Introduction
Last time we talked about active recall, today we talk about spaced repetition, basically the next step after practicing your active recall. As the name suggests, you revise the stuff repeatedly in specific intervals of time.
Combining active recall and spaced repetition can get you ahead of most of the students, in no time. Once you recall and revise things again and again it becomes permanent memory!
Imagine not having to read through your notes a day before your exams, because you already know everything!!
What is spaced repetition?
Here’s the nerdy definition: Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that is usually performed with flashcards. Newly introduced and more difficult flashcards are shown more frequently, while older and less difficult flashcards are shown less frequently in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect.
Not just flashcards, it can be quizzes, your past paper questions, notes, mind maps, etc.
The key point is to frequently add the difficult and high yield topics into your revision list more than the ones you find easy. Over the time, you need to keep track of your progress and reshuffle the topics from “difficult” to “easy”.
Forgetting curve
First introduced by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, it shows that memory declines rapidly after learning, you learn a certain information, and it lives in your mind for a while and starts to fade if you don’t revisit it again and again.
Hence, making the curve decline. However, the curve resets and becomes less steep when you revisit the information again and again, at specific intervals of time.
This is the mechanism behind spaced repetition!
7 ways for spaced repetition
The outline to mastering spaced repetition is having a schedule, for example day 2,4,6,8 or 1,3,7,14 etc. And you’re halfway there!
Combine this with active recall techniques!
Flashcards:
use self-made or internet-based flashcards and review them on the basis of difficulty.
For e.g.: you have 10 topics to study for and out of the 10 topics, 4 become really easy to solve just after 2 repetitions. So, you place the flashcards covering those topics at the end.
Quiz/questions:
any questions or quiz provided in the class, or the ones you made for active recall, practice them!
Blurting
Write down all the notes from your memory on a paper or white board.
Teaching someone
teaching someone the same topic and asking them to cross question you again and again.
Apps
set reminders to review certain flashcards, notes, etc.
Make questions
Try to make relevant questions with your memory, do not open your notes!
Interleave
This is my personal fav! Interleave your subjects. Do not stick to one subject for longer hours. try diving the recall session every 45 mins or so.
The brain has to reset and focus again and again. Keeping you from spacing out but remember to keep the time limit a little longer, do not overburden yourself every minute with a new subject to adapt with. Too much or too less, both are harmful in its own ways.
A scenario
Day 1: you recall all the topics, by blurting all the info you remember and fill in the lost points.
day 3: you recall all the topics again, but this time focus on recalling the points you missed last time.
day 7: you recall all the topics again, and miss fewer points than before
day 14: challenge yourself to not miss even a point today and recall from your memory as much as you can!
Now repeat after a few cycles, you’ll be able to recall any topic, anytime, without needing a review! If you don’t believe me, try it yourself!
Conclusion
Try the methods by yourself, and read my article on active recall, to understand the study methods listed here.
Start implementing these today AND avoid these mistakes:
- do not skip your repetition days
- push yourself to recall better do not give in easily