Keep spacing out? 😵💫 Try spaced repetition!
Hello, fellow Alt nerds! 🤓
We’re thinking of beginning a series where we share a new learning hack with you every Friday or alternate Friday — got suggestions for a name?
Why Friday? We think it’s perfect to learn about ‘how to learn’ on a Friday, when you’re done with your classes and have the weekend to test it out, see how it works, and make any tweaks necessary before another week begins.
In short: Fridays are for knowledge, weekends are for mastery 🎯
While you’re brainstorm that — today, let’s talk about spaced repetition.
Ever heard of it? Well, we love it. Especially because it’s an evidence-backed 🔬 learning strategy, meaning it’s no-nonsense and 100% effective. And we recommend it to whoever asks us for recommendations on how they can improve their learning and avoid forgetting things they swear they had memorized super well. 🙄
Spaced repetition, introduced by psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus in 1885 (he’s had our backs since the 19th century 😮💨), is when you space out your learning and practice of new knowledge and skills.
Once you learn something new, your mind goes through something called a forgetting curve, 🤔 a mathematical formula which describes the rate at which information is forgotten after it is learned.
The initial curve is fairly steep, meaning you forget what you’ve learnt quite quickly. Spaced repetition helps flatten that curve; the more you revisit it, the more it flattens, i.e., it becomes easier to stick to your memory.
For a more visual understanding, check out this quick link! (P.S. — if you’re really short on time and want to cut to the chase, watch from 1:33 onwards)
Thus, the goal of spaced repetition is to revisit the material we’ve learnt when it begins to get foggy but not completely forgotten. Ideally, this looks like revisiting a concept 1-2 days after it’s newly learned. Then, try following it up again 5-7 days after the second exposure. Follow it up on Day 14, Day 28, and then every months until your exams 📆
So how does this work with our material and courses?
Each time you tackle learning a new chapter or sub-topic, revise what you learnt the next day from memory. If you’re struggling, turn to our revision guides for some help. You don’t need to spend too long on this — I’d suggest 30 minutes is a good enough time to revisit and refresh those concepts. Simply repeat this on Day 7, 14, 28, and so on. I recommend noting down which days you’re revising which concept, to avoid getting lost or confused ✍🏼🫥
Try it out this weekend and let us know what you think! 🤩
#tipoftheweek #learningtipsandhacks
