of its total (4/6 means four of six) and the unit's own score, worked out the same way across all its concepts.

  3. Read each concept row. A dash means there's no evidence yet of where you stand on that concept. A short bar with a low number means you've started, but the idea isn't solid. A long bar with a high number means you've shown you can use it.

The map mid-way through a course beside the lesson: a level word under the score, dashes for concepts with no evidence yet, short bars for shaky ones and long bars for strong ones

  1. Point at your weakest concept and click Review. The shortest bars are your gaps. Start with the short bars in the unit you're studying: you've begun those concepts and they haven't held yet. The dashes are concepts you haven't reached. When you point at a weak concept, a Review button appears where its score was, and it can stay there for a moment after you move away. Click it, and you're taken back to the lesson that covers that concept.

  2. Work the gap, then look at the map again. In that lesson, answer a question with /askme, take a /quiz, or solve a problem with /solve. When an answer is graded, the feedback ends with Counted toward your mastery and the names of the concepts it counted for. If the answer showed you can use the idea, their bars climb. One good answer may not be enough: a concept can be counted and still score low.

Graded feedback in the lesson tagged Counted toward your mastery with the two concepts it counted for, and a Review button on one of them in the map

What does each state on the map mean?

What you see What it means What to do
A dash instead of a score No evidence yet of where you stand on it Answer one question on it with /askme
A short bar with a low number You've started; the idea isn't solid yet Click Review and practise it again
A long bar with a high number You've shown you can use the idea Move on, and keep it with spaced review
Review where a score was, when you point at a concept It's one of your weak concepts Click it to go straight back to it
A low overall score, high concept scores Most concepts in the source haven't been touched Work through the concepts with a dash, unit by unit

What moves a score, and does it ever go down?

  • Reading moves it a little, then stops. Skimming or rereading can't push a concept far, because recognizing an idea isn't the same as being able to use it.
  • Using the idea makes it climb. Answer a quiz, work an exercise, or explain the idea and get graded. Quizzes (/quiz), problems (/solve) and graded answers to questions (/askme) all count.
  • A wrong answer doesn't take anything away. Scores only go up. Once you've shown you know a concept, its score stays.
  • Forgetting doesn't lower it either. The map records what you've shown, not what you would remember today. Bringing ideas back before they fade is the job of spaced review: press Add to Review at the top right of the session's overview page, and the material comes back on a schedule.

Limits and troubleshooting

Symptom Cause Fix
You can't find the map The panel is closed Click the map icon at the top right of a learning session
You read the whole lesson and the score barely moved Reading moves a score a little, then stops Practise: a /quiz, a problem with /solve, or an explanation that gets graded
The overall score is low, but your concepts score high The overall score covers every concept, untouched ones included Work through the concepts that still show a dash
You got an answer wrong and nothing changed Scores never go down, and a miss adds nothing Read the feedback and try again; the bar climbs when you get it right
Your other subjects aren't on the map Each source has its own map Open a learning session on the other source
The map shows a concept as strong, but you've forgotten it The score records what you've shown, not what you remember now Press Add to Review so the material comes back before it fades

Q: What's the difference between /progress and the Knowledge Map?

/progress shows how far through the session you are: a completion percentage, the units you've completed out of your plan, and the Points of Knowledge (the topics your plan is built from) you've viewed. The Knowledge Map shows how well you know each concept, from graded answers. Finishing a unit moves /progress; practice is what moves the map.

Q: If a score never goes down, what does a long bar tell me?

It tells you that you've shown you can use the idea, not that you'd still recall it today. That second question is what review answers: press Add to Review, and when the material comes back on its schedule, answer from memory before you look. A miss there is the signal to practise again.

Q: Does the Knowledge Map cover all my subjects?

No. Each source you study gets its own map. A single map across everything you've studied isn't available yet, so to see another subject, open a learning session on that source.

Q: Is the Knowledge Map a mind map?

No. It's a panel that scores every concept in your source from 0 to 100: a number per idea, not a web of lines. For a mind map of a topic's structure, run /mindmap, which keeps its own count of mastered nodes inside the mind map.

Q: Can I mark a concept as mastered myself?

No. The map shows "scores you earned — not self-ratings", so there's nothing to tick. To raise a concept, answer a question on it, solve a problem with it, or explain it and get graded.

Next: answer one question on your weakest concept with /askme, then come back and see whether its bar moved.

By Ritsu Team · Last updated October 18, 2026

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