Exploring Spaced Practice for Students

Spacing out study sessions over multiple days, even weeks, and spacing out questions within a study session develops long-term memory, therefore, durable learning. Cramming for the same or longer overall amount of time creates surface level memory and understanding that diminishes quickly after immediate recall. Each time information is accessed and interacted with, new connections are made, and depth of meaning, relevance and understanding increases. Spaced practice allows for information to be engaged with repeatedly, over a period of time, resulting in deep, durable learning.


Learning Outcomes

After completing this module, you will be able to:

  1. Explain the principle of spaced practice
  2. Describe how spaced practice improves learning
  3. Identify the barriers to using spaced practice
  4. Demonstrate how to use interactive learning tools to support spaced practice

Understanding Spaced Practice

Spaced practice is best explained as a comparison to cramming, a test preparation habit students frequently engage in: intense studying over a short period of time before a test or exam. Rather than squeezing studying in over one or two days, or a few hours, before a test, spaced practice involves spreading study sessions out over several days or weeks. This allows studying to be interspersed with sleep. Sleep allows information to be consolidated and transferred from short-term to long-term memory. There is something to be said for the expression “sleep on it”.

The spaced distribution of studying inevitably results in some information being forgotten between study sessions. As a result, you will be challenged more when trying to recall information during spaced study sessions than you are when cramming.  When you cram, information is stored in short-term memory, which is only temporary. Here it is easily accessed over a brief period, like during a test the next day, but it is then forgotten within days, hours or even minutes after completing the assessment. With spaced practice, information is transferred to and stored in long-term memory, making it more challenging to recall initially but resulting in more durable learning over time. Spacing out study sessions allows you to see what information you have truly learned and what has yet to be transferred into long-term memory.

This is a picture comparing cramming to spaced practice.

Click here for an accessible version of the above image: Spaced Practice vs Cramming.pdf


Spaced Practice - Video

The following two minute video is an introduction to spaced practice. It explores what interleaving is and how it can support you in your learning. You can find this video at the following link: Tactic 1: Spaced Practice Video

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Spaced Practice - Video Transcript

INTRODUCTION  SCREEN [Music] – Spaced Practice

Student 1 [dejected]:

Aw man, my Professor just announced that we have a test in a few weeks. I don’t like tests, I never do well on them.

Student 2:

The test isn’t for a few weeks, we have loads of time to prepare. Want me to help you build a study schedule?

Student 1:

Nah. When I study this early, I forget stuff by the time the test rolls around. I do a lot better when I study the night before the test.

Student 2 [laughing]:

That’s not studying, that’s cramming. And I bet that you forget most of what you studied after the test, right?

Student 1:

Yeah, but it gets me through the test …

Student 1 [frowning]:

… sometimes.

Student 2 [concerned]:

It sounds like cramming doesn’t always work either.

Student 1:

I guess, but I don’t have time to study for all my courses for hours every night.

Student 2:

You don’t have to study for hours every night, and you don’t have to study every course every night. It’s actually better if you don’t.

Student 1:

What do you mean?

Student 2:

You can remember more information if you space out your study sessions so that you don’t study the same information every day. I split my courses into three groups, with a mix of easy and hard courses in each group. Then, I only study the courses from a specific group each day. That way, I’m not spending hours trying to study all of my courses every night, and I’m also giving myself a break from each subject for a couple of days. But I’m still studying something every day, which helps me get into a routine with studying.

Student 1:

Don't you forget stuff when you take those breaks?

Student 2:

Yes, but that’s okay!  It’s actually really important! You want to forget some information a little bit, so  you have to work harder to try and remember the information and relearn it a little bit. Then when I look at the material again to relearn it, it’s easier than it was the last time and I remember it better. Eventually, I know the information really well and because took time to learn it and not try to just cram it into my head, I remember the information for a long time. I’m not just trying to pass the test, I want to remember what I’ve learned when I need it in other classes or on the job someday.

Student 1:

That’s smart.

Student 1:

Okay, let’s make a spaced out schedule so we can study for this test properly.

Narrator: 

Space out your study sessions over several days or even weeks to learn your content more deeply. Spaced practice will help you to remember information for longer periods, resulting in more durable learning.  

END SCREEN [Music] – This project was made possible with funding by the Government of Ontario and through eCampusOntario’s support of the Virtual Learning Strategy. Created by Durham College.


Spaced Practice - Infographic

This infographic will help you to understand how you can use spaced practice to enhance your learning:

Spaced Practice Infographic.pdf

Attribution- Creative Commons-NonCommercial-NoDerivs by The Learning Scientists


Barriers to Spaced Practice

Within this section we explore some roadblocks that can prevent you from engaging in this particularly learning technique.

Resistance to Using Spaced Practice

Challenges You May Face Using Spaced Practice


Customizable Tools to Support Spaced Practice

This tool has been designed to be customizable by your professor, and it can be embedded directly into your course content.

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Weekly Study Schedule Table

This fillable table can be used to model spaced practice for your students. Customize the table with your students' class schedule or a sample schedule for their program, then add spaced blocks of study time.

Week 1: Daily Schedule Week Day and Time
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
6:00 AM              
7:00 AM              
8:00 AM Class 1       Class 5    
9:00 AM Class 4   Class 4     Study Class 6
10:00 AM Study Class 5   Class 6  Study Class 4   Study Class 5
11:00 AM  Lunch Class 3 Study Class 5 Class 6 Class 1 Study Class 1 Lunch
12:00 PM Class 2 Lunch Lunch Lunch Study Class 3
1:00 PM Class 3   Study Class 4 Study Class 3 Lunch Lunch  
2:00 PM Class 5   Study Class 2 Class 6    
3:00 PM   Class 2        
4:00 PM Study Class 1   Study Class 5    
5:00 PM              
6:00 PM     Study Class 1 Class 3      
7:00 PM Study Class 3 Study Class 6   Study Class 6     Study Class 4
8:00 PM Study Class 2           Study Class 2
9:00 PM              
10:00 PM              
11:00 PM              
12:00 AM              

Tips for Using the Weekly Study Schedule Table

  • Schedule study blocks of time for your course, aiming for the first review session within 24 hours of your class, and subsequent sessions spaced 2-3 days apart.
  • Plan study sessions so that you review both current and previous content. Focus on two different topics for each study session to encourage interleaving (discussed in the next module).

References

Photography on this page used with permission from the Durham College Online Photo Database.

Carpenter, S.K., & Agarwal, P.K. (2020). How to use spaced retrieval practice to boost learning. RetrievalPractice.org. http://pdf.retrievalpractice.org/SpacingGuide.pdf

Dunlosky, J. (2013). Strengthening the Student Toolbox: Study Strategies to Boost Learning. American Educator, 37(3), 12–21. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1021069.pdf

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., Marsh, E.J., Nathan, M.J., & Willingham, D.T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266

Karpicke, J. D., & O'Day, G. M. (in press). Elements of effective learning. In M. J. Kahana & A. D. Wagner (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Human Memory, Volume II: Applications. Oxford University Press. https://learninglab.psych.purdue.edu/downloads/inpress_Karpicke_ODay_Oxford_Handbook.pdf

Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2007). Increasing retention without increasing study time. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(4), 183-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00500.x

The Learning Scientists. (n.d.). Spaced practice. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/spaced-practice

Weinstein, Y., Madan, C.R. & Sumeracki, M.A. (2018). Teaching the science of learning. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-017-0087-y

Weinstein Y., & Smith, M. (2016, July 21). Learn how to study using... spaced practice. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/7/21-1