5 ms·

If you're wondering if it's (supermemo) worth your time, let me share with you my 10 (ten) years supermeme learning conclusions. I got supermemo advanced engli

by rdslw 10y ago

If you're wondering if it's (supermemo) worth your time, let me share with you my 10 (ten) years supermeme learning conclusions. I got supermemo advanced english course (20k phrases) around 2004 as a present and started it in 2005. Initially I thought it will take 2..4 years. Exactly 10 years later, on September 2015 I was at 19k. I reached last 20k phrase (but not finished the course) around spring 2016. I ended doing it in August 2016. I learned every day around 10..15 minutes. During those 10 years I had around 3 breaks of 2..4 weeks each which of course resulted in huge amount to material to rehearse after the break. I had multiple one day slips. My conclusions: * I would did it again!! * It was tough and I was thinking of stopping multiple times * The biggest thing I got is grit (will power) strengthening - I didnt expect it, and IT IS GREAT * Of course better english command came also with the course :) * It impacted (in subtle) ways my approach to learning, which I see much better now with implementing on my own repeating strategies on every possible area * Use supermemo mobile apps (it was not possible in 2005) * For foreign languages, db with sound is ultra worthy - I picked up much better pronounciation on the way, while didnt expect it. Ask me if you want to know more. Trivia: I had to have virtualbox VM with old windows xp on my every laptop, just to have supermemo installed and available there :)

mistermann 10y ago
Now that you're done, why do you think your initial estimate was so far off?
- rdslw 10y ago
  Two things: a. underestimating 'compound interest' (if I may say so) of repetitions from past material you must do in the future. As more and more material is done, there are more repetitions you must do every day, simply because you're forgetting some of the material. So simple '20k / X new words per day' gives BIG error. b. "I had multiple one day slips" is another one, especially as you quickly "learn" that the more new ones you do, bigger daily repetitions number follows :) So quite often I was just doing repetitions to reduce burden on me. Guessing from my memory, average repetition number over that 10y would be around 100 per day. BTW: You can start with smaller db. e.g. I started in the middle doing Russian one and used a 5k one.
mbrookes 10y ago
This is not a dig at the parent - they clearly have commitment and drive, but since they're promoting SuperMemo rather than commenting on the post, let me just say that this: "I would did it again!!" or this: "Of course better english command came also with the course" (among a choice of several examples) should tell you everything you need to know about the effectiveness of SuperMemo after 10 years of learning.
- versteegen 10y ago
  But 12.5 minutes a day for 10 years is only 761 hours. The purpose of SuperMemo is to optimise for total time spent. (Of course, the specific course/material might not have been the most effective.) But I guess that argument doesn't hold water, since rdslw is surely also exposed to a lot of other material in English.
  - rdslw 10y ago
    For sure I was. And yes, this specific course rather wasn't the most effective one (but probably best at that time). There were multiple problems with this supermemo db: many simple phrases I already knew, but also lot of words you never use (afterwards). Also the biggest problem were circular errors (as I called them): A>B but also A>C or B>D, where my brain was struggling with one knowledge fact replacing the other one and again..
- gwern 10y ago
  Those are grammar/style issues, though: 'did' is a tense error, and 'came also' is a reversal of the normal phrase 'also came'. (Not capitalizing 'English' is just being sloppy, as we can safely assume that they know English is a proper noun, since even non-English speakers know that.) Grammar and composition are hard to fit into the SRS framework because you need feedback on subtle errors and exposure to a wide variety of native writing. As far as vocabulary goes, which is what spaced repetition is particularly claimed to be good for, he looks fine to me. Certainly he's better off than if he had tried Rosetta Stone or something...
- rdslw 10y ago
  Nah, rather about me (sloppiness + using English only from time to time) and (this is big for grammar/style) that my native language is quite far from English in terms of lexical distance, and this creates a lot of problems when your brain (thinking in native language) translates word-by-word to other language. Especially that I said 'better' not best/perfect etc. As someone commented, SR is not really good for grammar. But thanks for spotting my mistakes :) Anti-disclaimer: I'm not in any way connected to supermemo, having profits etc. It's funny that my post could have been seen as a promotion :)

by rdslw 10y ago

mistermann 10y ago

Now that you're done, why do you think your initial estimate was so far off?

rdslw 10y ago
Two things: a. underestimating 'compound interest' (if I may say so) of repetitions from past material you must do in the future. As more and more material is done, there are more repetitions you must do every day, simply because you're forgetting some of the material. So simple '20k / X new words per day' gives BIG error. b. "I had multiple one day slips" is another one, especially as you quickly "learn" that the more new ones you do, bigger daily repetitions number follows :) So quite often I was just doing repetitions to reduce burden on me. Guessing from my memory, average repetition number over that 10y would be around 100 per day. BTW: You can start with smaller db. e.g. I started in the middle doing Russian one and used a 5k one.

mbrookes 10y ago

This is not a dig at the parent - they clearly have commitment and drive, but since they're promoting SuperMemo rather than commenting on the post, let me just say that this: "I would did it again!!" or this: "Of course better english command came also with the course" (among a choice of several examples) should tell you everything you need to know about the effectiveness of SuperMemo after 10 years of learning.

versteegen 10y ago
But 12.5 minutes a day for 10 years is only 761 hours. The purpose of SuperMemo is to optimise for total time spent. (Of course, the specific course/material might not have been the most effective.) But I guess that argument doesn't hold water, since rdslw is surely also exposed to a lot of other material in English.
- rdslw 10y ago
  For sure I was. And yes, this specific course rather wasn't the most effective one (but probably best at that time). There were multiple problems with this supermemo db: many simple phrases I already knew, but also lot of words you never use (afterwards). Also the biggest problem were circular errors (as I called them): A>B but also A>C or B>D, where my brain was struggling with one knowledge fact replacing the other one and again..
gwern 10y ago
Those are grammar/style issues, though: 'did' is a tense error, and 'came also' is a reversal of the normal phrase 'also came'. (Not capitalizing 'English' is just being sloppy, as we can safely assume that they know English is a proper noun, since even non-English speakers know that.) Grammar and composition are hard to fit into the SRS framework because you need feedback on subtle errors and exposure to a wide variety of native writing. As far as vocabulary goes, which is what spaced repetition is particularly claimed to be good for, he looks fine to me. Certainly he's better off than if he had tried Rosetta Stone or something...
rdslw 10y ago
Nah, rather about me (sloppiness + using English only from time to time) and (this is big for grammar/style) that my native language is quite far from English in terms of lexical distance, and this creates a lot of problems when your brain (thinking in native language) translates word-by-word to other language. Especially that I said 'better' not best/perfect etc. As someone commented, SR is not really good for grammar. But thanks for spotting my mistakes :) Anti-disclaimer: I'm not in any way connected to supermemo, having profits etc. It's funny that my post could have been seen as a promotion :)