01-Spacing, Interleaving and Retrieval - iCanStudy

5/29/23, 3:34 PM Spacing, Interleaving and Retrieval - iCanStudy
COURSE PROGRESS: 100% COMPLETE
Spacing, Interleaving and Retrieval

Video duration: 21 minutes
Expected time to master techniques: 3 to 5 hours
Time wasted per month without using these techniques*: 15 hours
*Based on an average 35 hour study week (excluding school or university).
00:00
1x
Excuse me, SIR

Although creating a system relying on spaced retrieval creates repetition and unnecessary time waste,
retrieval practice is still a very necessary component to a complete study system. The problem is when it is
relied on extensively, or used as a competitive advantage against others who are also using it. In these
situations, it is not powerful enough to reliably give you the results you want.
 Take Notes
https://icanstudy.com/lessons/spacing-interleaving-and-retrieval/ 1/30
Spaced retrieval is an easy strategy to implement straight away, so if you aren’t doing it already, you
definitely should.
If you are already using spaced retrieval, focus on building better interleaving with the guidelines
below.
Click into each of the following sub-lessons and complete them to proceed onto the next lesson. If you
need to take time to process and practice any new techniques or perspectives, you are encouraged to take
it. Time spent on real experience and application is time well invested.
 Sub-Lesson Content
100% Complete 3/3 Steps
 Spacing tips
 Interleaving tips
 Retrieval tips
 SIR Checkpoint
How are you feeling?

952 responses
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 Take Notes
Join the discussion
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337 COMMENTS  Most Voted 
Kevin Zambrano
 1 year ago
I would recommend that captions are added to all videos, just a thought, specially for students with
English as a Second Language
150 Reply
Kin
 Reply to Kevin Zambrano  2 months ago
Agree, even I have a good ear when it comes to listening (English is not my mother tongue), sometimes
there is just a phrase or words that I’ve never heard before, and I have to rewatch him saying that or
its definition again a few times.
4 Reply
Helio Junior
Yes. This is a must have.
2 Reply
jack hollingsworth
Agree – Please Consider using Captions, thank you.
7 Reply
Ricardo Martinelli
 Reply to Kevin Zambrano  1 year ago  Take Notes
You can activate Live Captions on Chrome, as said by ivan scythian.

“Captioning Suggestion:
You can use “Live Caption” in Chrome (browser extension). This has worked well for me.. ~cheers
reference:https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en “
24 Reply
Dianne Archibald
 Reply to Ricardo Martinelli  2 months ago
Thank you for this. I use that captioning now for so many of my videos. Extremely helpful!
1 Reply
Helio Junior
 Reply to Ricardo Martinelli  3 months ago
Thanks a lot =)
1 Reply
Kevin Zambrano
 Reply to Ricardo Martinelli  1 year ago
Thanks! I’m not using chrome but I’ll see if I can find an alternative plug in!
6 Reply
Ashton Sheares Admin
 Reply to Kevin Zambrano  1 year ago
Thanks for your suggestion, we are already heavily considering it.
38 Reply
yi YU
 Reply to Ashton Sheares  10 months ago
，
caption is very important I’m chinese,if i don’t get what i just heared, i hope i can check it in
caption.
7 Reply
 Take Notes
Jan Bober
 Reply to Ashton Sheares  1 year ago
I’d love to share with some cousins of mine but unfortunately their English is not so good
7 Reply
Pierre van Staden

 1 year ago
I love how the reward for studying more efficiently is getting more sleep. I’m sold.
67 Reply
ANG LI
 1 year ago
Take away: THINK before you just write notes.

36 Reply
Vitor Tomaz
 Reply to ANG LI  8 months ago
Not any sort of thinking – process what you received as sensory input.
5 Reply
Nojus Laucius
 1 year ago
Every time I try first listening then processing and then writing, I don’t remember like 20% of what the
teacher said and after that, I also miss out on other concepts. What should I do?
18 Reply
Yuri Freitas
 Reply to Nojus Laucius  10 months ago
I’m a bit late to the party, but pre-studying a lecture also helps with this issue. When you have a
general idea of the content of the lecture is beforehand, the goal of attending class is to fill knowledge
gaps in your mental framework of the subject and for questions. You will not need to remember
 Take Notes
everything you listened because you already know parts of it. Moreover, it will be easier to remember
it since you would have already studied that lesson before, even if it was in general terms.
16 Reply
João Gabriel Ferreira

