Level · L1
L1 — Foundation
No prerequisites. Starts from zero.
51 lessons · L1
What a Language Model Actually Does→ A tested mental model — three experiments run on a real model and written up
How to Use Claude, Step by Step→ A configured workspace, a working Project, and your own prompt template
How to Use ChatGPT, Step by Step→ A configured workspace with custom instructions, one working Custom GPT, and a data file analysed
The Anatomy of a Prompt→ Your own five-part prompt template, plus three saved templates for jobs you actually repeat
Which Model for Which Job? A Comparison You Can Actually Use→ Your own decision table matching model tiers to the jobs you actually do
AI Ethics and Your School's Policy: Where Learning Ends and Cheating Starts→ Your own written rule for using AI on schoolwork, checked against your school's actual policy
The CV / Résumé That Actually Gets Read→ A finished one-page CV with every bullet rewritten as an outcome, tested against a real job ad
LinkedIn: Building Findability, Not a Profile→ A live LinkedIn profile built to be found, with a headline, About section and three real connections
Finding Work Experience: Internships, Shadowing and Volunteering→ A target list of 10 realistic places and a tailored outreach pitch you can send this week
Reading Data: Mean, Median, Spread — and the Lie of the Average→ Three real datasets summarised correctly — mean, median and spread — with the misleading summary identified in each
How Charts Lie: Eight Manipulation Techniques→ A detection list of the eight techniques, applied to three real charts found in the wild
Correlation Is Not Causation, With Real Examples→ Four real causal claims taken apart — for each, the four possible explanations tested and the most likely one named
Ten Cognitive Biases and Where You'll Meet Them Today→ A diagnostic card of the ten biases, each matched to one real moment from your own last week
A Four-Step Protocol for Verifying a Source→ Your own four-step verification checklist, applied to three claims you actually ran into this week
How the Algorithm Knows You→ A before/after record of your own feed — the 20-click experiment run on a real account
Active Recall and Spaced Repetition: Studying That Actually Works→ A spaced review schedule built for a real exam, with your first recall session done
The Mechanics of Procrastination: Why It Happens, What It's Doing→ A procrastination-intervention plan for one task you're avoiding: the feeling named, the next physical action defined, one friction removed
Test Anxiety and Thinking Under Pressure→ A pre-exam routine tested once, plus the expressive-writing technique tried before a real or mock test
What Are You Actually Buying When You Buy a Stock?→ The ability to read an order book, and to see a share as ownership
Index Funds and ETFs: Why This Is the Right Answer for Most People→ A written comparison of a single stock, an active fund, and an index fund — on cost, spread and evidence
Compound Interest: The Maths of Time (and of Debt)→ A modelled scenario in a spreadsheet: the same money as savings and as debt, on one chart
Opening Your First Investment Account — Including Custodial Accounts Under 18→ An investment account opened (or a custodial one set up with a parent), ready to use
Building a Budget and a Cash-Flow System→ A working budget from your own real numbers, plus a simple system that runs each week
What Neuroplasticity Actually Is: How Experience Rewires the Brain→ A tested mental model of how experience physically rewires the brain — written up against one habit of your own
The Neuron and the Synapse: The Physical Unit of Change→ A labelled model of a neuron and synapse, annotated with where learning physically happens
"Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together": Hebbian Learning→ A rewiring map for one skill or habit — the exact pairing of cue, action and timing you'll train
Critical Periods vs. Lifelong Plasticity: What Changes, and When→ Your own age/plasticity chart — which abilities have closing windows and which stay open for life
The Myths: Left/Right Brain, "10% of Your Brain," "Fixed After 25"→ A myth-buster card — five brain myths, the truth, and the mechanism, to keep and share
The Skeleton of a Talk: Message → Structure → Slides, In That Order→ A one-page talk plan: one message, three sections, and a slide list you haven't built yet
Six Rules for Slides (and PowerPoint's Bad Defaults)→ One real slide, redesigned — before and after — following the six rules
Managing Presentation Anxiety, Technically→ A tested pre-talk routine and a memorised, drilled first thirty seconds
The Mechanics of Interaction: Turn-Taking, Signals, Repair→ A mental model of conversation as a system, plus a logged observation of three real conversations' mechanics
The Small Talk Protocol: Your First Five Minutes With a Stranger→ A recorded rehearsal of a first conversation, plus three real small-talk attempts logged
Active Listening: The Most Discussed, Least Practised Skill→ A listening audit across three real conversations, with counted behavioursSetting Boundaries and Saying No: Four Scripts→ Four boundary scripts written in your own words, and one of them used for real
The Anatomy of an Apology — and What Isn't One→ A written apology for a real situation, tested against the five parts and stripped of every fake move
Consent and Dating Ethics: Clear, Revocable, Non-Negotiable→ Conceptual clarity — a written account of what consent is and the situations that make it absent
Tone in Writing: Texts, Email, Slack→ Five of your own messages rewritten, with the specific reason each original misfired
Timing: Choosing When to Have the Conversation→ A timing checklist, and one conversation actually scheduled
What a Computer Actually Does: CPU, RAM, Disk, OS→ A labelled model of what happens when you open an app — the job the CPU, RAM, disk and OS each do
How the Internet Works: DNS, HTTP, Servers, Browsers→ A traced request: every step between typing a URL and the page appearing, written in your own words
The Terminal: Your First 20 Commands and Why It Still Matters→ Real work done in a shell: files organised, renamed in bulk, and searched — all from the command line
Python From Zero: The First 10 Concepts→ Your first program: a working script that takes input, makes a decision, and does something useful
Your First Page With HTML and CSS→ A styled web page you built by hand — real HTML and CSS in one file, opened in a browser
Security Basics: Password Manager, 2FA, and the Anatomy of Phishing→ A secured account set: a password manager in use, 2FA on your key accounts, and passkeys where offered
Spreadsheets From Zero: Formula Logic and Your First 15 Functions→ A working budget sheet built from your own real numbers, with 8+ functions and no hard-coded values
Building a Personal System in Notion→ A working personal dashboard in Notion: a task database, a notes area, and one linked view
A Calendar and Task System You'll Actually Keep→ A working two-part system — one calendar, one task list — set up and run for real for three days
Keyboard Shortcuts: Buying Back Three Hours a Week→ Ten shortcuts you didn't already use, drilled to muscle memory over a week, with the mouse-reach they replace named
File Architecture, Naming and Backups→ A folder structure and naming convention set up on your own files, plus a working backup of what you can't afford to lose
Design Tools: Canva and Figma Basics→ One finished, exported design asset made with deliberate layout choices