How to Do Spaced Repetition? (An In-Depth Guide)

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Have you ever had a major exam coming up in a few weeks and decided until the last minute to study? Maybe you didn’t know what exactly to study for during the weeks, so kept putting it off since you’re one of those people who “work well under pressure.”

But the anxiety and adrenaline aren’t good for your brain in the long run, and you might even end up having to pull an all-nighter right before the exam just to study, leaving you exhausted and sleep-deprived the next day.

Then you pull out whatever you can from your brain during the exam, and when you walk out, you forget everything you’ve learned like it was just erased.

Luckily, in this article, we’re going to teach you how to put those few weeks to good use so you don’t have to cram and can retain information long-term, and not just for that one exam. In order to achieve that, we have to learn something called “spaced repetition.”

What is Spaced Repetition?

Spaced Repetition, according to AlleyDog (a website for psychologists), is a “learning method by which you review learned information at gradually increasing intervals. This method uses the spacing effect (sometimes called distributed practice) which increases the recall of learned information when the learning is spaced out over time as opposed to being crammed into one learning session.”

An example of this is when you learn something and repeat it again an hour later, then again after three hours, then again the next day, and so on and so forth. 

That’s why it’s called “spaced” repetition because you’re repeating what you learned over a span of space in time in order to memorize it better.

In a research done by Indiana University, they define spaced repetition as “following a schedule determined by a spaced repetition algorithm to improve long-term retention.”

Note how they’ve consistently emphasized long-term memory retention in the article they published in PNAS, and that long-term part is what separates it from cramming.

Effectiveness of Spaced Repetition

Not a lot of people know about spaced repetition and are actually more familiar with cramming, which not only affects their performance but their brains as well.

When you cram, you’re pushing several pieces of information in one big space of time, not allowing your brain to rest or forget one information after another.

The Academic Affairs of the University of Arizona states that “After learning a new concept, skill or idea, learners should give their mind time to forget so that the brain, in subsequent study sessions, must struggle to recall the information that was learned previously.”

You need to learn to forget something, struggle to remember it, and repeat it in order for it to be effective.

Why is that? Well, your brain is like a muscle, and allowing it to rest between periods of learning or memorizing helps give time for the muscle (brain) to rebuild and be stronger. 

If you’re a bodybuilder, you don’t just go to the gym for seven hours in one day and never return again, thinking it’s enough to bulk up your muscles. It’s the same thing with your brain, and how effective spaced repetition is when it comes to memorizing.

Many studies have shown the effectiveness of spaced repetition, and it’s what several prestigious schools use when teaching their students. Universities such as Stanford and Oxford have high praise for using this technique, as it better improves memory and a long-term one at that. 

In other words, the more you do spaced repetition, eventually, you won’t need to work to remember—you will be able to recall the information quickly from your long-term memory.

Take a look at this excerpt from a research article taken from SagePub Journals:

“Hundreds of studies in cognitive and educational psychology have demonstrated that spacing out repeated encounters with the material over time produces superior long-term learning, compared with repetitions that are massed together. Also, incorporating tests into spaced practice amplifies the benefits.” -Sean H.K Kang.

Why Most People Don’t Do Spaced Repetition

Despite research saying and proving the effectiveness of spaced repetition, why is it that not a lot of people do it? Apart from not knowing about it, some people might come to read this article and say, “Ahh, so that’s what it is,” but actually not apply it to real life. They’ll always go back to their old ways of cramming, and it’s all for naught.

Here are some reasons why some people find it hard to do spaced repetition, and how you can overcome that.

1. Procrastination and Cramming

The first and most obvious reason why you’re still not using spaced repetition could be because you’re used to cramming.

We cram because of something called “procrastination” which is when you put off something until the very last minute.

As previously mentioned, cramming is not effective in the long run, and here are a few studies to show that.

According to a study done in 2011 by Andrea Haberman from the Minnesota State University, they found that students who did cramming typically only passed their examinations with average scores.

Additionally, when asked to take the same exam again a while later, many of them failed or weren’t able to retain the same score.

Stanford University also had its own say with regards to cramming, and it’s that “cramming places too much stress on the brain, pushing it beyond its limits.” 

This causes more anxiety and stress levels to rise in the organ, not giving it time to breathe and relax as it should in order to function optimally.

So yes, it may help you pass the exam, or fail, but it doesn’t help in the long term.

Also read: Should You Study Right Before a Test?

2. Laziness

Laziness is another word people don’t like to associate themselves with, especially when they find out spaced repetition requires discipline in revisiting concepts in a space of time. 

It’s the reason why procrastination and cramming end up happening because the thought of studying is too much work.

But why do people become lazy exactly? It might be because they’ve got a thinking that goes something like, “It’s too tiring. It’s not like it’ll work anyway or maybe I’ll do a poor job at it.”

