Offer complete, useful starting points.
Project Raise the Floor
AN ONGOING PROJECT
Make useful tools, explanations, and available code easier to reach. A free baseline should solve a real problem.
A better starting point for everyone.
PUT IT TO WORK
- Choose a task that the free starting point completes.
- Make the explanation usable alongside the tool.
- Check the actual license and release before promising code access.
START WITH THE IDEA
The idea in brief.
Give people a better starting point. A free tool or example should do something useful on its own, and its explanation should help a person understand and adapt it. Access matters most when the starting point solves a real task.
A low starting point
- Find scattered pieces
- Guess how they fit
- Pay in time before value
A useful baseline
- Start with a working tool
- Follow the explanation
- Adapt to the next task
THE DIRECTION
What we’re working toward.
Teach through working examples and clear explanations.
Keep license and release availability explicit.
HOW WE THINK ABOUT THE WORK
Principles with practical consequences.
Useful on its own
A baseline should complete a worthwhile task. Start with the person using it and the result they need, then judge whether the experience delivers that result.
Teach through the work
An example is more valuable when its inputs, decisions, and limits are visible. Research walkthroughs and related posts can explain why a tool behaves as it does.
Make access concrete
A browser demo, a downloadable application, and a source repository offer different kinds of access. Product pages and repository licenses describe what is available today.
A SMALL WORKING PRACTICE
Put the principle to work.
Choose a task that the free starting point completes.
Make the explanation usable alongside the tool.
Check the actual license and release before promising code access.
FROM IDEAS TO TOOLS
Explore the related work.
Each example gives you a task, something to look for, and a next decision. Product pages describe the current demos, releases, and source availability.
Notes →
Write, organize, and connect your notes in a focused workspace.
A task to try
Start a small, organized notebook.
What to look for
Judge the core writing and retrieval experience as a complete task.
Next decision. Read the Dogfood essays and compare the workflow with another person’s needs.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Tasks →
Plan projects, organize tasks, and make room for what matters today.
A task to try
Make today’s work visible.
What to look for
A useful starting point should help turn obligations into actions without a long setup.
Next decision. Choose a modest real project and see where the baseline stops helping.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Calculator →
Explore basic and scientific calculations, with a graphing workspace.
A task to try
Work through a basic or scientific calculation.
What to look for
Try the available browser demo and inspect how inputs become results.
Next decision. Use a calculation with a known answer; treat additional graphing needs as a separate task.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Follow the code.
Published repositories identify their own license and release status. The Open Source and Pro Source pages explain the two paths.
READ IT IN ORDER
A path through the ideas.
The Floor and the Roof →
Useful starting points and a path to more demanding work.
PRINCIPLES & FIELD NOTES
Follow the work.
guide 1 min read
Open Source: useful alone
Complete standalone tools, with code you can read, change, and build on.
Project Raise the Floorguide 5 min readHow the GRE® Issue essay is scored (2026)
How the GRE Issue essay is scored: the 0–6 half-point scale, holistic rubric, human raters plus ETS e-rater, and what separates each score band in ETS's guide.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Top Gunguide 5 min readHow to go from a 4 to a 5 on the GRE® Issue essay
A 4 is competent; a 5 is thoughtful. The GRE essay differences in position, reasoning, examples and structure, plus a revision checklist and timed drills.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Top Gunguide 4 min readThe GRE® "two views" Issue prompts, and how to answer them
How to answer GRE Issue prompts that ask which view aligns with your own: what the task requires, a planning template, and four original practice prompts.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Top Gunguide 4 min readThe GRE® Argument essay was removed: what changed
ETS removed the GRE Argument essay on September 22, 2023. Here is the full list of changes in the shorter GRE and what they mean for Analytical Writing prep.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Top Gunguide 4 min readWhat is a good GRE® Analytical Writing score?
What is a good GRE AWA score? ETS percentile ranks for every Analytical Writing level (2022–2025 data), average scores by field, and how programs use the score.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Top Gunguide 4 min readFree GRE® essay practice vs ScoreItNow!
ETS ScoreItNow! and Hopper Labs Essay Practice compared: price, what each includes, how grading works and privacy, so you can pick the right GRE essay practice.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Top Gunprinciple 3 min readRaise the floor. Then raise the roof.
A useful free baseline and advanced capability are two parts of the same ambition.
Project Raise the Floor · Project Raise the RoofAS THE WORK DEVELOPS
Project updates.
A clearer way to follow the project
The project now has the same compact detail layout and tabs as Research, with principles, practical build examples, reading paths, and connections collected in one place.
The project hub is open
The first reading paths and related tools are collected here. These are the project’s aims; individual product pages describe current availability.
ONE BODY OF WORK
Follow the connections.
Project Raise the Roof →
The floor is a useful starting point; the roof is a path to more demanding capability. Both should provide value at their own level.
Project Dogfood →
Actual use helps decide whether the free baseline is useful enough to keep.
Project Top Gun →
A shared starting point lets more people attempt a specific, demanding result.
See the larger picture.
The content graph follows project membership, shared posts, reading paths, topics, and referenced tools. Every connection has a stated reason.
For agents: the public index includes project principles, build examples, dated updates, and related posts.