 Reply to Nojus Laucius  10 months ago
As time goes by, and so the practice, your retention tends to go up.
I’ve been applying the techniques Justin teaches in his Youtube videos about thinking and processing
before taking any notes, and it’s working fairly well for me – not without some effort or insecurity,
though.
8 Reply
Matt Laderoute
 Reply to Nojus Laucius  1 year ago
A helpful solution might be to try recording your lecture so you have the source of truth available after
the lecture. Make sure you’re compliant with local laws on recording, having permissions and what not
first, though.
 Last edited 1 year ago by Matt Laderoute
7 Reply
qwerty poiyoity
 Reply to Nojus Laucius  1 year ago
Its something that will take practice. So keep at it and practice it in low stakes environments where
forgetting even most pasts is perfectly fine, like from a random youtube video
 Last edited 1 year ago by qwerty poiyoity
16 Reply
Lorenzo Nobili
 1 year ago
Before moving on to lesson 2 (The problem with studying), do I have to do the 3-5 hours of practice or
can I watch it anyway? I don’t quite understand how to divide theory and practice; i tried to read the
article but i am still confused. Thank you
9 Reply
 Take Notes
 Reply to Lorenzo Nobili  1 year ago
Hi Lorenzo, you can move onto the next lesson, but try not to move past the stage until you are
proficient with the teachings in the stage.
This Fundamentals stage is actually quite easy to implement, it’s just a matter of doing the steps and
making sure you are consistent with it.
14 Reply
Martin Klug-Noble
 1 year ago
Hey Justin, I’m stoked that you’ve competed in powerlifting. I’m a 100kg lifter with a 1400lb total. I’ve
always wondered if I could apply the sort of blocked, structured training I had in the gym to my studies.
Then I found you, and it looks like you’ve already created the program template for me! So I guess it’s
time to train in every way. Now if only there was a BHS for my social life, lol.
 Last edited 1 year ago by Martin Klug-Noble
9 Reply
Emilio Maldonado Torres

 1 year ago
Spacing and retrieval can go hand in hand right? I mean if you space your studying you need to retrieve
info to use it to learn
5 Reply
calvin tang
 Reply to Emilio Maldonado Torres  1 year ago
spacing is to help prevent us from forgetting the study material along a timeline. Every time we learn
something, we forget something 50%. Spacing is to preserve our study materials again and again, so
that the forgot material is reduced from 50% to 25% , then to 12.5%.
Retrieval is to wake up the messages from long term memory to working memory. Because the mind
keeps forgetting; we need to wake up the sleepy long term memory, and recollect the impression /
broken mental pieces of the study materials together.
Memory is seen by modern psychologist as a “Sensory, short term, long term” 3-part; so we, including
myself, find the retrieval term difficult to comprehend.
6 Reply  Take Notes
 Reply to Emilio Maldonado Torres  1 year ago
Spacing, interleaving and retrieval all go hand-in-hand. That’s why we put it all under 1 main lesson
title.
16 Reply
William Ma
 1 year ago
Hi, so would you say that we should read a topic of information, process it and then close the book and
make a mindmap so you are incorporate SIR, and then with the knowledge you missed out make Anki
cards out of that. Would you say that is more effective rather than just making cards of the topic and
then reviewing it?
5 Reply
 Reply to William Ma  1 year ago
Yes, that is a quick summary of a way you can learn. We will be diving into each part of the process as
you proceed through the course.
Defintely more effective that just recalling cards.
1 Reply

