AdaptivStudy · one of three study modes

Retain

the learn mode, built on spaced repetition

Flashcards that track real memory strength, not streak luck.

What is spaced repetition?

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that schedules review of material at gradually increasing intervals timed to counteract the natural forgetting curve.

Retain is built on ODAF, Objective-Driven Adaptiv Flashcards. Instead of a simple right-or-wrong streak, every card carries a memory-strength score, and that score decides what you see next and when you see it again. The widening review gaps of classic spaced repetition still happen: they emerge from each card's strength and decay rather than from fixed boxes or interval steps.

How does Retain use spaced repetition?

Memory strength, not streaks

Each card has a strength from 0 to 1. Answer well and it climbs; struggle and it drops. The Cold, Warm, and Hot states reflect that strength, so you can see at a glance what is solid and what is still shaky.

Honest decay

Once a card is mastered, meaning its strength first reaches 95%, it decays by roughly 8% a day; before that, a card you are still learning holds its strength. The decay is deliberate. Memory fades, so a mastered card resurfaces before you would have forgotten it, rather than pretending one good day means mastery forever.

Weighted resurfacing

There are no fixed review intervals or boxes. Once you have learned every card, maintenance rounds resurface weaker cards far more often than solid ones, roughly Cold half the time, Warm about a third, Hot the rest, so your time pools where it is actually needed instead of being spread evenly across the set.

Flip-first review

You see the prompt, recall the answer, then flip to check. The rating you give feeds the strength score, which in turn sets how soon the card returns.

Why does spaced repetition work?

Two findings from memory research explain why spaced repetition works. First, the forgetting curve: newly learned material decays quickly at first and then more slowly, an effect first measured by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885 and replicated in modern data (Murre and Dros, 2015). Second, the spacing effect: studying the same material in separate sessions, rather than all at once, produces stronger long-term recall. In a study of more than 1,350 learners, spacing study sessions at the optimal gap increased final recall by 64% over studying the same material back to back, for the same total study time (Cepeda, Vul, Rohrer, Wixted, and Pashler, Psychological Science, 2008). A large review of ten study techniques gave its highest utility rating to only two of them, and distributed practice was one, alongside practice testing (Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, and Willingham, 2013). Retain applies this without fixed schedules: it tracks each card's memory strength as it decays and brings the card back as that strength falls, so weaker cards return sooner and mastered cards return less often.

Sources

See how all three modes fit together, and everything else inside AdaptivStudy, on our about page.

At a glance

Method: ODAF (Objective-Driven Adaptiv Flashcards)
Strength: 0.0 to 1.0 per card
Scheduling: Continuous strength (due below 0.4)
Decay: ~8% per day, only after mastery (95%)
States: Cold to Warm to Hot (flip-first)
XP: Warm 5 · Hot 15 · Mastered 30

Frequently asked questions

How often should I review a flashcard?

It depends on how well you know it. Retain tracks a 0 to 1 memory-strength score per card; a card is due for review whenever its strength drops below 0.4, and once a card is mastered its strength decays by roughly 8% a day, so it resurfaces automatically as its memory weakens instead of on a fixed daily or weekly schedule.

What is the forgetting curve?

The forgetting curve, first measured by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885 and replicated with modern data in 2015, is the observation that newly learned information is lost quickly at first and then more slowly over time. Spaced repetition works by timing reviews against that curve, returning to material as it starts to fade.

Does Retain schedule reviews automatically?

Yes. Retain does not ask you to pick review dates or move cards through boxes. Each card's memory-strength score, and its decay once mastered, decides what to show you next, resurfacing weaker cards more often than stronger ones.

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