Mistake Log Template
Printable practice resource: Mistake Log Template.
How to use this resource
Use this after mocks and drills. The goal is to identify repeated failure modes, not to collect blame.
Log only misses important enough to change future practice. One precise entry is more useful than recording every typo or moment of uncertainty.
| Date | Round and artifact | Observable miss | Earliest cause | Signal | Correction rule | Retest and status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Root-cause routes
- Framing: the wrong problem, constraint, or success condition was used.
- Knowledge: a concept, API, or mechanism was genuinely unavailable.
- Retrieval: the knowledge existed but could not be recalled under the prompt.
- Reasoning: the state, invariant, causal chain, or alternative was not maintained.
- Execution: typing, diagramming, time management, or tool use failed.
- Communication: useful reasoning stayed hidden or was poorly sequenced.
- Recovery: new evidence appeared but the approach did not adapt cleanly.
Entry quality test
“Made a coding mistake” is not actionable. “Updated the right boundary before removing the outgoing count, temporarily violating the window invariant” identifies a behavior that can be rehearsed and tested.
A correction rule must be visible: “Before moving either boundary, say which invariant the move restores.” Schedule the retest on a different prompt after enough delay to test transfer rather than memory.
Review open entries weekly. Merge duplicates, retire a route only after repeated evidence, and let the log decide what practice to remove as well as what to add. See Appendix K — Mistake Log and Practice Tracker for examples and a complete tracking workflow.