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🔁 Methods

Spaced repetition

Review just before you would forget — the most replicated schedule in learning science.

Spaced repetition schedules a review just before the forgetting curve would drop the trace — Ebbinghaus mapped that curve in 1885; Cepeda and colleagues later measured expanding gaps in live learners.

This atlas ranks it near the top for evidence, exam fit and long retention, and middling for first-week speed — early hours go to card design.

Use it as a calendar for facts you must still name in six months — not as a substitute for a blank-page problem.

FamilyMethods
Evidence96/100
Exam fit94/100
Retention97/100
Effort70/100
Beginner62/100

Profile

Evidence
96
Speed to gain
55
Effort cost
70
Exam fit
94
Retention
97
Beginner-friendly
62
965570949762

Seven chapters

Frequently asked questions

Spaced repetition: What is this, in one honest paragraph?
A schedule that asks for a retrieval just before you would have forgotten, then lengthens the gap after a success.
Spaced repetition: What does the evidence actually say?
Ebbinghaus showed savings on relearning; Cepeda et al. found expanding gaps beat cramming for delayed tests; Leitner and SuperMemo turned the idea into boxes and algorithms.
Spaced repetition: How does it help a high-stakes exam?
It fits listing, definition and formula items that return on later papers. It does not grade a proof you have never written.
Spaced repetition: How fast is a first honest gain?
A first honest lift is often two to three weeks of daily reviews, not the first night of card-making.
Spaced repetition: What do beginners usually break?
They write encyclopedic cards, never fail a card, or pause the deck for a week and then blame the algorithm.
Spaced repetition: Which tools are enough to start?
A deck, a daily time box, and a rule that one card holds one fact. Paper Leitner boxes work if you actually move the cards.
Spaced repetition: Who should not start here?
Someone who still lacks a source outline, or who needs a motor skill rather than a nameable fact.
Spaced repetition: How does it combine with other methods?
Pair it with closed-book recall for the same items, and with worked examples when the item is a procedure.

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