Execution modes¶

A curriculum week assumes roughly 32 focused hours. Stretch the calendar rather than deleting mastery gates.

Mode	Context	Focused hours/week	Estimated calendar time	Notes
Full-time builder	Independent / gap-year / research apprenticeship	40	2.1 years	Fastest; needs access to labs/mentors and unusually strong discipline.
High-intensity university overlay	University + canon alignment	25	3.3 years	Use university courses/labs to satisfy reading/build requirements; keep independent mastery gates.
Sustainable university overlay	Full-time university	18	4.7 years	Most realistic if the student also completes a degree; summers accelerate Wave 2/3 projects.
Working learner	Job/apprenticeship + study	12	7.0 years	Use job artifacts where possible; protect weekly closed-book and build blocks.
Compressed elite cohort	Dedicated institute/cohort	50	1.7 years	Possible only with prerequisites, mentoring, labs, strong peer group and aggressive integration.

Default 32-hour curriculum week¶

Rule: Read for arguments/models, not highlighting.

Output: 1-2 page source map; definitions/assumptions.

Rule: No notes/AI until the first serious attempt is complete.

Output: Blank-page derivations, proof, model or concept map.

Rule: Prefer unseen transfer problems; explain representation before arithmetic.

Output: Solved problems + error log.

Rule: Predict before running; measure discrepancy.

Output: Code/CAD/data/prototype + test evidence.

Rule: Invite attack on assumptions, not performance theater.

Output: Recorded defense + revisions.

Rule: Use after ownership attempt for coding, literature comparison, adversarial tests and critique.

Output: Prompt/trace + independent verification.

Rule: Update forecast, bottleneck and next experiment.

Output: Weekly lab notebook + next-week plan.