CET-6 Listening Lecture: The Forgetting Curve and Spaced Practice

Recording Three.

How much of today's lecture will you remember next week?

If you're like most people, not very much, I'm afraid.

And that's not because you're careless. It's how memory works.

In the 1880s, a German psychologist called Hermann Ebbinghaus tested his own memory.

He learned long lists of nonsense syllables, like 'wid' and 'zof'.

Then he tested himself after different periods of time.

What he found was striking: most forgetting happens very quickly!

He lost a large part of each list within the first day.

After that, the curve flattened, and forgetting slowed down.

This pattern is now known as the forgetting curve.

The good news is that every review makes the curve less steep.

If you review after one day, then after three days, then after a week,

the information stays with you much longer.

This is called spaced practice.

There's one more rule: test yourself, don't just reread.

Rereading feels easy, so we think we've learned something.

But trying to recall an answer is what really strengthens a memory.

So close your notes, and see what you can remember. It's harder, and that's the point!

Questions twenty-two to twenty-five are based on the recording you have just heard.

Question twenty-two. What did Hermann Ebbinghaus do in his experiment?

Question twenty-three. What did Ebbinghaus find about forgetting?

Question twenty-four. What is spaced practice?

Question twenty-five. Why does the speaker prefer testing yourself to rereading?

Forgetting is normal. Planning your reviews is the trick.

I'll see you next week — and I hope you'll remember this!