 9 months ago
There are some techniques that you won’t be able to do just yet, hence we ask you to only pick 3
techniques for you to practice. If something is unfamiliar, please use another technique. The ones that
you can do now should be quite straightforward and you can implement immediately.
4 Reply
Ying-Chun Lin
 1 year ago
“Encoding” is pretty abstract for me right now. Can I interpret that interleaving can help us improve the
encoding in the long-term memory? How can we have a good encoding when I study a new concept for
the first time?  Take Notes
3 Reply
calvin tang
 Reply to Ying-Chun Lin  1 year ago
encoding means turning an outside stimuli to something meaningful to yourself. for example, you see
a tree, you draw it, you write a tree-related poem, you take a photo of tree, you cut a bark and make a
bookmark, or you collect a leaf and make a specimen, or you make a youtube for this special tree…all
these help you form a lasting connection with that tree.
25 Reply
Benjamin Große
 Reply to calvin tang  1 year ago
Doesn’t this mean, that we are trying to interleave the information/stimuli in order to make it
meaningful? All the methods mentioned are looking at the tree from a different perspective.
3 Reply
Saras Mane
 Reply to Benjamin Große  1 year ago
Interleaving is one process through which you can encode. In the above example,
interleaving would be the methodology used to create a connection/understanding of
that tree (the drawing, the photo, the bark, the youtube video). The connection with or
understanding of that tree, is your ‘encoding’ of the tree. The stronger your
connection/understanding, the stronger your encoding. Interleaving methods help you
create a stronger understanding/connection. At least that’s how I understand it.
5 Reply
Sungmin Jeong
 Reply to Saras Mane  4 months ago
isn’t interleaving a collection of processes that help you encode?
0 Reply
 Reply to Sungmin Jeong  4 months ago
Interleaving indeed does help you encode. However, the main aim is to find gaps in
your knowledge to realise the weaknesses in your initialencoding.Take Notes
2 Reply
Pearly Wearl
 4 months ago
How can I go about using spacing to learn several months worth of content that has not been encoded
properly? should I just treat the content like new information and study/learn it all over again little by
little and then use the spacing techniques? or am I safe to almost ‘cram’ a large chunk of the info into one
day, use spacing to review the information a couple of days later and then cram another chunk of info
into another day and review it all at the end of the week? I don’t have any test or exam coming up so
there is no real rush but I am on winter break and would like to relearn everything with proper… Read
more »
3 Reply
ivan scythian
 1 year ago
Captioning Suggestion:
You can use “Live Caption” in Chrome (browser extension). This has worked well for me.. ~cheers
reference:https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en
2 Reply
Maraisha Sameer
 1 year ago
I don’t understand how to actually prestudy I tried it once it took a lot of my time and I kind of got bored
in the lecture because I felt like I already knew the material. and I am aware that I’m not pre studying I’m
pre-learning I just don’t know how to prestudy effectively without wasting a lot of my time. and what are
the basics like am I supposed to read the highlighted text and that’s it ? is there more to it?
1 Reply
 Reply to Maraisha Sameer  1 year ago
Hi Maraisha, We dive into prestudy in a lot more detail later on. For now we just want you to get a feel
of beginning to do it.
So just grab the topic you are learning (or about to learn) and break it up into large chunks. Usually
these are keywords or concepts within the topic.
 Take Notes
Then see the basic relationships between these big chunks. That’s all, no need to dive too deep into
knowing what these keywords or concepts are in detail, as that is saved for learning after prestudy.
2 Reply
chen zhiyang
 1 year ago
Did Justin in 20:04 say people take notes when learning a hobby? Sorry English isn’t my first language.
1 Reply
 Reply to chen zhiyang  1 year ago
he said: “because you are usually not writing notes for it”.
So people don’t usually write notes when learning a hobby.
5 Reply
Re-tekh Menheer
 1 year ago
Could you call interleaving different forms of retrieval?

1 Reply
Waskar Lopez Alcocer

 Reply to Re-tekh Menheer  1 year ago
yes from what I understood interleaving are different techniques utilized to retrieve/recall.
this lesson is all about reviewing, not studying.
This has nothing to do with encoding, which is the act of processing the information, encoding will be
covered later on the course.
I suppose there are so many interleaving techniques, so you can detect the gaps in your learned
content.
If i said something incorrect, please feel free to correct me as we are all here to help each other.
4 Reply
Brad
 11 months ago
 Take Notes
Am I correct in saying that spacing is a form of retrieval (ie spacing is a subset of retrieval practice – it is
telling you that you should do it in spaced intervals) whereas interleaving is related more to the encoding
stage (ie when you learn a concept and try to look at it from different angles or from around the edges)?
Can interleaving take place the first time you learn information or do you only use interleaving after you
have learned some material the first time and then as part of your revision, you expand the ways you
look at the information and relationships with other concepts and that is what is called interleaving?
1 Reply
leo f
 6 months ago
Very interesting to learn about, this knowledge is extremely insightful, and I find it fascinating how many
of this were doing this subconsciously and how all of our learning is based on these simple principles.
1 Reply
Abhiram Yerramachu
 1 year ago
Hi, I am a bit unsure of how to incorporate spacing, interleaving and retrieval with my study right now as
I am in my summer holidays. What would you recommend that i do?
0 Reply
 Reply to Abhiram Yerramachu  1 year ago
Start studying for next year now. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you finish preparing for next year by the
end of summer. Would make things so much easier next year.
3 Reply
Abhiram Yerramachu
Do i have to do this study in a specific way because i know that there are pre-study techniques
later on in the course. Also, should I study all of my subjects and what should I learn from as I
don’t have my textbooks yet?
Thanks!
1 Reply
 Take Notes
 Reply to Abhiram Yerramachu  1 year ago
Yes, there is a specific way but it does have a lot of flexibility. You will see it being
introduced to you throughout the course. Write now, just need you to stick to a few basic
guideilnes shown in these lessons.
In terms of what to study – just start preparing for next year.
1 Reply
Fang Xing Choo

