| FAQ: Resolving repetition overload (Postpone and Mercy) |
Use Postpone to Recover from a weekend
Postpone will relieve your burden in cases of a severe material overload
Postpone can be executed after a break from learning
You can use "Skip conditions" to limit the extent of Postpone
Auto-postpone is confusing
Skipping days on which you do not have time for learning
Global postpone with a different setting for one branch
What to do after a longer break from learning?
Newly added items automatically enter the learning process
Postponing topics and their extracts
Where do I find Mercy?
Using Mercy before a vacation
You can use Mercy in the future to review material before an exam
Mercy is not less harmful with Algorithm SM-11
Lesser role of the pending queue in SuperMemo
Postpone cannot be entirely automatic
You cannot undo Mercy
Mercy is interval-neutral for the SuperMemo Algorithm
Short-interval topics and today's topics do not qualify for the Advance operation
Use Postpone to Recover from a weekend
(Bohdan Vanek, Czech Republic, Friday, August 09, 2002 1:04 PM)
Question:
I almost never run the program on the weekends. This causes
accumulation of repetitions not only for Monday but for succeeding days as well
Answer:
This would work best in your case:
You can adjust Postpone parameters to minimize damage to most important branches of knowledge, and to ensure that repetitions do not get predominantly scheduled on Tuesday or Wednesday
Postpone can be executed after a break from learning (#2112)
(Dustin Darcy, USA Educational, Sunday, October 10, 2004 8:03 AM)
Question:
If I disappear for a month, because I'm busy working on a project that demands 24/7 attention I'm not going home to run SuperMemo to key in postpone dates
Answer:
Once you resume learning, you can execute a single
Postpone on all the outstanding material. Depending on the
postpone parameters, you may not even need Mercy to re-portion the material. A heavy
Postpone, will disperse the outstanding material well into the future in
a single step
You can use "Skip conditions" to limit the extent of Postpone
(Nathan Forsdyke, Tuesday, August 06, 2002 8:03 PM)
Question:
When I use
Postpone on outstanding elements, I end up with no outstanding elements for today
Answer:
When you execute
Postpone, choose the Parameters tab and play with Skip
conditions to limit the subset of affected elements
See more: Postpone
Mercy is not less harmful with Algorithm SM-11
(Marin Plopeanu, Romania, Wed, Jul 03, 2002 16:44)
Question:
Why
is Mercy still described with a warning of extra hours of work, and mid-interval
repetition is described with "you can now safely execute a major review of material (e.g. before an
exam)". Does not the new algorithm help reduce the bad effect of Mercy?
Answer:
Mercy postpones repetitions at the cost of retention. Mercy does not involve a repetition. Mid-interval repetition may be less effective than a normal repetition but it is not harmful. With mid-interval repetition you only waste time on the extra repetition ahead of time. With
Mercy, you waste time when it comes to relearning material forgotten due to delayed or missed repetitions. Mid-interval repetition
advances the repetition, Mercy delays the repetition. The Algorithm
SM-11 can compensate for an early repetition, but it cannot prevent forgetting when you fail to
make a repetition
Newly added items automatically enter the learning process
(Janusz Batkowski, Poland, Monday, July 29, 2002 3:34 PM)
Question:
When I add a new item with
Alt+A it is automatically introduced into the learning process. In SM2000 it was possible to add several new items and memorize only a portion of them
Answer:
With improved handling
of the material overflow (e.g.
Postpone), it is recommended that all your new material enters the learning process as soon as it is collected (pasted or typed in). If you are importing a larger collection written by somebody else you can use
File : Tools : Reset collection before merging the collection. If you still want to keep an item in the
pending queue, use Forget (Ctrl+R).
Presently, SuperMemo makes little use of the
pending queue, which was formerly used to prevent repetition overload.
For similar reasons, the concept of the repetition ceiling also became irrelevant in SuperMemo
Skipping days on which you do not have time for learning
(Bohdan Vanek, Czech Republic, Friday, August 09, 2002 1:04 PM)
Question:
Is it possible to make such settings in SuperMemo that the program will automatically skip given days in the learning plan?
Answer:
No. However, for all purposes, rescheduling tools will do the trick for you.
You may use Postpone if you want to delay lower priority material after a
break. You may also use Mercy to spread the outstanding material over a couple of days, or if you want to execute repetitions in advance of a
break
Lesser role of the pending queue in SuperMemo
(Brian Yu, Friday, October 25, 2002 6:19 AM)
Question:
Whenever I add a new element to a category, it defaults to
memorized. I previously upgraded to SuperMemo 2002 from SuperMemo 2000 and before
that all new elements added were created as pending. Is this an option than can be toggled? I would like my new elements to automatically be entered into the pending queue
Answer:
After you add an element, press
Ctrl+R.
