Cornell Quarry

The page is laid out like a Cornell note sheet: notes on the right, a cue column on the left, and a summary band below that fills only with the facts your chosen cues actually retrieve. Mine the round to score your coverage and efficiency.

• Read the passage and note how many key facts are buried in it
• Pick cue questions from the left column to retrieve those facts
• The summary fills in from whatever your cues recover
• Aim for full coverage while wasting as few cues as possible, then press Mine

• Daily: one shared passage per day
• Practice: a fresh random passage each round

• Desktop: click cue questions to select or deselect them, Clear cues to reset, and Mine to score
• Phone & tablet: tap cues to toggle them and tap Mine to score the round

• A sharp cue retrieves several facts at once, favor broad questions over narrow ones to keep your cue count low
• Watch the still-buried count: deselect cues that retrieve nothing new to avoid the wasted-cue penalty

Cornell Quarry turns the Cornell note-taking system into a deliberate study challenge.

• Skills: note-taking, the Cornell method, summarizing, study skills
• Best for: roughly grades 7–12 (ages 12+)
• For parents & teachers: the Cornell note-taking method, practised.

Notes on the right, cues on the left, and a summary band below is the Cornell note-taking system, devised at Cornell University in the 1950s.

Having the summary fill only with facts your chosen cues actually reach is the original device.

That is a sharp implementation of the system's point. The cue column exists so notes can be self-tested by covering the right side, so a cue that retrieves nothing is a failed cue — and normally you would not discover that until revising.

Cornell Quarry is an original free browser study game that turns the Cornell note-taking system into a deduction puzzle about asking the questions that best retrieve what you read.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.