How to Use Spaced Repetition to Remember What You’ve Learned

While learning is a simple concept on the surface, there is so much that the average person doesn’t know about the topic. For one, did you know that everything that we learned in school is taught to us ineffectively? While it’s a rather unusual reveal of information, that question will start to make sense when you apply a special learning technique. It’s not something that’s taught in schools, but if it was, we’d have brighter folks. Not to mention people able to retain information better. This technique is called spaced repetition. Similar to memory palaces , this technique is something that’s been lost to the ages but is an immensely powerful technique. It is one of the many keys to retaining information, but also to help with learning as we grow older. Today, I’ll be taking a closer look at this technique, showing how it works, and how you too can benefit from this technique. What Is Spaced Repetition? Before learning about spaced repetition, it’s key to understand how our brains work. In order for us to retain any information in our brain, we have to refresh it periodically. For example, let’s say you hear that “Ottawa is the capital of Canada.” If you’re not using that information at all, you will likely forget about it after finishing reading this article or sometime later. However, if you continue to “learn” that Ottawa is the capital of Canada through text or you explaining this, you’ll better retain this information. The point is: The more often you encounter certain bits of info, the less often you’ll need to refresh your memory of it. What makes our brains so interesting though is that, even long-held pieces of information can be forgotten. Even the most familiar pieces of info can be forgotten if […]

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