 1 year ago
hi! I have tried leaving ‘gaps’ to think before writing down my notes during lectures. But since the
lecturers continue teaching, I miss out on the next piece of information the lecturer is saying. Is it more
important to leave out those gaps to think, or should I leave that aside and follow along with the
lecturer?
0 Reply
 Reply to Fang Xing Choo  1 year ago
The basic idea is to only write down the important things whilst following the lecture.
You don’t want to blindly write down notes and not understand them. Much better to understand and
process the information first before writing down.
At the beginning you may be very slow at this and have fears of missing out information. As you
progress through the course and get more practice, you will find that this is not an issue.
3 Reply
Bam Huynh
 1 year ago
when learning a new concept people tend to forget 50% of the info in an hour. So when using spacing
should we revise the concepts before the one-hour mark?
0 Reply
 Reply to Bam Huynh  1 year ago

 Take Notes
Hi Bam, generally, it’s easier to start off with 1day, 1week and 1 month revision.
We will visit this later in more detail and tailor it to your needs, but start easy first to ensure little
adjustment is needed later.
2 Reply
Bam Huynh
Thanks Ashton
0 Reply
Lamees Abu Mwise

 1 year ago
When dr Justin is saying retrieve info does it mean to recall it from the LTM? because I am a bit confused
on what he exactly means by retrieval.
0 Reply
 Reply to Lamees Abu Mwise  1 year ago
Yes, they are essentially the same. Take a look at the retrieval sublesson for more detail.
0 Reply
Jann-Tyler Zantua
 Reply to Lamees Abu Mwise  1 year ago
I’m no big expert; judging from the video, with the process of retrieval, the long-term memory is
transported back into the working memory for our minds to be viable for perhaps exams, quizzes,
tests, etc.
3 Reply
Zohair Oomatia
 1 year ago
I feel like I’m doing something wrong, as Justin mentioned in the video that when studying feels easy and
comfortable, you are retrieving and encoding incorrectly. The way I’m going right now studying does feel
easy and comfortable, what can I do to make sure I am encoding and retrieving correctly?
 Take Notes
0 Reply
 Reply to Zohair Oomatia  1 year ago
Just continue with the more advanced lessons on the course. Fundamentals is designed to be quite
easily digested to have high yield restuls. It is just the basics and more advanced systems will be placed
on these in the future. We want to make ensure people are able to take the next step forwards by
making things fundamental in the fundamentals.
1 Reply
Zohair Oomatia
sure, Thankyou!
0 Reply
Shashpal Singh
 1 year ago
It is mentioned that we should do an end of the month and end of the week revision. So should I
schedule my studying for the entire week or the entire month? Wouldn’t scheduling for the entire week
and especially the entire month create a lot of opportunities for erroneous scheduling. For example, I
often get stuck at physics problems, and it takes me way longer (typically several hours longer) than I
initially thought to fully understand the question. Also, this sort of scheduling is a lot of work if that’s
true… Also, how do we schedule time for homeworks? I study physics in University and homework takes
a TON of time to complete. Is it supposed to be done… Read more »
 Last edited 1 year ago by Shashpal Singh
0 Reply
 Reply to Shashpal Singh  1 year ago
Hi Shashpal, I’m not seeing how this scheduling would be errorneous as picing up something you are
week in at the end of the week and revising it again at the end of the month would be beneficial to
you. It’s true that it’s very simple – daily, mid-week, weekly, monthly but we want to start off with
something simple Please note that this lesson only deals with the spacing, interleaving and
retreival.Homework or practice questions can be a part of your interleval however it seems like your
 Take Notes
question is more about encoding and how it takes you a long time to understand just a single problem.
We will cover this later on in the course. For now, just make… Read more »
3 Reply
Shashpal Singh
I’m just worried that if I schedule something incorrectly. Say if I take 3 hours to learn double
integration but I scheduled it would take me 2 hours. My whole schedule for the week would be
ruined since I presumably will have had made a schedule for the entire week beforehand.
Also, I’m confused as to when should we make the schedule for spacing. Is it before or after
studying the material?
Sorry if what I said didn’t make sense. I’m not that good at explaining TT but please be patient
with me.
1 Reply
 Reply to Shashpal Singh  1 year ago
It’s alright, mistakes will happen in the beginning. But it’s from those mistake that we can
improve our skill in scheduling as long as we reflect and adjust according to the
experience. The purpose of scheduling is to make sure we do the important things first. If
it takes you 3 hours and 1 hour of something else is sacrificed, you would know that you
have done the more important thing first.
Spacing is always for in regards to revision (after you have learnt the material, you want to
revise it in spaced intervals).
4 Reply
Shashpal Singh
Ahhh, I think I get it now. I was being too rigid in my thinking or over-complicating it,
I guess. It was as simple as having time to review what you learnt at an earlier stage.
Nothing specific is mentioned about how this learning should go on (except in the
interleaving stage which is after spacing).
Yeah, perhaps I should just learn from my mistakes from scheduling and get better
at it over time.
Thanks a bunch Ashton! Really appreciate your thoughtful feedback
4 Reply
 Take Notes
Oscar Cortes
 1 year ago
In the SIR video series, Justin mentions pre-study but I was not able to find a location where pre-study is
discussed and am unsure as to what it is. Can you point me to the location where pre-study is described
and discussed? It’s very possible that I just missed it. A second but related question, when reviewing the
material for the first time, my understanding is to practice interleaving technics, and recall as much as
possible. Are we to read the material at hand completely or stick to the main topics and only get the
details as needed in consecutive reviews? My goal for this program is to get to the point in the future
where I only need to… Read more »
0 Reply
 Reply to Oscar Cortes  1 year ago
Prestudy not covered yet, it’s a prelude to what will be used and covered.
Please refer to interleaving and retrieval tips for more detail on your second question about revision.
in terms of being able to have better learning skills, please proceed with our course as that is what we
are trying to teach.
1 Reply
Oscar Cortes
Thank you Ashton for your reply. My second question was more to do with what I should be
doing in my first review of the material. Right now I take a look at what is in the chapter, and
gather enough info to see how those topics are related. Then I proceed to read the material in
detail where I’ve been practicing the SIR techniques. I am not sure if this is the recommended
way of approaching a new topic but I assume it doesn’t matter so long as we have an
opportunity to practice the SIR techniques.
0 Reply
 Reply to Oscar Cortes  1 year ago
Are you referring to “first review” as the first time you are learning the topic?
In that case, that is something we haven’t covered yet as none of these lessons cover
encoding just yet. That will come starting from Fundamentals 2.
1 Reply
 Take Notes
Morgan Wan
 1 year ago
Playing the video at 2x speed causes a crackling audio disturbance for some reason.
0 Reply
 Reply to Morgan Wan  1 year ago
Hi Morgan, we haven’t been able to replicate this issue. Is there a specific timestamp that this crackling
appears?
0 Reply
Morgan Wan
No it just seems to happen on most of the videos if i play on 2x speed for longer than a few
seconds.
0 Reply
 Reply to Morgan Wan  1 year ago
Is anyone else experiencing this?
0 Reply
Zhaimukhambet Zhailaubayev
 1 year ago
Does interleaving apply if my math course’s focus is writing proofs (one particular type of question)?
0 Reply
 Reply to Zhaimukhambet Zhailaubayev  1 year ago
Answering questions (in whichever way, even if it’s writing proofs) is simply one way of interleaval.
Please take a look at ‘interleaving tips’ sublessons for more suggestions on interleaving.
0 Reply
 Take Notes
Noah Sommers
 1 year ago
how would you apply this in remembering specific info such as quotes, dates, or names of place or is
that covered later in the course
0 Reply
 Reply to Noah Sommers  1 year ago
Memorisation or Rote learning is indeed covered later in the course. It’s actually not as important as
people think when it comes to learning.
1 Reply
Enzo Bissoli
 1 year ago
Are these equations correct to quantify “learning”?

