Is spaced repetition better than just reviewing everything daily?

Yes. Reviewing everything daily wastes time on words you already know well. SRS focuses your reviews on the words you're about to forget — which is where the learning actually happens.

How is this different from Anki?

Anki is pure SRS — you build your own decks, set your own intervals, and manage everything yourself. One Who Learns adds memory-palace imagery, gender color-coding, and auto-scheduling from the course curriculum. If you like building Anki decks, keep using Anki. If you want SRS without the overhead, try OWL.

Do I need to review every day for SRS to work?

Daily review is ideal, but SRS is forgiving. If you miss a day, the algorithm adjusts intervals when you return. Missing a week is worse — some words will need re-learning. The system works best with a minimum viable daily commitment (even 5 minutes).

How many words can I learn per day with SRS?

Most learners can handle 10-20 new words per day with effective retention. The bottleneck isn't learning new words — it's reviewing old ones. At 500+ words, daily review sessions can take 15-20 minutes even with SRS.

What happens if I rate a word "got it" but later forget it?

The word will eventually come back for review. If you rate it "not yet" at that point, the algorithm resets the interval and brings it back sooner. SRS is self-correcting — honesty with your ratings makes it work better.

Why you forget German vocabulary — and how to stop

Spaced repetition is the most evidence-backed technique for long-term memory. Here's the science, the algorithm, and how we apply it.

The forgetting curve

In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus ran the first scientific memory experiments — on himself. He memorized lists of nonsense syllables, then tested how quickly he forgot them. The result is the forgetting curve: a steep drop in retention immediately after learning, followed by a slower decline.

Without review, you lose about 50% of newly learned information within 20 minutes. After a day, retention drops to roughly 33%. After a week, most people retain less than 25%.

This isn't a flaw — it's how memory works. Your brain constantly discards information it doesn't need. The question is: how do you tell your brain that German vocabulary is worth keeping?

Without review With spaced repetition

Based on Ebbinghaus (1885). Adapted from Roediger & Butler, 2011.

Spaced repetition counters it

The answer is timing. If you review information just before you'd forget it, the memory strengthens and the next forgetting interval gets longer. Review at 20 minutes, then 1 day, then 1 week, then 1 month — each time, the curve flattens.

This is spaced repetition: reviewing at increasing intervals, timed to catch the memory before it decays. After 4-5 well-timed reviews, information moves from short-term to long-term memory. The word becomes automatic.

The key insight: reviewing too early wastes time (you already know it), reviewing too late wastes the prior reviews (you forgot and have to re-learn). SRS algorithms find the sweet spot.

The algorithms behind it

SM-2 (1987) — the algorithm Anki uses. Created by Piotr Wozniak, it tracks how well you rate each card and adjusts intervals based on an "ease factor." Simple, effective, well-tested.

FSRS (2022) — a newer algorithm based on machine learning, designed to improve on SM-2's weaknesses. It models forgetting probability more precisely and adapts to individual memory patterns. Anki recently adopted it as an option.

One Who Learns uses a simplified three-tier system: not-yet (review soon), almost (review later), got-it (review much later). It's less granular than SM-2 but requires zero cognitive overhead — you rate and move on.

Active recall vs. passive review

SRS works partly because it forces active recall — you see the prompt and retrieve the answer from memory. This is fundamentally different from re-reading or highlighting.

Roediger & Butler (2011) showed that testing produces better long-term retention than restudying, even when study time is equal. The act of retrieval itself strengthens the memory trace.

This is why flashcards work better than word lists, and why memory palace images combined with recall testing are particularly effective: the image provides a retrieval cue, and the test provides the retrieval practice.

Flashcards as the implementation

Flashcards — paper or digital — are the standard SRS implementation. You see one side (prompt), try to recall the other side (answer), then rate your confidence.

Paper flashcards are surprisingly effective but hard to schedule. You'd need a box system (Leitner boxes) to approximate spaced intervals, and managing 500+ cards by hand isn't practical.

Digital flashcards (Anki, SuperMemo, One Who Learns) automate the scheduling. The algorithm handles the intervals; you just show up and practice.

How One Who Learns handles SRS

The biggest barrier to SRS isn't the method — it's the setup. Anki users spend hours building decks, finding images, formatting cards. Most language learners quit before their deck is useful.

One Who Learns eliminates the overhead:

Words auto-queue from completed lessons — no manual deck building
Each card comes with a memory-palace image and mnemonic
Gender is color-coded into the card design
Three-button rating (not-yet / almost / got-it) — no decision fatigue

You finish a lesson. The words from that lesson appear in your review queue. The system handles the rest.

Honest comparison with Anki

Anki is the gold standard for pure SRS power. If you've built your own decks and they're working, keep using Anki. Seriously.

Anki wins at: customization, algorithm control (SM-2 or FSRS), massive shared deck library, free desktop app, community plugins.

OWL wins at: zero setup overhead, integrated curriculum (not just flashcards), memory-palace imagery built in, gender color-coding, guided progression from A1 to B1.

Many learners use both: Anki for custom vocabulary they encounter in the wild, OWL for structured course material with built-in review. The techniques complement each other.