Interval Repeat on LinguaLeo

The main problem in learning foreign languages ​​is forgetting the material studied earlier. The bad news is that no matter how good your memory may be, you will still forget.

The good news: in order to maintain a vocabulary of the Upper-intermediate level (4,000 words) for 73 years, it’s enough to devote only 29 hours to the repetition. If you divide this time by the number of days for 73 years, you get 3 seconds a day. The numbers may seem unrealistic, but in the interval repetition model this is possible.

In this article we will tell:

1. On the method of interval repetition, which allows you to remember words while reducing the total number of repetitions to a minimum;
2. About a special training for interval repetition, with which you can repeat up to 100 words in three minutes.

Interval repetition

To increase the speed of learning, you need to do it daily ( link for those who missed the previous post about memorizing). Interval repetition, which is based on the forgetting curve , allows you to maximize the benefits of daily activities .

The interval repetition method is based on the following assumptions. Suppose you remember a new word and remember it for some time, say, 5 hours, and then forget it. The ideal time for repetition in this case is 4 hours 59 minutes after memorization. If you repeat the word earlier, for example, after 2 hours, then it will be ineffective, since you will lose time on repeating what is already well held in memory. But if you miss the perfect repetition time and meet the word, say, after 9 hours, then you will have to memorize it again.

In addition, the time interval to the point of perfect repetition increases each time. If you have not forgotten a word within 4 hours and repeated it, then you will not forget within 10 hours. If you have not forgotten within 10 hours and repeated, then you will not forget in a day. The next time you can repeat the word after 2 days, then after 5 days, after 12 and so on.
These figures are conditional, in fact they depend on many factors, but the principle of increasing the intervals of repetition works equally well for everyone.



That is, the main point of interval repetition is to reduce the number of repetitions to a minimum, while ensuring the preservation of what is remembered. So, if the interval of each subsequent repetition is increased by two and a half times, then to save each stored unit of information in memory, only 13 repetitions in 73 years will be required.



If it takes 2 seconds to repeat one word, then in 73 years you will need to spend only 26 seconds per word. That is, to maintain a vocabulary of 4,000 words, it will be necessary to spend only 28.9 hours in 73 years.

But such a number of repetitions is an ideal option. Sometimes words will be forgotten before repetition. For such cases, our system provides the function of adapting intervals for each word. That is, some words in which you are mistaken will be repeated more often than others in which you are never mistaken.

Repetition workout

In order to make the repetition as productive as possible, we tried to achieve the optimal ratio of three parameters:

• the convenience of using a workout,
• the quality of learning words,
• repetition rate.

Training allows you to fully concentrate on repetition and enter a state of attention. Firstly, you are not distracted when choosing the answer options, since only two keys are involved. Secondly, you do not waste time searching for the right answer, because there are only two options.

Repetition with the test effect (choice of options) will not allow you to passively look at words thinking about something else, and the timer will not allow you to be distracted by other things, because when the time expires, an error will be counted for the word. Therefore, the repetition is very fast, about 2 seconds per word.

Error handling

After training, you will see a list of words just repeated. The first will be the words in which you made mistakes (they need your attention to a greater extent), then the words that you repeated successfully will go. In any case, it will be more useful to glance over all the words, focusing on those in which you are less confident.

Conclusion

When developing a repetition training, we put emphasis on speed so that repetition of words does not take up too much time relative to other stages of training, but at the same time remains effective.

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