Spaced repetition, explained without the jargon
You forget most of what you learn within days — unless you review it at the right moments. Here's how to time your revision.
In the 1880s, the psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus memorised lists of nonsense syllables and tested himself on them over the following days. He found that memories fade fast at first and then more slowly — what's now called the forgetting curve.
He also found something more useful: each time you review something, it fades more slowly afterwards. That's the idea behind spaced repetition.
The simple version
Instead of studying a topic five times in one evening, study it five times spread over a few weeks. Same effort, much better memory.
- Learn the topic.
- Review it the next day.
- Review it again after 3 days.
- Then after a week.
- Then after a few weeks.
Why cramming feels like it works
Cramming does work — for about a day. That's why it's so tempting the night before an exam. But most of it is gone a week later, and university subjects build on each other. Spaced reviews mean you still know last semester's material when this semester needs it.
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