If you ever planned to prepare for an exam last night, please, don’t do it. Spaced repetition makes you a superhero of the academic world, leaving you time for sleep, going out with friends, and binge-watching the latest «Emily in Paris» season.
If you want to study smarter you need to understand what we are talking about when we talk about memory and remembering. Memory is the ability of the brain to store, retain, and recall information over time. It allows us to learn from experiences, recognize people and places, and use knowledge from the past to guide our behavior. This fundamental cognitive process includes three key stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Encoding is taking the information and processing it.
Storage is keeping the information over time.
Retrieval is accessing stored information when needed.
So what we need to do to memorize the information effectively is to optimize these three stages.
What do most of the students do before exams? Study all the information they were supposed to learn during the semester in the last one or two nights. It is called cramming and as we all know, everything we learned this way flies away from our heads the next morning after the exam.
And sometimes it is okay. If you just need to get a passing grade, get it by crapping. But if you need to study something, understand the concept, and memorize the information for a long time — you need the spacing effect.
Ebbinghaus and his Curves
The spacing effect was first discovered by German psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus, who wrote about it in his 1885 book “Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.
He found that people forget more than 80% of new information within 24 hours. This is what is the spacing effect.
In his research, Ebbinghaus developed the idea of the forgetting curve, which shows how much information people remember over time. The curve demonstrates that we lose information quickly unless it’s stored in long-term memory.
To improve memory, Ebbinghaus suggested that repeating information at certain intervals (the spacing effect) helps people remember things longer. This method helps move information into long-term memory and slows down forgetting.
What Is Space and Why Do We Need It?
Let’s start with the definition of spacing effect psychology. It is a learning technique that helps you remember information better by spreading study sessions over time. Instead of trying to learn everything in one long session (cramming), the spacing effect suggests reviewing the material with breaks in between. This gives your brain time to process and store the information more effectively.
Giving your brain some rest between learning sessions makes it easier to remember what you’ve learned. The idea is that learning in smaller, spaced-out chunks helps the information stay in your memory longer.
Studying with spacing effect is much more effective than cramming. Do you remember that if you studied the whole semester well, you could just come to the exam and easily pass it? And your classmates will be dying from jealousy and sleepless nights.
That is actually because unintentionally you used a spacing effect or some kind of it. Studying weekly before every class, making all home assignments on time, and resting between classes and on weekends. Studying calmly and step by step is the best way of studying both for your exam results and your mental health.
Cramming VS Spaced Repetition
Сramming might work especially if you are a first-year student and full of energy that allows you to not sleep the whole night. Probably, you will pass the exam and get your passing mark, but you will not remember the information in the long term and will not have a full understanding of the subject.
Cramming uses your short-term memory, so the information you learn is quickly forgotten. Even though you might remember it for the next day, the topic isn’t stored well in your brain, making it easy to forget. Cramming also doesn’t give you enough time to fully understand the topic.
Spacing effect psychology helps your brain remember the information better and for a longer period. Revisiting what you’ve learned after a break, strengthens your memory and makes it harder to forget.
Still Don’t Get It, Why I Need Spaced Repetition
Okay, let’s explain in more detail.
“Forget-Me-Not” Powers
Spaced repetition is like going for brain fitness regularly. By pulling info from your long-term memory, you make it easier to remember next time. The more you do this, the tougher your brain gets at holding onto that knowledge. It’s like training your brain to be a memory superhero.
Brain Flexibility
Instead of cramming all at once in one place, the spacing effect lets you learn in different places and times. This sneaky method creates multiple memory pathways, making it easier to recall info from different angles, not just in a way you memorized it during the night crapping. So, when you need it, your brain can pull that info out as easily as a phone from your pocket.
Beat Procrastination
Procrastination loves cramming! When you’re faced with a mountain of work, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But spaced repetition chops up that mountain into bite-sized pieces. By spreading out the work and breaking it into smaller chunks, it makes studying less scary, so you can start sooner without freaking out. And create a habit of working without procrastination in the future.
Become an Expert
Every time you retrieve a memory, you’re not just recalling it – you’re reorganizing it, mixing in new ideas with the old. This helps you build stronger connections and dive deeper into a subject without feeling lost. It’s like your brain is building a web of knowledge, linking everything together smoothly.
Save Knowledge in Long-Term Memory Box
Studies show that spaced repetition is unbeatable when it comes to long-term memory. Students who use this method often score higher on tests weeks or months after learning, compared to those who cram.
What If I Have ADHD?
For people with ADHD traditional study methods like cramming can feel like trying to read with a TV blaring. ADHD often messes with attention, memory, and organization, making cramming pretty much a no-go. Enter spaced repetition, the hero that breaks learning into bite-sized, brain-friendly chunks with pauses in between.
This method reduces brain burnout and helps you focus better, making it easier to remember stuff. By understanding the spacing effect psychology, people with ADHD can build a more organized, ADHD-friendly study routine that works together with their brains instead of against them.
Spaced Repetition: Let’s Start
When it is more or less clear what is spaced repetition, let’s clarify how exactly one uses it. First of all, if you study for the exam, start to prepare for it a bit earlier than the night before.
What else?
🖊 Break down the material
Divide what you need to learn into small chunks or key points.
🖊 Review regularly
Start by reviewing the material shortly after first learning it (e.g., after a few hours or the next day). Then study according to the plan you have created.
🖊 Increase the gaps
As you become more familiar with the information, increase the time between review sessions (e.g., every 2 days, then 5 days, then weekly).
🖊 Use noji flashcards
Noji flashcards help you manage what to review and when by automatically creating a schedule for reviews.
🖊 Stick to the schedule
Follow the set intervals for review, even if you feel like you already know the material. This will reinforce the information and strengthen your memory.
Great, Anything Else I Need to Know?
The spacing effect is one of those things they (unfortunately) never taught us in school. It’s a super useful tool based on memory and cognitive psychology, and when you use it with flashcards, it makes learning and remembering way easier. With this method, you can say goodbye to all-nighters and constant stress, because it helps you gain long-lasting knowledge, learn more efficiently, and really understand what you’re studying. Understanding the spacing effect is key to mastering the most important soft skill: learning how to learn.
