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  • Hey, what is going on, guys?

  • So I think we can all agree that studying takes

  • far, far too much time so what I wanna do in this

  • video is show you guys how you can remember more

  • of what you learn, even if you're spending fewer

  • actual hours studying, and the way to do that

  • is by spacing out that study time.

  • This is a technique called spaced repetition

  • and to do it you add progressively longer

  • and longer time intervals in between each

  • of your study sessions.

  • So in this video I wanna show you exactly how

  • you can do that, both with your paper flash cards

  • and with apps both for smartphones and computers.

  • But first I wanted to get into why this technique

  • is so powerful and also talk to you a little bit

  • about the history behind it and how it relates

  • to our memories in general.

  • Spaced repetition leverages a memory phenomenon

  • known as the spacing effect, which describes how

  • our brains make better connections and overall

  • remember things more effectively when we space

  • out our learning over time.

  • How's how Pierce J. Howard, the author of my

  • least favorite book to haul into coffee shops,

  • puts it: "Work involving higher mental functions,

  • "such as analysis and synthesis, needs to be

  • "spaced out in order to allow new neural

  • "connections to solidify.

  • "New learning drives out old learning when

  • "insufficient time intervenes."

  • And we've actually known about this effect

  • for quite a long time.

  • Back in the late-1800s a psychologist named

  • Hermann Ebbinghaus basically launched the field

  • of memory science itself by embarking upon

  • an intense study where he made himself memorize

  • long, long lists of nonsense syllables.

  • And through that research he eventually came

  • to develop what's called The Forgetting Curve,

  • which describes how memories decay over time.

  • But what he also learned was that by spacing out

  • his efforts to memorize these lists,

  • he could put in less actual study time to get

  • them memorized perfectly.

  • For example, for one list of 12 syllables he found

  • out it took him 68 repetitions on one day and then

  • seven repetitions the next day to memorize

  • it perfectly, but by spacing out his studying

  • over the course of three days he found he could

  • achieve his same level of perfection in only

  • 38 repetitions.

  • Over the past 130 years since he published his

  • findings, lots of other studies have been able

  • to replicate this same positive results, which leads

  • us to the question, "Why does the spacing effect work?"

  • Well to put it in simple terms, it turns out that one

  • of the most important parts of learning process

  • is actually forgetting.

  • Now what forgetting truly is is a subject for another

  • video that I'll publish in the future, but the most

  • important thing to note here is that the more we've

  • forgotten something, that is the harder we have

  • to work to retrieve it since we last learned it

  • or studied it, the greater the increase

  • in learning will be.

  • To make this a bit more clear, here's how the author

  • Benedict Carey, who wrote the book "How We Learn,"

  • explains it: "Some amount of breakdown must occur

  • "for us to strengthen learning when we revisit

  • the material.

  • "Without a little forgetting, you get no benefit

  • "from further study.

  • "It is what allows learning to build,

  • "like an exercised muscle."

  • And that's the main reason why Carey calls

  • spaced repetition one of the most powerful methods

  • for remembering what you've learned in his book.

  • And I would add to that the fact that you can do

  • this with basically any other learning technique.

  • It's entirely complementary because it's all about

  • just modifying the time periods in which you study.

  • You can do anything within those time periods,

  • you're just using the time periods

  • as intelligently as possible.

  • With that being said, now I wanna get into how you

  • can put spaced repetition into action and implement

  • it into your own study systems.

  • And we're gonna talk about apps and computer programs

  • that you can use in a minute here but first I want

  • to talk about a system that you can use with your

  • paper flash cards, which is called the Leitner

  • System, and here's how it works.

  • The first step is to decide on the number

  • of boxes that you're gonna use to hold the cards

  • in your system.

  • Now I don't actually own little boxes so I've just

  • substituted rubber bands and sticky notes that say

  • "Box," but that actually works just as well

  • and actually makes the system more portable,

  • so that's pretty cool, and from there each

  • individual box is going to represent a different

  • study time interval.

  • So Box 1 might be studying every day, Box 2 might

  • be studied every other day, and so on.

  • And when you're studying the cards in the boxes,

  • every time you get a card right it's gonna graduate

  • to the next box, so you're gonna see it less

  • and less often.

  • But if you get a card wrong, it's gonna go all

  • the way to box number 1, no matter where it was.

  • And by using this system you get two main benefits.

  • Number one, you're maximizing your learning through

  • the spacing effect, but number two, you're also

  • studying more efficiently because you're spending

  • more time on the cards that need the most attention

  • and less time on the ones you know really well

  • rather than studying every single card equally.

