Review Spaced Repetition Cards

Spaced repetition works best as a short daily habit. The spaced repetition algorithm is specifically designed to schedule cards just as you are about to forget them. If you wait for review cards to pile up, you will likely have a harder time remembering the material.

Open the card queue

The card queue can be accessed from the sidebar at the Spaced Repetition tab. Press the Start Review button in the top right corner to start a review session. This will open the next due card.

Reviewing a card

The review screen will show you the front of the card. Try to think of the answer before pressing the Show answer button to reveal the back of the card. You can also press the Space key to reveal the answer. There are four buttons to grade the card: Again, Hard, Good, and Easy.

• Again if you didn’t remember the answer, or made a mistake of any kind. Even small inaccuracies should be graded as Again.
• Hard if you had to think about the answer for a while, but remembered it correctly.
• Good if you remembered the answer quickly and correctly.
• Easy if the card was so easy you didn’t even think about it at all. This should be rare.

Press the button that corresponds to your answer. The card will be graded and the next card will be shown.

It is important to grade cards honestly. The scheduling algorithm can only help you remember the material if you use the grading system correctly. The scheduling algorithm cannot work if you grade yourself too well, but it’s not problematic if you grade yourself too harshly. So if you are unsure, pick the worse option.

Do not overthink individual cards. If you remembered the idea, grade it accordingly and move on. If not, fail it and let the schedule bring it back sooner. Ideally, retrieving the answer to a card should take about 1 second. If it takes much longer, you’re either designing cards that are too complicated or too hard.

Keep the queue healthy

• Review a few cards every day instead of doing giant catch-up sessions.
• If you notice a mistake in a card, edit it immediately by pressing the Edit button.
• If you don’t like a card anymore, you can suspend or delete it. Not every card needs to stay in your library forever.
• You can skip specific cards by pressing the Skip button. Try to use this sparingly. If you notice a card that you keep skipping, there’s probably a better way to write it.