spaced repetition

concept · in 15 sources (2017–2018)

Reviewing material at growing intervals; for him done with Anki or a retrospective timetable in a spreadsheet.

Sources by year: 2017: 1 · 2018: 14

Also known as: retrospective revision timetable, spacing

Also named in the threads: Ali's final year at Cambridge medical school (2017) · Ali says his next video in the evidence-based revision series will be about spaced repetition. · For his third-year psychology exams, his best ever, Ali made about 50 essay plans and memorised them over two months by drawing closed-book spider diagrams. · Ali says the next day's video (13 April 2018) will answer viewers' questions on specific study techniques, such as active recall, spaced repetition, flashcards and how to learn material in the first place.

Questions

• Should you cram or study a little every day?
• Should you use flashcards and Anki?

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

active recall (18) · scoping the subject (4) · Ibz Mo (4) · Anki (4) · interleaving (2) · Singapore (2) · BMAT (exam) (3) · Katherine (4) · St Albans (2) · History taking (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2018

• 2018-03-24 · Exam Revision Tips with Ibz Mo — recommendation: Ali recommends spaced repetition: he kept a spreadsheet of his topics and revisited each the next day, a week later and a month later, starting about three months before his exams. — 00:09:14
  • Ali calls active recall the second key study technique after spaced repetition: testing yourself in a low-stakes way, outside the exam, by consistently asking yourself questions. — 00:12:01
• 2018-04-04 · How to study for exams - Evidence-based revision tips — recommendation: Ali says the flashcard app Anki is really good for memorising particular facts; he used it a lot for anatomy and pharmacology. — 00:14:41
• 2018-04-09 · How to Study for Exams - Spaced Repetition · Evidence-based revision tips — Ali calls active recall by far the most important way to make studying more efficient, and spaced repetition probably the second most important. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • Ali's example schedule for spaced repetition: study a topic today, then tomorrow, three days later, a week later and a month later, ideally by active recall rather than rereading. — 00:03:51
• 2018-04-12 · Motivation, Stress & Time Management - Exam Revision Q&A with Cambridge students — recommendation: Ali says it is better to study consistently than to do 10 hours one day and nothing for two, because spaced repetition works on consistency; two to four efficient hours a day is fine. — 00:06:53
• 2018-04-14 · Last Minute Study Tips, Flashcards, Essays & Maths - Exam Revision Q&A with Cambridge students — recommendation: Ali prefers his spreadsheet method to Anki for much of his revision because spreadsheets are easy and Anki takes effort to set up: anything that reduces friction between wanting to do something and doing it is worth doing. — 00:14:45
• 2018-05-01 · First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A — recommendation: Ali: Two weeks before an exam, Ali advises focusing on exam technique, because two weeks is not long enough to gain much knowledge. — 00:18:02
• 2018-05-02 · Exam Study Tips for University & A-Level students - Revision Q&A with Cambridge students — Ali says medicine is not conceptually hard, only a lot of content that you memorise with spaced repetition and active recall; maths or engineering are arguably harder, so medics should drop the "medicine is so hard" narrative. — 00:14:05
• 2018-05-07 · Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student — Ali does not much like Anki: he used it for isolated facts in anatomy and pharmacology but now almost never does, preferring his spreadsheet method, which he thinks is much better. — 00:25:18
  • With an exam in two days and little revision, Ali would find past papers, work out what will be asked and tackle his weakest topics first, asking what he would least like to face tomorrow. — 00:42:25
• 2018-06-12 · Study with me + The Magic of Categorisation - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #38 — Ali calls categorisation a magical technique and, after spaced repetition and active recall, probably the third most important exam technique: categorise anything you can, whenever you can. (hedged) — 00:01:13
• …and 53 statements more in 2018 — all statements of 2018

2017

• 2017-12-23 · Procrastinating before finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #19 — Ali: Looking back, Ali thinks doing little work in the days before his finals was fine: after three-plus years of preparing in clinical school, working flat out for the last two or three days would not have made any difference. — 00:00:21