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What is spaced repetition?

Flashcard software for Microsoft
In order to retain any information in our brain we must refresh it periodically. Let’s assume Windows 10/7/8/Vista/XP/2000
that you hear somewhere the following fact: “The capital of Norway is Oslo”. If you are not
using this information in any way, you will most likely forget it after a very short amount of
time. If, however, you encounter this information again and again, for example because you Search for:
might have an interest in Norway or you happen to visit Oslo from time to time, or you learn Search
for an exam on Northern European geography then obviously you will remember this
information for much longer time.
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The more often you have encountered a piece of information the less often you need to How to become an
refresh it to keep it in your memory. However, even the most familiar information will be outstanding student
forgotten if it is not encountered or refreshed for a very long time. It is for example not and expert in your
uncommon that people who move to another country will over longer periods of time loose field
their ability to speak their own mother tongue properly.
The most effective
Most likely, everybody has made a similar experience. When you were using some piece of spaced repetition
flashcard learning
information actively it was always easy to recall. However, once you stopped using it, since
methods
it was not important any more in your daily life this information quickly faded away until it was
completely forgotten. Teaching children with
autism – how to
Spaced repetition is a learning technique that is based on these facts. It means that overcome learning
you review information at gradually increasing intervals. disabilities

Spaced repetition is sometimes also called spaced rehearsal or expanding rehearsals. How not to learn a
Even more alternative names are graduated intervals, repetition spacing, repetition language – the anti-
language learner’s
scheduling or spaced/expanded retrieval. manifesto

The Leitner System Learning a language –

The 10 most effective
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 In combination with flashcards (see what is a flashcard) spaced repetition creates an way of learning strategies
optimizing your learning. In the 1970s Sebastian Leitner conducted a series of experiments
for improving his own learning behavior and subsequently developed the Leitner-System. Can you learn a
language in 10 days,
30 days or 90 days?
The Leitner System can be viewed as a physical box in which you store your flashcards. The
box has several compartments labeled e.g. 1 to 5 (you could choose more compartments
as well). You then put each of your flashcards into appropriate compartments in this box. If
your flashcard is still new you will want to put it in the first compartment, where you repeat the Popular Posts
flashcards every day. Flashcards, which you know well will be put into the second The forgetting curve
compartment. Flashcards in the second compartment have to be reviewed every second
day. Flashcards, which you know well there will be moved to the third compartment and so Hermann Ebbinghaus
on. Each compartment has a different repetition interval. And flashcards, which you know – a pioneer of memory
well, get promoted to the next compartment. research
In case that you could not answer a flashcard correctly you move it back to the first
The spacing effect
compartment where the cycle starts again.
Learning a language –
With this system you are able to sort your flashcards into those you know well and those, The 10 most effective
which are difficult to retain or you don’t know well. learning…

Thus you study the flashcards, which you know worse more often. The learning curve

Now onto the bigger problem: how often do you have to repeat the flashcards in each How to become an
outstanding student
compartment? and expert in your…
Obviously there are a couple of problems with the Leitner System. Printable chemical
elements flashcards
What intervals should the compartments have? Should the second compartment be 2
days or maybe 5 days? What about the third, fourth, fifth etc. compartment? You might Home
find a solution, which works for you with a lot of trial and error.
What is spaced
You repeat too much! Let’s assume you put some flashcards from the second repetition?
compartment to the third one with intervals of 2 and 5 days respectively. Now since
The most effective
you look at the third compartment only every 5 days but can put flashcards from the spaced repetition
second to the third at day 1, 3 and 5 the flashcards in the third compartment did not flashcard learning…
actually have a 5 days interval. Sure, some of them did, but for most of them the
interval is smaller than 5 days, so you do a lot of additional repetition, which is a waste
of time.
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In principle, each flashcard needs to have its own box with compartments. However anti-language learning autism expert
even this is not enough. The Leitner-System does not take into account your past fastest learning flashcard learning
performance of this card. Each time you answer the cards incorrectly the appropriate guide how-to learning
optimal spacing intervals for each card must be adjusted as well. effectiveness learning efficency
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 You have to do some management overhead, since you have to keep track which learning environment learning
compartment have to be repeated on which day. strategies learning time learn
If you want to use the Leitner System with physical flashcards you also will have language in 30 days limits of

another problem: this system can be easily used for a couple of hundred flashcards, learning manifesto satire schedule

however things get rather messy if you have thousands or tens of thousands of sleep spaced repetition
steadiest learning student teaching
flashcards.
methods time needed to learn a
language
In order to spend as little time as possible on learning and repetition we have to attribute to
each flashcard its own repetition schedule. The Leitner System does not capture this easily
since it has only 5 (or maybe some more) rigid compartments available. Categories
General learning
Automatic spaced repetition scheduling Language learning

