The blank-page problem
Why you forget problems you already solved
You closed the editor last week knowing the move. Today the page is blank. That is not a talent gap. It is how memory works when practice only trains recognition.
Recognition is cheap. Interviews ask for recall.
Reading a solution you already “know” feels like progress. The shape is on screen, so the brain confirms it. An interview takes the notes away. The same problem then asks you to produce the move, not notice it.
That is why a finished list can still fail a mock. The list trained recognition. The room trains retrieval: walk the cue, hide the notes, rebuild the code, then come back later today, in days, and in weeks.
Forgetting starts as soon as you stop retrieving.
A pattern you solved once begins to fade as soon as you stop producing it. Cramming more problems delays the feeling and does not schedule the return. Spaced retrieval is the schedule: a short attempt at the point you would start to lose the move.
LinearBits puts each pattern in a place you can picture, then takes the notes away. The first room is public. No account. Five minutes.
What to do this week.
Walk one room. Hide the notes. Attempt the rebuild. That is a retrieval, not a new problem. Come back later today while the walk is still warm. If the interview is in two to eight weeks, retrieve the patterns you already solved instead of adding another list.
Sign in later for the wallet. Pro is only when free tokens would pause a study block. The review schedule and the difference between a card and a room are on the pages linked below.