The default behavior of memorizing elements cannot be turned off. In SuperMemo 2000, you would need
Ctrl+M to memorize elements after adding them to your collection. In new
SuperMemos, you need
Ctrl+R to un-memorize them instead. This change comes from the fact that the recommended approach is to immediately memorize the material once you type it in (typing in is a form of repetition that can be capitalized on). Pending queue is reserved for ready-made material (e.g. from SuperMemo Library).
If your pending queue is very long (e.g. 40,000 elements in Advanced English), you would always need to press
Remember after adding new elements. Failure to do so could result in not being able to recall the entered material, nor even detect the error (unless after a couple of years when the pending queue is exhausted).
To better understand the new approach, read about incremental reading and
Postpone. If you want to type a longer text without learning it, type it into a note
element (e.g. Alt+N). You will then process it with incremental reading only then when your priorities make it
possible
Pending queue is decreasing in importance (#14119)
(Jiri Panenka,
Slovakia, Nov 13, 2002, 0:00 AM)
Question:
Why do you say the pending queue is an outdated concept? It has always been there in SuperMemo and I am accustomed to adding items to the pending queue and memorize them only when I have time.
Answer:
In old SuperMemo you would say
"I will memorize this item when I memorize all items that I added before
it". In new SuperMemo, it makes far more sense to say "I hope I will be able to memorize this item in four months from
now". With Ctrl+J you can set the date of the first repetition of a recently introduced item. This way, you can immediately prioritize your material by producing shorter intervals for more important items. Naturally, this will easily result in material overflow. However,
new SuperMemo can easily handle the overflow with
Postpone. Some repetition may be delayed again and again, but SuperMemo
is relatively insensitive to such delay. Delays will reduce your retention, but their will not distort the learning
process. In simple terms, new SuperMemo uses by far more sophisticated mechanisms for prioritizing your material to resort to the primitive "first come, first served"
approach of the pending queue. Pending queue is reserved mostly for ready-made collections where material is already sorted into the appropriate
sequence
Postponing topics and their extracts
(M¯,
Poland, Wed, May 16, 2001 22:35)
Question:
Please add an option
"Postpone topics with their extracts"
Answer:
You can postpone topics with their extracts using this method:
Note that you may need to use Learning : Locate extracts on the element menu if you have moved portions of your learning material to other branches
Postpone cannot be entirely automatic
(SuperMemo Support, Wednesday, November 27, 2002 10:51 AM)
Question:
I would like to see automatic computation of the optimal parameters in the postpone dialog based on the history of repetitions
Answer:
If you choose
Postpone, you do evoke a default parameter set. However, this set is not derived from repetition history.
If you read the history of
Mercy, you may notice that all rescheduling algorithms will be based on
multi-criterial optimization. In other words, repetition history could only be used for a subset of criteria such as: postpone difficult material, postpone easy material, postpone long-term material, etc.
In simple terms, your proposition is comparable in complexity to asking MS Word to format texts based on their semantics.
The present approach used by Postpone already includes the multi-criterial approach by making it possible to execute
Postpone on any subset that can be generated with SuperMemo. You can thus postpone by semantics (e.g. keyword search), branch content, difficulty, interval, number of repetitions, etc. The parameters set in
Postpone dialog are basically used to set bordering conditions of the optimization problem. In addition, the degree of the delay can also be adjusted. The
Scope and Adjust tabs are only used to automate subset operations. You may, but you do not have to, modify bordering conditions of
Postpone.
As long as you master subset skills, you will be able to meet your goals. Postpone cannot be automated as it is you, the user, who defines the goals of
Postpone
Global postpone with a different setting for one branch
(Robin, May 20, 2003)
Question:
How can I do a global postpone that would apply a defined specific postpone settings to a single branch? I want to postpone all material a little, but I want to do a more radical postpone on my To-Do branch. Can I do it without running the postpone on the To-Do branch first?
Answer:
You can do complex postpones with a single click. However, you must first define branch-specific postpone parameters.
In your case:
Now, if you want to postpone any branch or subset that includes To-Do elements, be sure Respect settings is selected on the Adjust tab of the postpone dialog. Naturally, you can save this setting and use it effortlessly in the future. If you do so, all your postpones will require only two key presses: Ctrl+Alt+P (to open the postpone dialog), and Enter (to execute the postpone). Your To-Do elements will be postponed differently than the other elements in the postponed set
Postpone will relieve your burden in cases of a severe material overload
(SuperMemo user, Poland, Tuesday, December 03, 2002 10:28 PM)
Question:
I have a very busy schedule and would like to be able to reduce my workload on certain days. Does SuperMemo have option other than Mercy that would make it possible?
