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by p-christ 1342 days ago
The simplifying assumption around units of information and the graphs are just to visualise the main point.

Effectiveness of spaced repetition scales really fast / exponentially whereas other learning methods don't scale like that - do you agree?

If so then over the long-run spaced repetition is always going to be extremely efficient relative to other learning methods.

1 comments

> Effectiveness of spaced repetition scales really fast / exponentially whereas other learning methods don't scale like that - do you agree?

Of course not. As I wrote, in the comment you’re replying to, I was a user and evangelist of SRS for years but eventually saw the reverse.

It’s a very useful tool for a certain narrow niche of memorization tasks. However, it’s an extremely inefficient learning method over the long run compared to reading and using information or skills in context.

Do you agree with just this part?

> Effectiveness of spaced repetition scales exponentially

Not really.

Given a fixed amount of review time per day, the largest deck you can maintain grows asymptotically over time, not exponentially.

Do you agree with the assumptions of the Anki scheduler? That each time you review a card you'll remember it for incrementally longer and longer?

If so then a fixed amount of review time per day will let you remember things for longer & longer.