How spaced repetition actually works
The algorithm behind why review timing matters more than review frequency.
Cramming a word ten times in one sitting feels productive, but it barely changes how long you'll remember it. Spaced repetition works differently: it shows you a word again right before you're about to forget it, not on a fixed daily schedule. Each correct recall pushes the next review further out; each mistake pulls it back in.
Why timing beats frequency
Memory research calls this the spacing effect — recalling something just as it's fading strengthens it far more than recalling it while it's still fresh. A fixed schedule (say, review every word daily) wastes time on things you already know cold, and under-reviews the handful of items that are actually at risk.
How Learn with Alphonso schedules reviews
The app uses an SM-2-style algorithm with two deliberate differences from the textbook version: a wrong answer halves your progress on that item instead of resetting it to zero, so one slip doesn't erase weeks of earned spacing. And a correct answer on an item you were overdue to review gets a small bonus to its next interval, rewarding the fact that you still remembered it well past when you were expected to forget it.
In practice, that means the review queue you see on the Learn tab is never busywork — every item in it is there because the algorithm has calculated you're at real risk of forgetting it right now.