  • Now this paper system works really well for both

  • of those goals but if you wanna take advantage

  • of more advanced scheduling algorithms and other

  • features, you're gonna need to find yourself

  • a space repetition app and there are a lot

  • of contenders in this area but I wanna focus

  • first on what is probably the most popular one

  • right now and that is called Anki.

  • Anki has a huge community, it's insanely customizable,

  • and best of all, it has apps for almost every

  • platform out there and almost all of them are free

  • with the exception of the iPhone app, which oddly

  • costs a whopping $25.

  • Now I think the price is that high because it's their

  • way of basically letting people support the app since

  • it's free everywhere else but if you're on an iPhone

  • and you don't wanna pay that much, fear not because

  • Anki also has a companion web app called AnkiWeb,

  • which is accessible from mobile Safari.

  • So you can use that free if you want.

  • Now with Anki, creating cards is really, really

  • easy and I really like the fact that you can add

  • basically any kind of media you want to your cards,

  • including pictures, which is awesome because adding

  • pictures to your flash cards can really help

  • increase retention.

  • However, the killer feature of Anki is the ability

  • to rate cards based on difficulty when you're

  • studying them.

  • So essentially, when you turn a card over, you can

  • tell the program how hard it was for you to dredge

  • the answer up from the depths of your memory

  • and it will use that data to decide how long it's

  • gonna be before you see that card again.

  • And that's really the main strength of space

  • repetition apps versus a paper system.

  • Each individual card can be tracked, can have

  • a difficulty rating, and can be adjusted

  • in the algorithm so you're getting the most

  • benefit of the spacing effect.

  • Anki is definitely not the only space repetition

  • app out there, though, so if you're looking for

  • alternatives, I've got a few things in mind

  • for you to take a look at, number one being an app

  • called TinyCards, which I showed off in my previous

  • video on how to make better flash cards.

  • Now TinyCards is only for the iPhone, unfortunately,

  • but there should be an Android version coming soon,

  • and honestly, when compared to Anki I think it's

  • a lot more simple, a lot prettier, and the process

  • of making cards is more fun and faster because

  • they have an excellent system for adding images

  • to your cards.

  • Aside from TinyCards there are also apps like

  • Flashcards Deluxe, Memrise, SuperMemo, Mnemosyne,

  • Eidetic, Quizlet, and probably a bunch of others

  • that I don't even know about right now but I'm

  • sure you will let me know about down in the Comments.

  • So before I wrap this video up I have a couple

  • more things I wanna mention, number one being

  • the script I wrote for this video is actually

  • about half the length of the blog post I wrote

  • so if you want a lot more detail, especially

  • pertaining to the memory bits and how the spacing

  • effect works, you can click the blog post link

  • in the description down below or on the card

  • on screen right now and read to your heart's content.

  • Also, and I have been really excited to announce

  • this for quite a long time now, there's now

  • an official College Info Geek t-shirt on

  • DFTBA.com and I'm super, super stoked about this.

  • I've already ordered mine and there's gonna be

  • a link down in the description, also a card so

  • if you would like to get your very own shirt,

  • which may or may not grant superpowers, you can

  • click either of those links and order one.

  • Now one cool thing about these shirts' design

  • is it was actually created by the College Info

  • Geek community.

  • My good friend Ashley did the hand-lettered design

  • itself but the mantra or saying on the shirt was

  • actually decided upon by people in the College Info

  • Geek community over on Reddit, which I think is

  • really, really cool, and I would love to continue

  • to play up this community aspect so if you get

  • a shirt I would love to see you tweeting awesome

  • pictures of you wearing it to send to me over

  • on @TomFrankly and I will probably retweet them.

  • You can also put them in the Reddit as well if

  • you like and other than that, that's all I have

  • for this video, guys, so thanks so much for watching.

  • And if you found it useful, give it a Like

  • to support this channel and you can also Subscribe

  • with that button right down there if you wanna

  • get new videos on being a more effective student

  • every single week.

  • You can also get a copy of my book on earning

  • better grades by going to the picture of the book

  • right there and clicking your mouse button.

  • You can find the previous video right over there

  • which was about how to use flash cards more

  • effectively and if you wanna find that awesome

  • article which is way more detailed than this

  • video was, go to the Full Article thing right there.

  • If you'd like to connect with me you can use

  • the social media links down below but there's

  • also a non-zero probability that you can connect

  • with me by yelling into a conch shell,

  • so maybe give that a try too.

Hey, what is going on, guys?

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