DIRECTIONS: Write the four dates in first. Then learn these ten in five minutes, cover them, and do the box at the bottom.
1Bolivia Sucre
2Ghana Accra
3Nepal Kathmandu
4Croatia Zagreb
5Ecuador Quito
6Laos Vientiane
7Latvia Riga
8Morocco Rabat
9Paraguay Asuncion
10Slovenia Ljubljana
THIS SHEET IS NOT FINISHED TODAY. Four sittings. Dates in now, in pen.
Today — learn them, then the box below
Tomorrow — Day 1
The day after — Day 2
One week from today — Day 7
No looking at the list in between. One peek, and the curve shows the peek.
TODAY — Day 0, five minutes after you covered the list
Cover the list. Write the capital for each country, in order.
How many will you get?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Now check. How many did you actually get?
Your Own Forgetting Curve — the three returns
How learning works · Page 2 of 3
DIRECTIONS: One box a day, on the day, dated.
DAY 1 — tomorrow
Date I did this
No looking at page 1 first. Before you write anything: how many out of ten have
you still got?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Checked. How many did you actually have?
DAY 2 — the day after
Date I did this
Still no looking. Before you write anything: how many out of ten have
you still got?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Checked. How many did you actually have?
DAY 7 — one week from Day 0
Date I did this
Five days since you last thought about these. Before you write anything: how many out of ten have
you still got?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Checked. How many did you actually have?
Missed a day? Write the real date and carry on. Never fill in a guessed number.
Your Own Forgetting Curve — the curve
How learning works · Page 3 of 3
DIRECTIONS: Cross each of your four scores, then join the crosses. Days 3 to 6 stay empty; the line crosses them.
Score
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Where is the steepest part of your line — which day lost you the most?
Look back at your predictions. Which way were you wrong — too high or too low — and were you wrong the same way every time?
You were allowed no reminders at all. If you had been given one two-minute look at the list during the week, mark on the grid where you would have spent it, and say why there.
One or two of the ten survived all the way to Day 7. Which, and what is different about those ones — is it the word, or is it something you did?