00:00- Spaced repetition the best
way to learn anything fast.
00:03Backed by science, spaced
repetition was my super power
00:06during medical school.
00:07It allowed me to learn so fast
00:09that I had plenty of time for other things
00:10like starting a YouTube
channel, producing music
00:13and building RemNotes
all during my training.
00:16The science behind spaced repetition
00:17can be quite complicated,
00:19but honestly you can watch any other video
00:21on the internet for that.
00:24I'm cutting straight
through all that fluff
00:26and I'm giving you real life applications.
00:2811 ways to use spaced
repetition step-by-step
00:32to get better grades.
00:34In a nutshell spaced repetition
00:35is simply spacing out your studies.
00:38It's the opposite of cramming,
00:40which means that all the benefits
are also at the opposite.
00:42At the end of this video,
00:43I'll talk about the most common mistakes
00:45that students make when
using spaced repetition
00:48so that you can avoid it.
00:49But for now, let's get into the list.
00:52So I see spaced repetition
in three different tiers.
00:55The higher you go, the
more benefits you get.
00:57But also the more complex it is to apply.
01:00Tier one is the basics.
01:02You don't get the full effects,
01:03but it's easy to get started
01:04and you can start right after this video.
01:07So the first way to use spaced repetition
01:09And this is based on the
science of memory decay.
01:12When you first learn something,
01:13give it some time to marinate,
01:15allow yourself to actually
forget some of the material.
01:18That way, the next time you review it,
01:20you'll struggle a bit more,
01:21but retention will be way higher,
01:23more effort equals more retention.
01:25So here's an example of what you could do
01:27with your class schedule.
01:29After you go to your first math lecture,
01:31just let the materials
sit and do something else.
01:33Like maybe preview the history of lecture
01:36for tomorrow's history class.
01:38Then tomorrow you can
go to history lecture,
01:40but after that, leave history alone.
01:43Now that some time has passed
since you've seen math,
01:46you can go back and do say the
math homework or math review.
01:50Then maybe you can preview science
01:52and then you can do the history homework,
01:55and then back to science
01:56and then back to math
again and so on and so on.
01:58You're delaying your review
02:00allowing for some space to
happen between repetitions.
02:03The second method here is
interleaving your topics.
02:06So it's kinda like the first method
02:08where you're spacing your
subjects across multiple days.
02:10This method spaces your subjects across
02:12these single study day.
02:14So let's say you plan to
study three chapters today,
02:17instead of studying in blocks
02:18as in only starting
chapter one in the morning,
02:21only studying chapter two in the afternoon
02:23and only studying chapter
three in the evening,
02:25you can try breaking up the
blocks and interleaving them.
02:30So for example, we can study chapter one
02:32in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
02:35your brain can completely
forget about chapter one
02:38after the morning but with interleaving,
02:40your brain is forced to hold
on to chapter one material,
02:43even while studying for
chapters two and three.
02:45And this allows you to make connections
02:47between all the chapters.
02:48So the next time you plan
a study for an entire day,
02:51like cramming for a test,
try out this method.
02:54You're basically applying
spacing to your cramming.
02:58So the next method is end of day review.
03:00According to the science of memory,
03:01we tend to forget more than half
03:03of what we learned within a day.
03:04So a good time to review
newly learned material
03:06is to do a refresher
at the end of the day.
03:09If you watched my other video
03:10about 12 ways to use Active recall,
03:12then this is a great time
to run through the questions
03:15that you wrote in class.
03:16It's okay if you can't
remember everything,
03:18you can always review it
at a later repetition,
03:20but the things you can recall
03:21will be better ingrained in your memory.
03:24Let's move on to the next tier.
03:25In tier two spacing,
you're adding the idea
03:28that each repetition should be
done in increasing intervals.
03:31The reason here is because again,
03:33it mimics the science of memory decay.
03:36An easy way to demonstrate
this is the shoe box method.
03:39Also known as the Leitner system.
03:41The way it works is that
you have four or five boxes,
03:44items in box one is studied every day.
03:46Box two is studied every other day.
03:49And so on as you see here.
03:51Box five is retired,
03:52meaning that you already know
all the material well enough,
03:55and you can just quickly review
it right before the test.
03:58So to start place your
study topics into box one.
04:01A lot of people use flashcards,
04:02but you can put whatever you like,
04:04past papers, problem sets, whatever.
04:06Every time you get a topic
right, you move it up one box.
04:09Every time you get a topic wrong,
04:11you move it all the way back to box one.
04:13This ensures that you studied
your weaker topics more often,
04:16and this method is highly customizable.
04:18For example, you can come
up with your own intervals
04:20or you can move your wrong
topics back just one box,
04:24instead of all the way
back to the beginning
04:26for a less punishing schedule.
04:28The next method is using a Kanban board.
04:32You can think of it similar
to the shoe box method,
04:35but done on your electronic device
04:37rather than with physical cards.
04:38The columns will act as the boxes.
04:40And after you review an item,
04:42you can move it along to the
next box column accordingly.
04:45There are a number apps
that enable you to do this.
04:47Some free ones that come to
mind are Trello and Notion.
04:51The next method is to
use a study timetable,
04:53also known as a prospective
revision time table.
04:56The idea is that you're
scheduling your repetitions
04:59ahead of time in your calendar.
05:00So you have the dates in the first column,
05:02and then you can fill
in your study topics.
05:04If you want to be more detailed,
05:05you can even put time in the first column.
05:07A common spacing interval
is to double the days.
05:10So for example, if you're
studying chapter one on this day,
05:13then the next time you'll study it
05:14is two days later, then four days later,
05:17then eight, then 16 and so on.