Encoding + Forget = 1 (conservation of information processing)
a * encoding = retrieval (available useful information)
I’m curious how to relate retrieval in the first one, also if you have a better name for the first one I would
be happy to know.
0 Reply
Rajesh D
 1 year ago
I have attended the catalyst session yesterday, I had connection issues in between, where would I get the
recording.
0 Reply
 Reply to Rajesh D  1 year ago
Hi Rajesh, Please check your email.
0 Reply
 Take Notes
Lorenzo Nobili
 1 year ago
Having never made a mind map, is it better to do it without knowing anything about it or watch justin
youtube’s video on the fundamental steps? I’m at the foundamental 1 stage.
0 Reply
Drawing mindmaps is covered on the course in a lot of detail. Don’t worry if you’re not perfect at it now
but do try to have a go yourself.
0 Reply
Florian Stikklas
 1 year ago
Hi, I am having a hard time getting away from being way too passive when I prestudy (and probably
when I study as well). When I prestudy a book for example I oftentimes find myself thinking something
like: “this is a rather simple piece of information, how should I think about this from different angles” or “I
don’t know anything about this information (except the name) yet, how should I think about this from
different angles” Are there any tips for getting into the flow of actively using the information differently,
or is the beginning more about forcing myself many times during a session to use the interleaving tips
from this course section? Can I use the “teaching technique” or… Read more »
0 Reply
 Reply to Florian Stikklas  1 year ago
Hi Florian, this lesson is not about encoding, which is what you’re trying to ask. Please continue with
the course in order to find out how we process the information in the course.
The beginning lessons won’t cover what you’re asking. We begin good encoding practices from the
Briefing stage and the Ascent stage is where we teach you the advanced system after you have
mastered the basics in the previous stages.
0 Reply
Florian Stikklas
 Take Notes
Hi Ashton, thank you for your response. I understand that many of the questions are covered in
later parts of the course.
However regarding interleaving, do I use the interleaving techniques during spaced revision
sessions only (as it says in the task section), or do I also use the techniques during a study or
prestudy session (so for example do I stop during prestudy to think about creating my own
challenging test questions or how I would teach it)?
0 Reply
 Reply to Florian Stikklas  1 year ago
Interleaving is used during spaced revision. It is not used in prestudy.

