Droos2 — Spaced Repetition and Retrieval | droos2.com

Droos2 — Spaced Repetition and Retrieval | droos2.com

Building a Spacing Schedule

Concrete day intervals for a test next week, next month and next term, built from the spacing evidence.

Cepeda and colleagues (2006) reviewed 254 studies with over 14,000 observations and found spacing practice over time consistently beats cramming the same hours. The practical question is where to put the sessions.

A practical starter spacing schedule is review after 1 day, then 3 days, then 1 week, then 2 weeks. That is four retrieval sessions after the initial learning, each a self-test rather than a reread.

1885Ebbinghaus measures that forgetting is fastest in the first hours and days after learning.2006Roediger and Karpicke report 56% versus 13% forgetting at 2 days; Cepeda et al. review 254spacing studies.2013Dunlosky et al. rate practice testing and distributed practice as the only high-utilitytechniques among ten.2021Donoghue and Hattie confirm the ranking across 242 studies with over 169,000 participants.
Starter spacing chain plotted across 14 days.

On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.

For a test next week, compress to 1 day, 3 days and 6 days. For a test next month, run the full 1–3–7–14 chain and then add a session around day 28. For a test next term, repeat the chain at longer gaps after day 14.

Ebbinghaus measured in 1885 that forgetting is fastest in the first hours and days after learning, then levels off. The early intervals — 1 day and 3 days — sit exactly where the drop is steepest.

If an item fails at a session, move it back one interval rather than restarting the whole chain. The schedule is a queue, not a single fixed ladder.

  • Starter chain: 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks.
  • Test next week: 1 day, 3 days, 6 days.
  • Test next month: 1, 3, 7, 14, 28 days.
  • Failed item: move back one interval.

Further reading