Spaced Repetition SystemsHow to remember everything you learn?

Magnus Ramstad Dahl Life Hackers Singapore HackerspaceSG 09.11.17

Outline

• History of SRS• Hermann Ebbinghaus

• Piotr Wozniak

• Anki

• How to use SRS/Anki

• How I use SRS/Anki

• Getting started

• Demo

• Resources/further reading

Hermann Ebbinghaus

• made up lists of nonsense syllables and measured how long it took to forget and then relearn them.

• (Example of the type of list he used: besdek fel gup huf jeik mek meun pon dausdor gim ke4k be4p bCn hes.)

• Forgetting curve

• The Spacing Effect

The Forgetting Curve

The Spacing Effect

“Ebbinghaus showed that it's possible to dramatically improve learning by correctly spacing practice sessions. On one level, this finding is trivial; all students have been warned not to cram. But the efficiencies created by precise spacing are so large, and the improvement in performance so predictable, that from nearly the moment Ebbinghausdescribed the spacing effect, psychologists have been urging educators to use it to accelerate human progress. After all, there is a tremendous amount of material we might want to know. Time is short.”

Low tech version: Flashcards

• Sebastian Leitner developed the Leitner System in the 1970’s

Piotr Wozniak - The Algorithmic Man

When to practice?

“SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you've learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you've forgotten the material and have to relearn it. The right time to practice is just at the moment you're about to forget.

Unfortunately, this moment is different for every person and each bit of information. Imagine a pile of thousands of flash cards. Somewhere in this pile are the ones you should be practicing right now. Which are they?”

Piotr Wozniak’s Supermemo

Anki SRS

Anki interface

5 days and 5 minutes rules

SRS or cramming?

Don’t use SRS if you need information sooner than 5 days

Minimum requirement for SRS (amazingly low)

SRS, if in your lifetime you will• Spend more than 5 minutes looking something up

• Lose 5 minutes as a result of not knowing something

What SRS is typically used for

• Languages

• Geography

• History

• General knowledge/trivia

• Programming

• (Law)

How I use AnkiImportant personal information:Passport informationCredit Card dataAddresses

LanguagesLanguagesExpressionsPhonetics alphabet

Personal:Motivational/Get me inspiredNames and faces you should knowUplifting quotes people have said about youLessons learned

How I use AnkiBooks:Key takeawaysQuotesConceptsBasics

Geography:World country location, flags and capitalsStates/geographical areasStreets, buildings and train stations in Jakarta (Pretty useful)Singapore MRT map (not every station of course, but the most important)

Math:Multiplication 1-20 (useful)

Which country is this?

How I use AnkiIncremental reading:A book that you really love and want to ”internalize”Great articles

General knowledge:MagazinesPodcastsOtherAcronyms you often face

Getting started

1. Download Anki https://apps.ankiweb.net/(Desktop and android is free, iPhone costs money)

2. Read the Anki user manual https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/manual.html

3. Read Piotr Wozniak’s 20 rules for formulating knowledge https://www.supermemo.com/en/articles/20rules

4. A good way to get started is with one of the decks in this link https://www.evernote.com/l/AU6msj65nDVMjIb6PLPUqsfPBgg9p7YkKfsI can also send via email if hard to open.

Live demo

• Very personal

Duolingo

Some resources/Further reading

Anki user manual

http://ankisrs.net/docs/manual.html

20 rules for formulating knowledge:

https://www.supermemo.com/en/articles/20rules

Wired - Piotr Wozniak

https://www.wired.com/2008/04/ff-wozniak/

Quantified Self

http://quantifiedself.com/2012/06/spaced-repetition-and-learning/

Teacher uses SRS in classroom

Year 1 http://quantifiedself.com/2012/06/spaced-repetition-and-learning/

Year 2 http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/nkz/a_second_year_of_spaced_repetition_software_in/

Less wrong - SRS advice

http://lesswrong.com/lw/5n7/srs_advice/

SRS Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition

Interesting article on why understanding is not enough, we also need fluency

(Russian vs math and science)

http://nautil.us/issue/17/big-bangs/how-i-rewired-my-brain-to-become-fluent-in-math-rd

The Guardian article explaining benefits of Spaced Repetition Systems

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/23/spaced-repetition-a-hack-to-make-your-brain-store-information

NY Times - Good study habits

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html

Thank you for your attention!

If you have questions, ideas or just want to talk about spaced repetition please do not hesitate to get in touch

Magnus Ramstad Dahl

magnusramstad@gmail.com

Whatsapp: +6582059528