Prestudy is a technique used specifically to begin learning a subject.
0 Reply
Lorenzo Nobili
 1 year ago
is it okay to make maps with software? I have software in which I am very comfortable and I can put
beautiful drawings.
0 Reply
Yes, especially if you are using a stylus/ipad. Digital drawing is actually preferred as it’s easier to edit.
0 Reply
Yasmin Abdelsalam
 1 year ago
When it comes to applying these rules, is it for each topic you learn or for each subject as a whole? Would
you have different study schedules and goals to help you achieve your study goals, or how would you
structure it? And how often would you revisit concepts or how much time would you know to spend on
each topic to be well prepared?
0 Reply
 Take Notes
 Reply to Yasmin Abdelsalam  1 year ago
Please refer to the spacing tips lesson.
0 Reply
Nithya N
 1 year ago
Summarizing what I understood about Interleaving since this is what I took the longest to
remember/implement – approach concepts in multiple ways so that you can “process” it better.
Ex: When I’m learning a piece on the piano, I learn to sing it too. This helps me better encode a tune as
well as recall how to play it. Stuff I can work on here – probably “prestudying” a piece before it’s taught to
me in class, so that I can digest it better.
0 Reply
Kostya
 1 year ago
Hello! Please clarify what is meant by “revision”. I read its definition in ICS glossary, yet I have a question.
Revision is not limited to retrieval, right? I mean if I know that I did not learn all the material of a lecture
during previous learning sessions, it’s natural that I should go and try to learn it on my next revision
session, right? Meaning go and open source material and read about the topic. (Well, if the content that
is not learned ais important)
0 Reply
 Reply to Kostya  1 year ago
“The process of re-studying information that was previously learned” is what was mentioned in that
glossary. Retrieval is just one part of it.
If you know you did not learn some material, this is not revision but still your initial learning.
0 Reply
Kostya
Alright, thanks!  Take Notes
0 Reply
Cici
 1 year ago
I would like to know at which memory trajectory are we working on when implementing the SIR rule. Is it:
1. Sensory —-> Working memory? (ensuring that information is relevant enough for it to get stored in the
working memory) or
2. Working memory—–> long term memory ( ensuring that encoding is done effectievely and efficiently)?
0 Reply
 Reply to Cici  1 year ago
Neither, these are quick implementations you can make to your studying practices for high yeild
returns without touching upon encoding yet.
We will cover memory and encoding, with more theory very shortly after fundamentals.
1 Reply
Cici
Awesome!
0 Reply
Dante Aguilar
 1 year ago
hi, wondering how can I apply the lessons on time management and the SIR fundamentals thus far.
Should I just grab a book then divide it into chunks, say per chapter, schedule a time then apply the SIR?
0 Reply
 Reply to Dante Aguilar  1 year ago  Take Notes
Hi Dante, we defintely recommend that you schedule your time, we have lessons on it very shortly. We
recommend a digital calendar and for a start, you can scheduling in your spaced revision.
0 Reply
Dante Aguilar
thank you
0 Reply
Keotshepile Setshogo
 1 year ago
Are these techniques good if you are falling back on the syllabus cause I have been in this course for 3
months and I had to go back cause I didn’t really give myself time to understand the techniques . And in
most of my subjects we are already done so I can’t pre study so the question is if I study something after
about 1hour should I try to recall it then the following day then after like 2 days and also the interleaving
and retrieval are they supposed to be done hand in hand
0 Reply
 Reply to Keotshepile Setshogo  1 year ago
Yes, it’s good to implement these straight away in order to gain the benefits of them immediaely.
These are very high yield techqniues for the low amount of effort needed to implement them. Often
these are referring to as “tips”. Prestudy is not covered in this lesson. This lesson is about spaced
interleaved retrieval into your studying. Please do follow the guidelines mentioned in this lesson and
the sublessons.
0 Reply
Ayan Rahman
 1 year ago
With spacing so often, I’m worried that spacing won’t let me enough time to do my assignments after
school or vice versa. It makes more sense for me to do my assignment work first, or is this urgency
trapping?
0 Reply
 Take Notes
 Reply to Ayan Rahman  1 year ago
It is urgency trapping as the consequence of not doing your homework really is quite short term.
