Buffer Week (Phase 1 Catch-Up & Spaced Review)

Weekly MUST Budget Buffer

0.0h / 0.0h cap

Hour Calibration

actual hours logged

Rule: slippage > 1.25x triggers Scope-Cut Rung 2

Week Execution 0%

0/ 7 tasks 0.0h

target

Week Objective & Target Output

Target Output

BUFFER WEEK — Zero new curriculum introduced. Catch up on deferred Phase 1 MUST tasks (Recursion, Sorting, Arrays Medium, Normalization, Missing Semester). Execute spaced retrieval on Problem-Solving Journal.

Weeks: W06 Active W07 W08 W09 W10

MUST — Critical Path

0 Tasks • ~0.0h

Non-negotiable core curriculum

SHOULD — Depth & Mastery

(5 Tasks)

Execute when MUST pace is on track

check

CORE Deferred Phase 1 Catch-Up

Complete any unfinished MUST tasks from Weeks 1–5 (Merge Sort, Quick Sort, Dutch National Flag, Normalization, Git rebase).

5.0h

check

CORE Problem-Solving Journal Spaced Review (Week 6)

Re-solve 5 tagged problems from Phase 1 without hints or editorial. Verify retention.

2.5h

check

CP Contest & Upsolving (Week 6)

Participate in LeetCode Weekly Contest + Codeforces Div.2/3 contest; upsolve 1 unsolved problem within 48h.

2.5h

check

CORE Outreach Templates

Write 4 reusable messages: alumni cold intro, referral ask, recruiter follow-up, post-OA thank-you. Personalise with one specific hook each time.

1.0h

check

CORE Java Collections API Tour

Tour List/Set/Map/Deque/PriorityQueue APIs, iteration and fail-fast behaviour, Collections and Arrays utilities, and Comparator chaining; write 10 one-liners.

1.5h

STRETCH — If Ahead

(2 Tasks)

Bonus reps & competitive advantage

check

CORE 3Blue1Brown Linear Algebra Catch-Up

Complete 3B1B LinAlg episodes 1–8 if missed during exam period.

2.5h

check

AI/ML CS50P Project Extension

Build a small Python CLI utility utilizing regular expressions and file I/O.

2.0h

verified_user

Weekly Clearance Gate

0 / 1 Cleared

check

Health & Guardrails: 1 full rest day taken every 2 weeks?

tune

If Behind / Life Interruption Protocol

Triage Rule

When academic exams spike or weekly time slips, execute this contingency plan:

shield Protect (Non-Negotiable)

This IS the buffer week. Protect DSA sorting and medium array patterns above all else. Clear all Phase 1 backlogs before ESE begins

schedule Defer (Safe to Shift)

nothing further → next week

edit_note

Week 06 Technical Notes & Journal

#LeetCode #Java #DSA #Week06