05:19Or if you wanna get really fancy,
05:21you can try using the Fibonacci Sequence.
05:23There's another method for timetables,
05:24and that would be the
retrospective revision timetable.
05:28It's basically the reverse.
05:29Instead of having the
dates in the first column,
05:31you put the study topic
in the first column.
05:33And every time you review a topic,
05:35you rank it based on how well you knew it.
05:37So let's say that I studied
chapter one on January 1st,
05:40and I felt like I knew it well,
05:42I'd highlight it in green.
05:44For me, yellow is medium
05:45and then red means I
don't know it very well.
05:48So unlike the other timetable,
05:49for this one we don't plan out
the schedule ahead of time.
05:51We just choose what we
wanna study that day
05:54based on which topics are the weakest
05:56or on which topics we
haven't studied in a while.
05:59You just keep studying everyday
06:01until all your topics turn
green as you approach your exam.
06:04The obvious advantage
of this method is that
06:06you're studying based on your
strengths and your weaknesses.
06:10The next method takes the
idea of retrospective revision
06:13and applies it not just
to your study topics,
06:15but to individual
concepts within the topic.
06:18For example, instead of deciding
06:19to study for the topic of pharmacology,
06:21I'm zooming in and
studying individual facts
06:25This method works well using
an outline or note-taking app,
06:28because you can go down
your list of concepts
06:30and you can highlight the questions
06:32based on how well you know them,
06:33or you can use emojis if you wanted to.
06:36If you're using a note taking app
06:37with a tagging feature
like RemNote, for example,
06:40instead of highlighting,
you can tag the concept.
06:43This way, you can later
do a quick focus review
06:45on your weaknesses right before your test,
06:47by choosing to study specific tags.
06:51So let's move on to tier three.
06:53These next methods I'm about to share
06:54will give you maximum
spaced repetition benefits.
06:57So in tier two, the
intervals are increasing,
07:00but the optimal spacing is having
07:02the intervals adjust to you.
07:04Your understanding of
topics can fluctuate,
07:06so the intervals for specific topics
07:08can get longer or shorter
07:09based on how well you know that topic.
07:11And this can get extremely complicated,
07:13but luckily we have Spaced
Repetition Algorithms.
07:17Think of it like the YouTube algorithm.
07:19It recommends videos that
it thinks you will enjoy
07:21based on your personal watch history.
07:23Well, in the same way,
Spaced Repetition Algorithms
07:25will recommend specific
topics for you to study
07:28based on your personal
mastery of those topics
07:31at that moment in time.
07:32So this next method is use an app
07:34with built in spaced
repetition algorithms.
07:37Some of the old school ones
are SuperMemo and Anki,
07:40but nowadays are plenty of other options
07:43with all sorts of
aesthetics and gamification.
07:46The next method is
custom spaced repetition
07:48within a note-taking app.
07:50So there has been a recent trend
07:52of people trying to build
spaced repetition algorithms
07:54directly into a note-taking app,
07:57like Notion or Rome Research.
07:59I admire the creativity
of these DIY algorithms,
08:02but main downside here is that
08:03it requires some form of plugin
or add on or custom coding
08:08that you have to do yourself.
08:09Which can make it very complicated,
08:11if you don't know what you're doing.
08:13Personally, I think it's a lot of work
08:14and hassle to go through,
08:15just achieve makeshift spaced repetition.
08:18I mean, you can pack on as
much muscle as you want.
08:21A Diglett is still just a Diglett.
08:25Which takes us to the last method
08:26and in my biased opinion,
08:28the best way to implement
spaced repetition.
08:31And that is by using RemNote.
08:33It's currently the only
note taking app out there
08:36that has spaced repetition algorithms
08:38built into the core product itself.
08:40No plugins, no coding, it's just seamless.
08:44We've built our own RemNote algorithm,
08:46but you can also switch to
the traditional Anki algorithm
08:49or customize your own
based on your preferences,
08:52Maddie and I have been
using spaced repetition
08:54throughout medical school and our careers,
08:57so with our awesome team,
we've optimized RemNote
08:59through years of personal experience.
09:02RemNote does something that no
other note taking app can do.
09:05It automatically generates
spaced repetition flashcards
09:09from the notes that you take,
09:10so it completely removes
the time intensive step
09:13of transferring your notes to flashcards.
09:15Just imagine if Anki and Notion had a baby
09:19and that baby got a PhD in productivity.
09:22And I say productivity
because there are a ton
09:24of other features built into RemNote
09:27that save you time during your studies.
09:29As I mentioned before,
09:30achieving tier three of spaced repetition
09:32can get pretty complicated,
09:34but I firmly believe that everyone
09:37should be using spaced
repetition to learn.
09:39And RemNote is our way
09:40of making this technology
accessible to everyone.
09:44Which is why RemNote,
09:45will always be free
for you to start using.
09:48Now, let's talk about the biggest mistake
09:50that students make when
using spaced repetition.
09:53And that is you gotta
combine spaced repetition
09:57So if you're using spaced
repetition to space out,
10:00how many times you reread your notes
10:02or rewatch your lectures,
then you're missing the point.
10:06When it comes to studying,
Active recall is what you do
10:09and spaced repetition is how you do it.
10:12They go hand in hand
like sword and shield.
10:14Which means the best study strategies
10:16are some combination of
methods in this video
10:19and methods mentioned in our
previous Active recall video.
10:22Whether it's combining
retrospective timetables
10:24with practice problems
10:25or the shoe box method with mind maps,
10:28or spaced repetition
algorithms with flashcards,
10:31you wanna mix and match
10:32based on what type of subject
you're trying to study for.
10:35So for a refresher, check
out 12 different ways
10:37to use Active recall,
10:39and you can watch it right here.
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