Here is where the computer really shines. Learning disability

The combination of spaced repetition, flashcards and computers leads to the most
optimal way of learning. The computer manages and calculates for each individual
flashcard the optimal repetition interval based on your past performance of that particular
flashcard. No more rigid compartments as in the Leitner System, no more guessing about For smart Learners
the correct interval timing, no more management overhead. Spaced repetition software It's so easy to use. -- Carla
(SRS) increases the efficiency of studying with flashcards with sophisticated adaptive F., Biology student
spaced repetition algorithms, which track your repetition performance for each flashcard in
the database individually. I can only say thank you.
Flashcard Learner really
Computer based spaced repetition flashcard software therefore drastically reduces rocks! -- Eric S., Engineer
the time to learn information that can be arranged in question/answer pairs.
Flashcard Learner is
p r o b a b l y the best
How can we optimize the learning process? flashcard software
around. -- John F., High
School Teacher

The two main factors for your success in learning and retaining the information are:
Did You Know?
1. How much of the information do you still retain?
It is usually more beneficial
2. How much time and effort did you spend to reach and maintain your current level of for your brain to learn little,
information retention? but regularly, such as every
day, than to learn things in
a large chunk at once.
Obviously you will want to retain as much information as possible (1) but with a
minimum investment of effort and time (2).
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 You could review the capital of Norway every minute, or every hour or every day. But what Our Policies
for? If your reviewing does not add to any increase in your level of knowledge, you are
simply wasting time and manpower.

Optimizing learning means that we want to make as few repetitions as possible to reap the
maximum benefit out of it. We want to spend the minimum amount of time to learn any piece
of information such that it permanently stays in our memory. All the time you spare not
repeating things you already know well you can either enjoy with your family and friends or
learn new things to increase your level of knowledge. Learn more in less time. Privacy Policy
We want to repeat frequently enough that we don’t forget any of the information. But we also End-User License
want to review as infrequently as possible so as not to waste valuable time. About us
We want the repetitions to occur exactly at the sweet spot where we just still know the
information before it is forgotten.
Synonyms
The task of the spaced repetition algorithm is to determine the optimal repetition spacing
interval for a given flashcard. A spaced repetition
software is sometimes
written short as SRS.
So how does spaced repetition work from the user’s perspective? Spaced repetition can also
be called repetition
scheduling or repetition
Flashcard Learner is a flashcard software with an adaptive spaced repetition algorithm. spacing.
After you have downloaded and installed it, you can start learning and repeating your
flashcards or you can test the software with the included sample data bases. The general
procedure is as follows:

1. Each day, check Flashcard Learner: it will present you with a list of flashcards, which
have been scheduled for repetition on that day.
2. You then try to recall the correct answer from memory for the flashcards.
3. For each flashcard Flashcard Learner will show you the answer and you rate your
performance on this flashcard. The rating process is not just right or wrong, but you
should indicate the difficulty level of answering the flashcard.
4. Flashcard Learner then schedules the flashcard to be repeated again at some point in
the future based on your rating of your performance that day and on your previous
performance of the flashcard.
5. Steps 2-4 are repeated until all items are reviewed.
6. The flashcards, which were easy for you to answer, will be scheduled further into the
future than the ones which you had difficulties with — those are repeated more
frequently until you know them sufficiently well.
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 7. If you use Flashcard Learner regularly it will adapt to your unique learning style
and abilities and will be able to predict more and more accurately for each
individual flashcard the ideal repetition interval. So you don’t need to worry any
more about repetition schedule. Flashcard Learner makes sure that all the items in
the database will enter smoothly and effortlessly into your long term memory.

Flashcard Learner uses two different modes: the Learning mode and the Repetition mode.
Learning serves as entering flashcards into the scheduling process of the spaced repetition
algorithm.

On a typical day of use you first repeat all the items that are scheduled for today. If you still
have free capacities and want to move on in your studies you would then learn some more
items from the unlearned items in your database, which will then move to the regular
reviewing intervals of the repetition mode.

Spaced repetition software engages you in an active reviewing process, since it always
expects you to provide an answer. So your brain has to remember correctly the asked piece
of information, which in turn activates and strengthens neural connections. Passive
reviewing, such as simply re-reading material is much less effective.

The advantage of spaced repetition software (SRS) is that it automatically manages

and schedules revisions in your learning process. Therefore you can focus on
difficult items and don’t waste valuable learning time repeating items, which you
know already very well.

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