The KoKo method: spaced repetition
Reading a list of words is not enough to remember them. KoKo brings each word back just before you forget it: that is spaced repetition.
Why we forget
A word read only once fades within days. But each time you manage to recall it from memory, it holds for longer, and the next review can wait longer too. Review too early and you waste time; too late and you have to learn it all over again. The right moment is just before you forget.
Learning a word: four steps
New words come in sets of four, from easiest to hardest. Each one usually goes through four steps:
- Pick its translation from several choices.
- Find the word from its translation, among several choices.
- Type the word in the language you are learning.
- Type its translation in your own language.
Recognise first, produce second: typing a word takes more effort than recognising it, and that effort is what fixes it.
Six reviews, further and further apart
A learned word then comes back six times, at growing intervals:
- the next day
- 3 days later
- 8 days later
- 3 weeks later
- nearly 2 months later
- 4 months later
After the sixth successful review, the word is mastered and leaves the rotation. A review is a single question: typing the word when you see its translation.
Your review schedule
Pick the day you learn a word: here are the six days to see it again, if you make no mistake. KoKo keeps this schedule for every one of your words.
What if you get it wrong?
A mistake does not send the word back to zero: it drops by a single interval. The missed word is typed again straight away, then returns at the end of the set until you get it right.
A few minutes a day
A review set holds eight words. KoKo never offers more than 32 reviews a day and starts with the words you are most likely to forget: even after a long break, the day stays manageable.