But the affect of not learning properly actually makes it harder and longer to do your assignment and
also impacts your final exams heavily.
However, don’t treat assignments as something mutually exclusive to proper learning, you can use it
as a form of interleaving in order to do well in your assignements.
2 Reply
Ruan Sherpa
 1 year ago
So it says that the expected time to master techniques is 3 to 5 hrs. Is that from this video and the 3 sub
lessons or all of fundamentals?
0 Reply
 Reply to Ruan Sherpa  1 year ago
Yes, it includes doing the sublessons and putting thing to practice. It doesn’t take long to become
proficient at implementing SIR hence it’s in the high yield phase.
0 Reply
Maksym Kononov
 1 year ago
Normally I take notes in a language that lecturer is using in his lecture. But in this lecture I was
introduced to two new ideas: Interliving and thinking before taking note. And It got me thinking;Wat if I
take notes in my mother language? Would it be a good form of information processing and Interliving ?
What are your thought on this ?
0 Reply
 Reply to Maksym Kononov  1 year ago
If you are trying to learn the language to a higher proficiency, it is usually better to use that language.
Either way, you will be processing the informaion, so it shouldn’t make toomuch of aTake difference in
Notes
terms of processing.
In terms of interleaving, translating it to your first language is not a form of interleaving.
0 Reply
Nelson Carmona
 1 year ago
The relation in learning hobbies and the SIR blows my mind. In our hobbies, we do not cram what we
learn. The information passes through SIR. We space our practice so we get time to consolidate what we
learn. We interleave the techniques when we think in different ways to apply the movement or
technique depending on your hobbie. Last but not least, we retrieve to make the movement perfect,
and alsoto reinforce our ability to use the movement faster :). Thanks Dr. Justin and his team. Both
makes my life meaningful for this information.
0 Reply
Azmi Zainal
 1 year ago
Hi guys,
Just recapping here before I move on to Ascent 1. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but am I right to say
that basically all the techniques we have learned from Fundamentals to Technique training and
therefore beyond that, are and will be based on the principles of SIR? Thank you!
0 Reply
 Reply to Azmi Zainal  1 year ago
That’s not correct. SIR is only a system for revision. It doesn’t cover other aspects of learning.
0 Reply
Azmi Zainal
Ok, got it. Thanks Ashton!
0 Reply
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Eris Ng
 11 months ago
I feel like I’m doing wrong. So here is what I do to study a lesson at the first time. 1. I read the entire
lesson. 2. I closed the book, then do some mindmap to get it together, and I see something important
that I forget/misunderstand => re-read the lesson again. Complete the mindmap. 3. Try to teach an
imaginary student, it takes me like 5 to 10 mins to cover just the basis of the lesson without much
detailed information. 4. I re-read the lesson again and do the practice questions. The problem is I did use
interlearning techniques but I feel like I spend way too much time on re-reading. I watched the video on
this lesson… Read more »
 Last edited 11 months ago by Eris Ng
0 Reply
 Reply to Eris Ng  11 months ago
This lesson is to ensure you have a robust revision strategy, since it’s rather fast and easy to
implement.
The biggest shortcoming in your list is actually when you “read the entire lesson”. This is part of
encoding the initial information and we will address this in Fundamentals 2. So don’t worry too much
about encoding for now, just make sure your SIR. Especially take note of the interleaving techniques as
there is a heavy emphasis on NOT simply re-reading in your revision.
0 Reply
Eris Ng
Thank you so much!
0 Reply
Pedro Cayllahua
 11 months ago
so if I understood, spacing and interleaving can be applied to enconding. But first we’re looking to apply
it to retrieval?
0 Reply
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 Reply to Pedro Cayllahua  11 months ago
That is not correct. Spacing and Interleaving is for Revision. It is not part of the initial encoding of
information, which is something we cover later on in the course (starting from Fundamentals 2) as it is
mroe difficult and takes much longer time to implement and gain benefits from compared to Spaced
Interleaved Retrieval and other techniques in Fundamnetals 1.
0 Reply
William Andrews
 11 months ago
Anyone understand encoding vs interleaving?

