Thinkabara

🧠 Study Skills & Note-Taking · Lesson 4 of 6

Spacing and interleaving

Google Classroom

Spread out review sessions and mix up problem types.

Spacing beats cramming

Five hours of study spread over five days beats five hours the night before — for the same total time. Spacing gives you a little forgetting between sessions, so each review takes effort and strengthens the memory.

A simple review schedule

Day 0Learn it (lecture + notes)
Day 1First review: answer your cue questions
Day 3Second review: flashcards or practice problems
Day 7Third review: mixed with other topics
Day 14+Before the exam: practice test

Spaced repetition apps

Flashcard apps with spaced repetition (such as Anki or Quizlet’s learn modes) schedule each card for you: cards you know come back rarely, cards you miss come back soon. Great for vocabulary, anatomy, formulas and definitions.

Interleaving

In practice problems, don’t do 20 of the same type in a row. Mix types — chapter 3, 5 and 6 problems together. It feels harder, but you learn to recognize which method a problem needs, which is exactly what the exam tests.

Tip

💡 Start reviewing in week one, not exam week. Twenty minutes of review per class per week saves days of cramming.

✏️ Practice: your turn

  1. Put review sessions for each class on your calendar: day 1, 3 and 7 after each lecture
  2. Try a spaced repetition flashcard app for one class
  3. Make a mixed problem set from three different chapters
  4. Track for one week: did spacing feel harder? Did you remember more?

✏️ Study planner: turn your exam dates into a day-by-day plan

🧠 Quick quiz

Answer all 4 questions correctly to mark this lesson as done.

1. Same total hours: which works better?
2. What is interleaving?
3. When should the first review happen?
4. What do spaced repetition apps do?

0 of 4 correct

All lessons in Study Skills & Note-Taking

  1. 🧩 1. How memory worksEncoding, storage, retrieval — and why rereading fools you
  2. 📓 2. Cornell notes and other note-taking systemsCues, notes and a summary — and when to use outlines, maps or charts
  3. 🎯 3. Active recall: test yourselfPractice testing, flashcards done right and the blank-page method
  4. 📅 4. Spacing and interleavingSpread out review sessions and mix up problem types
  5. 📘 5. Reading textbooks and articlesSQ3R, reading for the main idea and keeping up with long readings
  6. 📵 6. Focus and your phoneDeep work blocks, the Pomodoro technique and a distraction-free setup