Optimal Repetition Spacing?

Hi,

I'm not sure what is the best way to review and re-review my flashcard terms. I have sooo many of them now.

I know I need to review them on a regular basis, but do not know what is the optimal repetition review spacing should be.

Can anyone help on this? I know there are studies which suggest which is the optimal time to review and re-review vocabulary for the greatest retention.

Is using the repetition spacing option on Pleco the best method to use? What is the best / recommended parameters for the repetition spacing option?

Grateful for any help that can be provided!

I'm not too familiar with studies on the subject, but repetition spacing is the method used by SuperMemo (which seems to be the most rigorously-designed flashcard program out there, or at least the most popular one) so that will probably work pretty well for you. Set the spacing mode to "custom" and then set up the day spacing for each rank to whatever seems reasonable - the default settings should work pretty well, or you can change rank 1 to 1 day if you want to study a bit more aggressively. You could go into Rank settings and lower the Advance to next rank threshhold to 2 (and set the mode to "in rank") which will more quickly move cards up to the next spacing level - given the number of flashcards you have that might help you more quickly reach a point where you're concentrating on the words you need the most practice with.

Dear Greg,

I also use thousands of flashcards. My rank settings are:
Rank 1 0 days
Rank 2 1 day
Rank 3 3 days
Rank 4 6 days
Rank 5 10 days
Rank 6 15 days
Rank 7 25 days
Rank 8 60 days
Rank 9 180 days

The Rank 1 setting of 0 days means that all the rank 1 cards come up today. So if I miss the card, it still comes up today until I get it right.

My memory is not as good as some, so if you have a young, quick memory, you could probably use longer spacings.

Also, on the same page, I set the "limit ranks" to 9.

On the Rank Settings page, I set the settings so that the card advances to the next Rank if I get it right once (this way the cards that I know move up the Ranks quickly); and if I get a card wrong, I set it to retreat by 8 Ranks so that it goes back to Rank 1 and I start over again.

This works well for me. I do several hundred cards each day.

I still need a good way of breaking up large sets of flashcards. HSK 2 and 3 have over 2000 cards, so it's not very efficient when I first turn one of these sets on.

John

thank you guys both for your suggestions. They are incredibly helpful.

Yes, I try to break up my flashcards into sets of 100. Any more than that and my mind would explode. lol

Sometimes the pleco dictionary matches up the chinese characters without definitions, only pinyin and such. So I have spent hundreds of hours creating my own flashcard definitions. It's soooo tedious and inefficient. However, in time it will pay off i guess.

You're very welcome. Sorry that you're having to put in so much time filling in flashcard definitions - have you thought about creating cards for those words on your PC and bringing them in using PlecoDict's Import feature? Might save some time - it's a lot faster to enter words on a PC than on a tiny Palm screen.

Also, if you haven't already been doing this you should make certain to back up your flashcard databases regularly to guard against a stolen PDA or a system crash. On Palm OS, HotSync your Palm with your PC and then copy the "PlecoDict Flashcard Database" and "PlecoDict User DB C-E" from c:\program files\palm\(your username)\Backup to another folder on your PC, on Pocket PC connect your Pocket PC to your regular PC, go into "My Computer" and "Mobile Device" and copy "PlecoDict Flashcard Database" and "PlecoDict User DB C-E" directly from there to a safe location on your PC.

johnh113 wrote that he set his rank settings to be:

Rank 1 0 days
Rank 2 1 day
Rank 3 3 days
Rank 4 6 days
Rank 5 10 days
Rank 6 15 days
Rank 7 25 days
Rank 8 60 days
Rank 9 180 days

1) Where do you set the # of days for each rank? I can't seem to find where I can set those parameters.

2) Say I have 20 flashcards, do all of them have to be checkmarked to review past flashcards in the repetition spacing test mode?

3) Say all of them are checkmarked, 500 terms. I have 20 minutes and was only able to go over 50 terms, then I exit pleco and turn off my pda. Are the results from my repetition spacing test saved so that I can pick up where I left off later in the day or do I have to complete all 500 terms for the results of the # I got right and wrong to be saved?

4) Also, I'd love to hear what other people's repetition spacings are that they find most effective for studying a large number of flashcards!

Thanks guys!

repetition spacing

Dear Sarah,

Question 1:
In the "New Session" screen, I first use "Rank Settings" to:
set the "Number of Ranks" to 10
set "Advance to next rank" to 1 in rank
set "Retreat" to 8 ranks after 1 incorrect

Then in the "Test Settings" screen I set "Self Scored"

Then in the "Card Settings" screen I
set "Mode" to Repetition Spacing"
set "Spacing' to "Custom" and click the "Setup" button
set the "Spacing" for each of the ranks - I don't touch "Frequency"
set "Sort By" to random
set "Limit Ranks" to 1 through 9
I do not check either the flags box or the limit box

That's it. You might notice that I chose 10 ranks originally, but I set the "Limit Ranks" to 1 through 9. That is because, for me, if I can recognize a card after 6 months (my rank 9) then I feel I don't need to see it again. Having correctly recognized it after 6 months, it advances to rank 10. But since I limit the test to ranks 1 through 9 I never see rank 10 and therefore never see those cards that I know well.

Question 2:
I don't understand this question. I don't have checkmarks for my flashcards. Are you talking about flashcard lists? Yes, the flashcard lists need to be checked iin the "New Session" screen in order to be used. If the flashcard list is not checked, it will not be used.

Question 3:
After you exit, the new rankings will be correct, but you will not be able to reenter that session. You will need to start a new session. But, for instance, if in those 20 minutes you got all 50 cards correct, your next session will only have 450 cards to review. Any cards you got incorrect, if you use my repetition spacing which has rank 1 set to 0 days, then the incorrect cards will still be in your new session. That is, if you got 40 out of 50 correct, the 10 incorrect will be in your next session which will have 460 cards.

I think that Mike is planning on make sessions re-entrant in Pleco 2.0, but the way they currently work is not bad.

John

Thank you VERY VERY much John! That explanation was very clear! I didn't realize there were custom settings for the days! Very cool!