0 Reply
Sam
 11 months ago
I do use some interleaving techniques (simple ones) while studying and find the subject material difficult
to retrieve. Correct me If im wrong. That now I understand that effective encoding is something that
leads to better retrieval. However before learning encoding do I still need to implement these techniques
as I used to or should I get going further?
0 Reply
 Reply to Sam  11 months ago
If interleaving is difficult, then it means that there are gaps in your knowledge that interleaving is
finding, which is a good thing as that’s the main purpose of interleaving.
Encoding will take a long time to build up and the bulk of it is in the growth phase but interleaving has
high yield effects now so please do continue with SIR.
1 Reply
mohamad younes
 11 months ago
Can we increase the duration for more than 2 months or is it the highest space ? Also How can we use it
on topics we wanna master ?  Take Notes
0 Reply
 Reply to mohamad younes  11 months ago
It is not neccessary for now. We do cover more advanced revision techniques later in the course that
can be used at that time frame.
For your second question, I don’t see how the process would change.
0 Reply
mohamad younes
Thanks
0 Reply
Faizaan Aslam
 10 months ago
So, if I’m understanding this correctly, SIR is fundamentally about strengthening the neural pathways of
the information you’re learning in your brain.
0 Reply
 Reply to Faizaan Aslam  10 months ago
“strengthening the neural pathways” sounds like something physically changing, which may not be the
case, but you are right in that these are optimal ways to strengthen your long-term retention of
information.
0 Reply
Caleel Rowe
 10 months ago
So for my self taught/ self-pace class, I’ve been trying to create mind maps. This has been challenging, for
one because I have been needing to re-read over a paragraph or 2 of text to understand the concept.
maybe this is steming from another problem, but this increased my needed study time a lot when I only
draw/write thing down from memory for “Intial Retrieval’ since I didn’t want to write anything down
mindlessly. Also when it comes to retrieval afterwords, is the goal to just retrieve
 whatTake Notesdrawn,
we already
or draw another mind map from memory? I recently restarted back to rapid start module from
fundamentals 2 to take it slow and steady. Thank you.
0 Reply
 Reply to Caleel Rowe  10 months ago
Please take a look at the sublessons for how to do interleaval and retrieval properly.
Mindmapping is covered later in the course and not in this lesson, please refer to those lessons.
0 Reply
Caleel Rowe
 Reply to Caleel Rowe  10 months ago
As a quick side note, Imm starting to understand why we call it “MindMaps”. For some reason, once
internalized and on paper, Im able to retrieve the concepts by thinking of the pictures I drawn. But I
still would like to know what you think about my previous questions.
0 Reply
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5/29/23, 3:34 PM Spacing, Interleaving and Retrieval - iCanStudy

COURSE PROGRESS: 100% COMPLETE

Spacing, Interleaving and Retrieval

Expected time to master techniques: 3 to 5 hours

Time wasted per month without using these techniques*: 15 hours

*Based on an average 35 hour study week (excluding school or university).

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337 COMMENTS  Most Voted 

Yes. This is a must have.

Agree – Please Consider using Captions, thank you.

You can activate Live Captions on Chrome, as said by ivan scythian.

Ashton Sheares Admin

 Reply to Kevin Zambrano  1 year ago

Thanks for your suggestion, we are already heavily considering it.

Pierre van Staden

Take away: THINK before you just write notes.

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 Last edited 1 year ago by Matt Laderoute

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 Reply to Emilio Maldonado Torres  1 year ago

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 Reply to William Ma  1 year ago

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isn’t interleaving a collection of processes that help you encode?

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 Reply to chen zhiyang  1 year ago

Could you call interleaving different forms of retrieval?

Waskar Lopez Alcocer

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