Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition

Forgetting is exponential and predictable, and reviewing just before you would forget resets the curve. This makes retention a scheduling problem rather than an effort problem.

Method

1. Review at expanding intervals. Days, then weeks, then months, since reviewing material you still know well wastes the session.
2. Test recall rather than rereading. Retrieving from memory strengthens it; rereading produces familiarity that feels like knowing and is not.
3. Make each item atomic. One fact or one relationship per card, because compound items fail partially and cannot be scheduled sensibly.
4. Write items in your own words. Copied text is recognised rather than understood, and the writing is itself the learning.
5. Reschedule by difficulty. Items you fail return sooner; items you find easy stretch further out, which is what makes the total time small.
6. Prune ruthlessly. Material you no longer need should leave the rotation, or maintenance grows until you abandon it.
7. Pair with application. Recall supports understanding but does not create it, and applying the knowledge is what makes it usable (see deliberate-practice).

Boundaries

Spaced repetition suits discrete facts and vocabulary far better than skills and judgement. It requires daily consistency, and lapses produce a backlog that discourages return. Memorising material you could look up is often not worth the time.