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Simple Spaced Repetition

the life of one card, from tonight to yours

You remember something longer each time you pull it back out of memory, best just before it slips. A box of cards tells you when that is.

  • Easy to start
  • Medium impact
  • Learn it in 1 week
  • Five minutes a day
the life of one card
A statechart of one card in a spaced repetition box A new card goes into the box's tomorrow slot when you write its question. The box has four slots: tomorrow, 3 days, a week and a month. When a card's day comes you recall it, then check. If you got it, it moves one slot later. If you forgot, it goes back to tomorrow. If you got it after a month, it is yours. a new card you write one question tomorrow 3 days a week a month in the box its day comes recalling you say it, then look checked [if you forgot] back to tomorrow [if you got it] one slot later you got it again [after a month] it's yours

If you forget, the card goes back to tomorrow. That is the box working, not you failing: it is showing you what needs another look.

Start tonight

Try it now.

Five cards are enough to begin. Each step below is one part of the chart.

  1. Write one question

    On a card, a question on the front and the answer on the back. One idea per card.

    a new card → tomorrow

  2. When its day comes, recall it

    Take out only the cards whose slot is due, and answer each one before you turn it over.

    in the box → recalling

  3. Then look

    Turn it over and be honest. Close counts only if you would have used it.

    recalling → checked

  4. Move the card

    Got it: one slot later, from tomorrow to 3 days, a week, then a month. Forgot: back to tomorrow. Got it after a month: it's yours.

    checked → a later slot, tomorrow, or done

For example: learning a new word? Write “What does ephemeral mean?” on the front tonight. Tomorrow, say “lasting a very short time” before you turn it over.

One card, six weeks

The gaps grow on their own.

You never plan a schedule. Each answer moves the card, and its slot decides when you see it next. Here is the same card two ways, one square per day from the night you write it.

Got it every time

Four looks in six weeks: day 1, day 4, day 11, then a month later on day 41, and it's yours.

Forgot it once

Forgotten on day 11, it goes back to tomorrow and climbs again: day 12, 15, 22, and next on day 52.

The idea

Why it works.

Each time you pull an idea out of memory, you practise finding it again. Researchers call this the testing effect. Spreading those attempts out, rather than cramming them into one sitting, is the spacing effect.

The box puts the two together. Easy cards drift to the back and cost you almost nothing. Hard cards keep coming round until they stop being hard.

Make it stick

Keep it simple.

  • One idea per card. Short prompts are easier to answer and to judge.
  • Answer before you look. Rereading feels familiar without showing what you remember.
  • Add a few a day. A small box you open beats a big one you avoid.

Go deeper

Keep going.

Practise this in HourLife.

In Learning: Resurface to remember. Track the books, courses, podcasts, videos and articles you are working through, log where you are, and keep what you take from them.

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