Review just before
you forget.
Quick question. Which one helps you remember more: studying for two hours on Sunday, or 20 minutes a day from Monday to Friday? Same total time. Big difference. The 20-minutes-a-day version wins. Every time. By a lot.
What it is
Spaced repetition means reviewing things at the right times — getting longer apart as you remember them better. An app called Anki does all the timing for you so you don't have to think about it.
Your brain has a habit. It forgets things. Fast.
If you learn something new today, you'll have forgotten about 70% of it by this time tomorrow unless you review it. Every human brain does this. The smartest people who ever lived all forgot the same way.
Cramming the night before a test only triggers one review. That's why you remember it for the test and forget it within a week.
Every time you successfully review something, the forgetting curve resets AND gets flatter.
The first review the next day might keep you at 80% retention a week later. The second review three days after that pushes it to 90% retention a month later. The third review a week after that keeps you at 95% retention six months later.
Spacing your reviews triggers four or five reviews. That's why you remember it for years.
How to do it
In theory you could track this with a notebook. In practice, you use Anki. Or any other spaced repetition app. Anki is the most powerful, the most flexible, and free.
- Install Anki — go to ankiweb.net and download it. It's free on desktop and Android.
- Create a free AnkiWeb account so your decks sync across devices.
- Create a deck — name it after a subject you're studying.
- Add 10 cards. One fact per card. Front: question. Back: answer.
- Click "Study Now" and try the cards.
- Rate each one honestly: Again (forgot), Hard (struggled), Good (got it), Easy (knew it instantly).
- Do 5 minutes every single day.
A kid using it
Meet Caleb. He's in Year 8. He's got a French vocab test in three weeks. The list has 60 words.
Old Caleb would have left it until two days before, written each word out five times, and remembered maybe half on the day.
New Caleb downloads Anki. He spends 20 minutes building flashcards — French on one side, English on the other. Then he starts doing his daily reviews.
- Day 1. Anki shows him all 60 cards. He gets 15 right.
- Day 2. Smaller queue. The cards he got right yesterday come back tomorrow.
- Day 14. Only about 15 cards a day. Easy ones pushed to next month.
On test day, Caleb gets 58 out of 60. Total study time across three weeks: about 90 minutes. Old Caleb spent the same time and got 30 out of 60.
This is a 15-minute setup with a parent. After that, you can do it daily on your own.
- Ask a grown-up to help you download Anki. Go to ankiweb.net.
- Create a deck — name it after a subject you're studying.
- Add 10 cards. One fact per card. Examples for maths: "What's 7 × 8?" / "56". For French: "How do you say 'cat'?" / "le chat".
- Click "Study Now" and try the cards.
- Rate each card honestly.
- Tomorrow, do it again. Anki will only show you the cards you need.
After two weeks of daily reviews, you'll never want to study any other way.
Anki uses a formula called SM-2 to figure out exactly when to show you each card. The formula was invented in 1985 by a guy called Piotr Wozniak — and it's still one of the smartest learning tools ever made.
The formula tracks how easily you remembered each card. Easy ones get pushed further into the future. Hard ones come back sooner. You don't have to think about any of it. You just press the buttons and trust the maths.
Three big mistakes kids make with Anki:
- Adding too many cards at once. If you make 200 cards on day one, you'll be drowning in reviews by day three. Aim for 10–20 new cards per day, max.
- Lying to Anki. If you hesitated, click Hard, not Good. If you forgot, click Again. Lying only hurts you.
- Skipping days. Even 5 minutes a day keeps the system working. Miss two days and the queue grows huge.
Quick check
1. Why does spacing your studying beat cramming all at once?
Each review pushes your memory further into the future. Cramming only gives you one review. Spaced reviews trigger four or five.
2. What does Anki do automatically?
It tracks when you're about to forget each card and shows it to you just in time. You don't have to think about the timing — Anki does the maths.
3. What's the maximum number of new cards you should add per day?
10 to 20. More than that and you'll drown in reviews within a week.
Your brain forgets fast. Spacing your reviews beats cramming. Anki tells you when each card is due. Show up every day. Five minutes is fine. Just don't skip.