Spaced Retrieval Primer

Read the article in the top link (the second and third article are optional, though recommended), and answer the questions below, to be submitted on the first day of class.

Articles

• How To Remember Anything Forever-ish by Nicky Case

• (Optional) Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender To This Algorithm

• (Optional) Gwern Branwen’s notebook on spaced repetition

Questions

1. What are two of the most common ways that students study material in courses?
2. Who was the first scientist to perform an experiment involving spaced repetition and the testing effect?
3. What happens to the rate of decay of a memory each time you retrieve a memory? That is, if the chance you remember something after time \(t\) from last actively recalling it decays as \(S(t) = 1 - e^{-\lambda t}\), what happens to \(\lambda\) after each active retrieval?
4. Sketch what the forgetting curve with well-spaced reviews looks like.
5. What spaced repetition software does Nicky Case mention that we will be using throughout our course?
6. What are three keys to making flashcards effective?
7. When do you plan to use Anki each day?

Pre-class Assessments

Complete the following pre-class assessments, to be submitted on the first day of class.

You are welcome to consult resources such as your calculus textbook, Wikipedia, Khan Academy, YouTube, etc., if you need to review any of the mathematics. However, you should complete these assessments without consulting other students, tutors, professors, etc. This assignment will be marked for completeness, and is meant to indicate to both you and me your preparedness for the course.

You can print out the assessments from the linked PDFs, and write your answers directly on the printouts.

• Pre-class Assessment 1
  
• Pre-class Assessment 2