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The two big habits · Lesson 4 of 11

Spaced Practice: How to Spread Your Study Over Days

Learn to spread your study over several days instead of cramming, plan your reviews backward from a date, and choose how long to wait.

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THE WRITTEN LESSONFollow along at your pace

Spacing means spreading your reviews of a topic over several days instead of cramming them into one. It is the second study habit with the strongest research behind it, and it costs no extra time: you use the same hours, just in a different order. In this lesson you will learn how to plan it.

Same hours, different results

Cramming is better than not studying at all, in the short term. It can get you through tomorrow. But the same hours spread across days or weeks do more for remembering over the long run. Researchers call this distributed practicedistributed practice: Spreading study or practice of the same material across several sessions with gaps between them, rather than cramming it into one. Also called spacing, it tends to give longer-lasting learning than the same time spent in a single block.Full entry in the glossary, or simply spacing.

An Example under the heading Same hours. On the left, a Cramming calendar has one long block on day 7; on the right, a Spaced calendar has three short blocks on days 1, 3 and 6. Both show 3 hours. Weeks later, the Remembered bar is short and coral for cramming and much longer for spaced study.(opens the full-size picture)
Same total time, but spaced study is remembered better weeks later.

It feels worse, but works better

Spacing often feels worse, which is why people skip it. In one set of experiments where people learned word pairs with flashcards, spacing worked better for nine in ten people. Yet after the first session, about seven in ten believed cramming had worked better.

So don’t judge your plan by how it feels on the day. Judge it by what you can remember later.

Under the heading It feels worse, a Spacing tag sits next to a Feels worse tag. A card from one set of experiments says 9 in 10 did better with spacing, and about 7 in 10 believed cramming won, beside a row of ten figures, most with check marks and many with coral thought bubbles. A label reads Feels worse, works better.(opens the full-size picture)
Most people did better with spacing while believing the opposite.

Rusty is the point

When you come back to a topic after a gap, it may feel rusty. You have to dig to bring things back. That effort is not a sign the plan is failing. It is the reason the gap helps: each time you dig a memory back up, it becomes easier to find next time.

Under the heading Rusty is the point, an Example card titled The planets with a recall card and check mark. A calendar card says A week later, the words Plan failing are crossed out in coral, and a label reads The effort is the point.(opens the full-size picture)
Coming back after a week feels harder, and that is the point.

Plan backward from the date

So start with the calendar, not your notes. Write down when you need to know this: a test, a trip, a presentation. Then plan backward from that date. The further away it is, the longer your gaps can be.

The best gap depends on how long you need to remember something. If you need it next week, short gaps are fine. If you need it in a few months, you can wait longer between reviews.

An Example calendar of 28 days under the heading Plan back from the date. Test day is day 28, and an arrow curves back from it to day 2. Review dots sit on days 2, 13, 21 and 26, with gaps of 11, 8, 5 and 2 days marked below. A faded Notes tag sits to one side, and a label reads Plan backward from the date.(opens the full-size picture)
Put the date on the calendar first, then place your reviews.

When unsure, wait longer

How long should you wait between reviews? In a large experiment with adults of many ages, reviewing too soon cost far more than reviewing too late. So when you are unsure, choose the longer gap. If your date is weeks away, come back after a week, not after a few days.

Under the heading When unsure, wait longer, a balance scale from a large experiment with adults of many ages: the Too soon side holds a heavy coral weight labeled Costly, and the Too late side a light one. On the right, an Example card says Test: weeks away, and In a week is ticked instead of In a few days.(opens the full-size picture)
A gap that is too short costs more than one that is too long.

Three visits for each topic

A simple way to start is to give each topic at least three visits on different days:

  1. A first pass, when you learn it.
  2. A return after a gap.
  3. A later review, after a longer gap.

Open each visit by testing yourself: answer a few questions from memory before you look at your notes. What you miss tells you what the visit is for.

Three Example topics, Planets, Fractions and French words, each with a 21-day calendar under the heading Three visits. Each topic has three checked recall cards on different days, marked First pass, Return and Review. A label reads Open each visit with a test.(opens the full-size picture)
Each topic gets its own three visits, spread over the weeks.

A fair warning

Most of this research involves people learning facts, often students, and many of the experiments used simple material like word pairs or trivia. The exact gaps are a guide, not a formula. But the direction is clear: spread it out.

Under the heading A fair warning, a note says Mostly facts, often students. Three dashed Example tags read 2 days, 5 days and 8 days, beside a label that says A guide, not a formula. Below, three recall cards with checks sit along an arrow, above the words Spread it out.(opens the full-size picture)
The exact gaps can vary; spreading your study out is what matters.

YOUR TURN

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Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you will learn to space out your study. That means spreading your reviews over several days instead of cramming. It is the second habit with the strongest research behind it, and it costs no extra time.

Cramming is better than not studying at all, in the short term. But the same hours spread across days or weeks do more for remembering over the long run.

Spacing often feels worse, which is why people skip it. In one set of experiments, spacing worked better for nine in ten people. Yet after the first session, about seven in ten believed cramming had worked better.

When you come back to a topic after a gap, it may feel rusty. That effort of digging it back up is not a sign the plan is failing. It is the reason the gap helps.

So start with the calendar, not your notes. Write down when you need to know this, then plan backward from that date. The further away it is, the longer your gaps can be.

How long should you wait? In a large experiment with adults of many ages, reviewing too soon cost far more than reviewing too late. So when you are unsure, choose the longer gap. If your date is weeks away, come back after a week, not a few days.

A simple way to start is to give each topic at least three visits on different days. A first pass, a return after a gap, and a later review. Open each visit by testing yourself.

Most of this research involves people learning facts, often students. The exact gaps are a guide, not a formula. But the direction is clear. Spread it out.

So, spread your study over days, plan backward from when you need it, and when unsure, wait longer. Before the next lesson, put three short reviews in your calendar for this week. Next, you will mix up your practice and learn from solved examples.