Spaced Practice

What is it?

This simple method of spacing out your studying makes a big difference in helping to form lasting memories. It's a pretty simple concept: space out the times that you study. Instead of spending 5 hours the night before a test studying you would spread out that five hours over the course of a few weeks before the test.

Why is it effective?

  1. Refresh: You naturally forget information over time. But if you refresh your memory periodically, before you've forgotten
  2. Well-Travelled Path: To use our jungle path analogy, spacing increases the number of times you walk down the path. It also spaces out when you do the trips. Doing a number of trips over a period of time helps you to really remember the path.
  3. Let the information set: if we compare learning to building a wall, spacing allows time for the mortar for a layer of bricks to set before we add the next layer of bricks.

    4. How to Use

    1. One way is to use your calendar to write down times to study. Whether you use paper or digital calendar give yourself set times to practice for a test in the weeks before the test.
    2. Set up consistent, short study sessions over time instead of cramming the night before.
    3. If you need help setting or remembering a schedule

    When to Use

    1. As you might guess, this technique works best when you have time to study before you need to remember. You’ll need days at least, weeks at best.
    2. Other than that, you can use this to help you learn pretty much everything.

    Tips & Tricks

    1. Use this in combination with other study techniques. Spacing just spreads out when you study. Make sure to use the other skills on this site when you do study and don’t just reread your notes.

    2. Block out realistic amounts of time to study. Don’t schedule 2 hours if you won’t be able to actually do that. Even scheduling 15–30 minute blocks that are spaced out will give benefits.

    Resources:

    Downloads

    1. [Pdf 1 page quick guide] Learn to Study Using Spaced Practice:
    2. [Pdf] Weekly Action Plan

    For more information on the plan visit

    Videos

    1. [video 1:41] Study Strategies: Spaced Practice
    2. [video 4:27] Spaced Repetition in Learning Theory
    The Most Powerful Way to Remember What You Study

    Podcasts and web sites

    1. [Website] The Learning Scientists: Retrieval Practice
    2. [Website] How to Remember More of What You Learn with Spaced Repetition This page also has a video that is linked above The Most Powerful Way to Remember What You Study
    3. [Web app] SRS Scheduler
    4. [Web app] Anki This is a spaced repetition study app. The online and desktop versions are free as is the Android app. The iOS app costs $25 and that cost is used to pay for development of the platform.
    5. [Podcast 21:09] Spaced Practice
    6. [Podcast 16:32] How Students Can use Spacing and Retrieval Practice
    7. [Podcast 11:28] Bite-Size Research on Spaced Retrieval
    8. [Podcast 21:21] Sleep, Learning, and Self Care
    Credits

    This site owes a large debt to the wonderful materials in The Learning Scientist site http://www.learningscientists.org Through the site itself, their blog, podcasts, videos and downloadable materials they provide a wealth of information on this topic. While that site serves teachers, students and parents, this site reframes a number of the core ideas from that site specifically with students in mind.

    There is a wealth of information on the web and each skill has a Resources area with links to more information.

    Thank you to all of the researchers studying how people learn and the teachers and students working to put the research into practice in effective ways.