The goal then is to overcome that thought and replace it with recognizing your strengths and accomplishments. If you recognize the things you accomplish more, it might help in encouraging you to do more.

Also, the words you tell yourself are powerful, and if you keep saying things like, “I’m too lazy to do it now. I’ll do it later,” you’ll be stuck in that loop of procrastination and it will burn you out eventually.

Speak positive words to yourself, instead of negative self-talk. Say things like, “I can do this. It’ll only take a small portion of my time, and I can easily accomplish this.”

Also read: How Do I Stop Procrastinating? (An In-Depth Guide)

3. Too Overwhelmed

G.K. Chesterton, a Christian philosopher, once said, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” 

We are often overwhelmed because we believe if we do something, we always have to do a great job at it. We have this fixed standard for ourselves that we want to reach, but what’s your basis? If it’s only the success of other people, forget it.

Starting spaced repetition may be overwhelming for some because they want to do it as well as people who have been doing it for years. 

But as G.K. Chesterton said, it’s worth doing badly. Meaning you don’t have to be good at it in order to start it, you just need to start. 

If you love painting but suck at art, grab that brush and do it anyway. If you always get last place whenever you run in a competition, run anyway. If you’re scared of going to the gym because you’re afraid you won’t be consistent, go anyway. 

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, and try not to be overwhelmed with something you don’t have to be good at, but simply to start at.

Of course, it’s important to set goals and strive towards excellence, but live a life of joy, and embrace whatever you enjoy regardless of your skill level.

4. Too Busy

Another reason why we don’t want to start spaced repetition is that we’re “too busy.” which means we don’t have the time of the day to recall some things for learning.

There are 24 hours in a day, and that’s plenty of time to do something. In the next paragraph, you’ll find out that spaced repetition only takes up a few minutes of your day, and you can easily do it everywhere.

Also read: 5 Tips to Overcome Lack of Time and Start Being Productive

How To Do Spaced Repetition

People have different ways of doing spaced repetition, and almost everyone has different time intervals and so on. If you’re not sure about where to start, here are a few basic structures you can start with.

According to Humm’s Guide to Spaced Repetition Learning, the optimal intervals for review are 1 day, 7 days, 16 days, and finally, 35 days from the point when the information is first reviewed.

So say you’re trying to learn a formula for calculus. Memorize that formula, then try again after one day. If you’ve got it correctly, revisit it again after seven days, then sixteen days, and so on and so forth.

It’s simple enough, and best done with flashcards or pieces of paper you can write on. 

Now the reason why you need such spaces in between learning is because of something called the “forgetting curve,” which is defined by Oxford University as “how much knowledge is lost over time when our brains don’t put in any effort to remember it.”

As previously mentioned, you need to allow your brain to naturally forget in order to truly challenge the memory’s permanence in your head, and if you can remember it easily in a span of days and weeks, then it won’t be a problem in remembering it after years.

A great app for this is a tool called the AnkiDroid Flashcards, which you can download for your windows PC or android. If you’re using IOS, Quizlet works just as fine.

What we love about the Anki app is that it determines the amount of space interval based on the answers you get right or wrong. For instance, if you get an answer right, the space interval would be more days compared to if you got an answer wrong. 

Say you’re trying to memorize the continents of the world. If you get the answer right, the app will know to repeat the question one day from now. 

When you get it right again after a day, it’ll repeat it again after seven days, and so on. But if you get the answer wrong, it will repeat the question for a few hours until you get it right again.

Start with the questions you’re not familiar with, and focus on that. It’s either questions you’re not familiar with or old materials you need to revisit.

Once you’ve mastered the questions, you’re good to go.

Now the next question is, how many repetitions do you need for long-term memory?

A research done by Dr. Christopher Smith states that “the optimum number of repetitions for vocabulary to go into the long-term memory of the brain is 17 repetitions.”

This means 17 repetitions over a time interval of 1 day, then 7 days, then 16 days, and so on. That may sound like a really long time, but then again it only takes a few minutes (even seconds) of your day. 

By the way, if you like to learn how to learn faster, check out Jim Kwik’s book Limitless. You can listen to the audiobook version for free if you subscribe to Audible’s 30-day free trial for the first time.

Final Thoughts 

It’s important to start as soon as possible when it comes to memorizing important things in the long-term, such as if you’re a medical doctor who will be using vital information to save lives in the years to come.

It is absolutely possible, you need only a few minutes of the day and a schedule spanned over the weeks leading up to an exam. 

You don’t have to be perfect at it, just consistent. You can do it poorly and have many wrong answers, but stay consistent until you get it right. 

In time, that memory becomes a part of your brain like a limb is to your body, and you won’t forget about it no matter how hard you try.

Once you’ve done your part, all you have to do is relax and get a full night’s rest the night before the exam and let your brain do the rest when it’s time.