From Chapter 63 of the Olfactionary Academy. Blank space next to each row is intentional, fill in your own dates and notes.
| Weeks | Focus | Done |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Assemble your Tier 1 kit (Chapter 33). Daily: smell each material alone for 30 seconds, eyes closed, before checking the label, build raw recognition first, description second. Log every session (Chapter 35), even a one-line entry. | □ |
| 3-4 | Stage 1 contrast drills (Chapter 34): pair up your materials and name what specifically separates each pair. Run the full timed-smelling protocol (fresh/15min/1hr/4hr/next day) on at least three materials this fortnight. | □ |
| 5-6 | Blind self-testing begins: have someone else (or a randomizing trick) hand you materials from your kit in random order; identify each by nose alone before checking. Track your hit rate week over week. | □ |
| 7-8 | Expand to Tier 2 (Chapter 33). Run Carles's binary ratio-trial exercise (Chapter 34's 9:1→5:5 progression) on at least two new material pairs. | □ |
| 9-10 | Stage 2 family tables: drill within-family discrimination using your Tier 3 contrast materials. Re-run blind self-tests from weeks 5-6 with your full expanded kit. | □ |
| 11 | Stage 3 deconstruction: pick three finished perfumes you don't already know the notes for, and work through Chapter 36's final-exam questions on each before looking anything up. | □ |
| 12 | Review your full scent journal from week 1 onward. Compare your week-1 entries against your week-12 entries on the same materials. Then take the real Academy exam. | □ |
| Phase | Ready to move on when... |
|---|---|
| 1 (wks 1-2) | You can name every Tier 1 material correctly, unprompted, at least 3 out of 4 tries. |
| 2 (wks 3-4) | You can describe, in your own words, at least one specific difference for every pair in your kit. |
| 3 (wks 5-6) | Your first blind-test hit rate is established as a real baseline number. |
| 4 (wks 7-8) | You can predict, before smelling the 5:5 blend, roughly where a ratio pair's true balance point will land. |
| 5 (wks 9-10) | Your blind-test hit rate has measurably improved over your Phase 3 baseline. |
| 6 (wk 11) | You can attempt all of Chapter 36's final-exam questions on an unfamiliar perfume, even if your answers aren't fully correct. |
| 7 (wk 12) | You can point to at least one specific, concrete difference between your week-1 journal entries and your week-12 entries on the same material. |
Two honest notes: this is a floor, not a ceiling, real institute students drill like this for 18 months to 4 years, not twelve weeks. And the schedule only works if you actually track your hit rate and journal entries.