The Most Powerful Way to Remember What You Study

Trying to memorize everything you need for your exams and tests can take a long time. However, spaced repetition can help you speed the learning process up significantly - and it can complement almost any other study technique.

This video dives into the history behind this technique, explores how it affects our memory (through what's called the Spacing Effect), and shows you exactly how you can use it both with paper flash cards and with apps.

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Discuss this video in the CIG community:

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~ created by Thomas Frank

[Pintexx]

This guy reads all the books (literally hundreds of hours of reading) and tells us the important parts. Legend.

[cameronmargis]

It’s kinda hard to space your studying time when you are start studying at midnight the night before the test😬

[Amy-vgmj]

I used this technique for my A-Levels as pretty much my sole revision technique and managed to get 2 A*s! Thanks!

[BeSmarterFaster]

I like that you first mentioned the seldom addressed topic of Forgetting, before talking about memory improvement. I often discuss what I call "The 3 Causes of Forget-ory". You also quoted P.J. Howard with something that really resonated with me about how new learning can drive out older learning when there's not enough space (time) between them.

[fransisco]

Quick FYI.
Why is it named "anki"?

Anki (暗記) means "to memorize" in Japanese.

[WhiteRose]

Your information for the past couple years single-handedly helped me turn my academic experience from an anxiety roller-coaster to a positive journey. Thank you so much!

[tenshiangel]

What I got from it.
Learn it, forget it, re-learn it, forget it, re-learn it. Each time you solidify the neural connections. Use the cards to work out which information you need more work with remembering. Apps do it better than paper. Got it!

[shrimpysquad]

When your spending more time on "how to improve" or "how to learn videos, " than actually improving or learning, you've surely fallen far too deep into the shadow realm

[Paulossantos]

Hello Frank, my name is Paulo. I am from Brazil and I have always looked for methods of studies to make my life easier, and in Brazil people charge dearly to give this wonderful information that you give. Unfortunately YouTube's translated captions are confusing at times and I have to turn your videos back on so I can interpret what you said, but that's not an obstacle for me because I believe that everything good comes without effort and your videos are great Help me, I'm already your fan, and I've already indicated to my friends and family. God bless your work always and you can be very successful. And, Thank you very much, from the heart.

[redhotsuperfan]

The irony about this is that I had forgotten that I've seen this video before and... here I am!

[nicoleelizabeth]

Its kinda hard to space out and get enough studying when the teachers assign you a bunch of work and then tell you there's a test tomorrow. ALSO why do all the teacher choose to assign tests all on the same day???!?!?

[distantraven]

Studying math really requires you to use this method. Since even the most complicated equations can be broken down to smaller and simpler parts. Relearning something makes you appreciate and see the most effective path into learning combined with the spacing method you become an unstoppable learner. Im glad I learned this while I'm still young.

[LeeAnneRMT]

I wish I had known about this when I was studying anatomy and neurology. The detailed memory work nearly killed me.

[kyladupuychavez]

Another thing to remember is that time management is extremely important. Take it as sacred as you can, and don’t get so distracted with stupid things. For me, I had to shun out a lot of my social media, games, and music, because I kept getting too distracted. This had definitely helped a lot, and I still do this. I also eat healthier, which makes me feel less fatigued and more active with my body and mind. Do take in consideration what he says in the video, because even all of that helped me out as well.

[bissen]

For those using anki for studying Japanese, zKanji is an English-Japanese dictionary with an implemented spaced repetition function that trains both reading, translation (both ways!) and hand-writing (you write kanji in a pop-up box). You add words to your liking directly from the dictionary. I absolutely love everything about that piece of software (and no, I'm in no way affiliated with them).

[aysepersona]

I just love how you keep the quality of your videos so high. Keep up the good work !

[ross]

Tom, I want to express deep gratitude towards you and all you do the student community! Your videos are always helpful and I share with friends whenever possible.

Thanks again!
Ross

[hellothere]

Who else is studying and can’t remember anything they are studying 😭

[jessicab]

The best way to memorise what you’ve studied is to actually study instead of watching YouTube I can learn a lot from this 📚📖

[mihir]

I have chemistry exam tomorrow
and I'm youtubing how to memorize entire chapters in fraction
wish me luck guys :D