A place for spaced repetition in your quest for a 4.0

I'm sure you have all heard of spaced repetition, the idea that you remember things better if you study them regularly rather than cram just before a prelim or final. Most of you will have heard of or used software like Anki that has you make flashcard of things you want to learn and then tests you on them at the appropriate intervals. But have you ever tried to implement spaced repetition here at Cornell?

What methods have you tried? What excuses have you given to avoid or quit spaced repetition?

A couple of semesters I started out trying to Anki my way to a 4.0. I still have the decks I created that led to high grades on a couple of first prelims that devastated many others. However, despite my success early in semesters, I have never been able to keep up the process for more than a month or so. Then it seems like I have to chose between giving my all to new work or keeping up with review.

This semester I intend to try something different. There are roughly 100 days between now and finals. I have two classes that rely on problems sets and tests for their grades. My plan is that about 90 minutes before I go to bed to test myself on a hard problem or two that I have done in a problem set for one of those classes, every day. This misses some of the ideal part of timing in spaced repetition but on the other hand I don't have to make flash cards.

I won't spend 90 minutes on this type of spaced repetition, more like 30. Then that will lead to abut 60 minutes of winding down time. OK, sometimes the best way I wind down is lying in bed snoring but it works in the end.

So far I don't have enough problems finished to make the problems I chose for repetition much of a surprise. My solution to that is to add reworking problems from lecture to the pile. So far I have been able to have a pretty good balance and work on problems that I have a clue about but don't really know the answer. I think that is ideal. The point of the process is NOT to learn extra material OR to use this as a mini session to start a new problem set. The goal is to reinforce things that if I look at them I think I know them but it turns out that on the final, I really don't. Hopefully, it will also help will the speed I need on finals as well.

Good luck