Do you still remember the binomial formulas, can you summarize the work of Gaius Julius Caesar, or define the stylistic device “alliteration”? You are probably feeling stressed right now. Because the probability is high that you have long since forgotten this school knowledge. In school, we mostly learn from exam to exam. The result is learning bulimia. However, science has long known another effect. We can use this to train our long-term memory: The Spacing Effect.
What happens during the Spacing Effect?
In 1987, the Journal of Experimental Psychology published a remarkable study. Researchers divided Spanish students into two groups. The first group was tested on learned vocabulary after just one day, while the second group was tested weeks later. Eight years later, the students’ vocabulary knowledge was re-evaluated. The result was astonishing: the second group had remembered three times as many words.
As early as the 19th century, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered in numerous self-experiments that most is forgotten immediately after learning. In addition, it becomes significantly more difficult to retrieve knowledge as time progresses. And this is precisely the explanation for the Spacing Effect: the brain’s hard work leads to knowledge being shifted from short-term to long-term memory.
So, don’t be too fooled by quick progress when you learn. Instead, strive for difficult and continuous learning, and it will pay off in the long run.
4 steps on how you can use Spaced Repetition for exams
- Always look away from your learning source, such as text, video, or test questions. Actively try to recall what you have absorbed.
- Try to recall what you have learned while driving, walking, or jogging – away from your desk. Afterwards, return to the learning source.
- Repeat the recall process every 24 to 48 hours, without going into too much detail.
- A few days before the exam, you want to transfer what you have learned into long-term memory. To do this, study the content in every detail by reading, watching, or listening intently.
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