Answer:
Use Postpone (e.g. Learn : Postpone : All from the main menu) to increase intervals of all outstanding repetitions by a selected delay factor. Delay factor determines by how much the outstanding elements should be delayed. For example, if you set the delay factor to 1.01 on an element with the interval of 100 days, it will be delayed by 10 days (i.e. rescheduled to the interval of 110 days). In other words if you had this element scheduled on today, it would appear 10 days
later
Where do I find Mercy?
(Andy Major , Friday, April 04, 2003 12:52 PM)
Question:
Where do I find the mercy key or is that a mythical idea?
Answer:
Use
Tools : Mercy on the main menu. Be sure you set
File : Level : Middle or Professional
You can use Mercy in the future to review material before an exam (#7004)
(Dimi Linde, Thursday, September 20, 2001 6:46 PM)
Question:
I have a test next week and I want to maximize the retention. All my outstanding items have been repeated. What can I do more?
Answer:
Use Tools : Mercy and check
Consider future repetitions. Then collect all material from as far into the future as you wish. You will be able to schedule all these repetitions for today. Unfortunately, due to the spacing effect and the nature of the
spaced repetition algorithm, SuperMemo will not return the length of your interval to previous values after the repetitions are done successfully. Consequently, you will increase your retention for the exam but will also have more work with the same material in the future
What to do after a longer break from learning?
(Piotr Wasik, Poland, Monday, September 16, 2002 4:49 PM)
Question:
If I learn for two months and memorize about 2,000 items and then have a two-month break, will the factors associated with items have any relevance to reality? I have a feeling that learning from
scratch would be a tremendous waste of time
Answer:
You are right. Starting from scratch is not the best strategy. SuperMemo is reasonably resistant to being fooled by a long break in learning. If you resume learning, items that are still remembered well will get frighteningly long intervals. If your whole learning process is new, SuperMemo may overestimate your memory powers. You can then always shorten very long intervals manually (e.g. with
Ctrl+J). The proportion of well-remembered material will be far greater than what many people
assume (e.g. by looking at their own forgetting curves). You will quickly winnow only that portion of material that needs more review. Within a month, you shall be back on track. Within a year you will not be able to detect any effects of the break. On the other hand, if you start from scratch, you will increase your workload manifold. In addition, you will fool SuperMemo with your unexpectedly good performance on the re-learned material. SuperMemo will have no record of your previous work and will wrongly conclude that your memory is surprisingly good
Mercy is interval-neutral for the SuperMemo Algorithm
(Patrik Nilsson, Thursday, September 27, 2001 12:22 PM)
Question:
I do not like that
Mercy changes the intervals of items. I don't think it is the optimum. If for example I have a repetition interval of about 30 days and
Mercy will change that to 60 days, the repetition will produce a very long interval.
Answer:
It is true that
Mercy updates the current interval associated with an item, but it does not change the effect a repetition will have on that item. At repetition, SuperMemo will always use the interval spanning from the last repetition to today, i.e. the "real" interval.
Mercy does not change that value. If the item's interval is 30 days, and the repetition is delayed
by 30 days, the algorithm will use the interval of 60 days whether Mercy was used or
not
Using Mercy before a vacation
(hibisuk, Feb 25, 2005, 13:55:15)
Question:
I used
Mercy to bring forward repetitions to allow for a vacation in 2 weeks time. The program duly gathered all repetitions up to the end of the vacation period and then spread them equally over the days remaining until the start of the vacation. Today, after completing the first of the averaged days I found that the vacation days had now been allocated new repetitions! Shouldn't the vacation period have remained repetition-free?
Answer:
This is a
correct behavior as designed.
SuperMemo is scheduling your repetitions so that to meet your forgetting index criteria (i.e.
keeping intervals short enough to make sure you remember as much as you
planned). SuperMemo never takes into account previous rescheduling operations other than by trying to guess optimum learning intervals in the new situation.
Mercy is a one-time rescheduling act. It does not "block" the vacation period, nor does it do any further rescheduling while you make repetitions.
Once you return from vacation, you will resume your repetitions, and those taken from the vacation period
will appear first (in proportion to delay in days). If the post-vacation load is too high, you can use
Postpone.
If you repeat Mercy before going for vacation, and advance the newly
scheduled vacation repetitions again, you will fall into a cycle of futile repetitions
that may even worsen recall. This is because two repetitions of the same item executed in short succession count as little, or sometimes less, than a single
repetition! Repetitions that fall into the vacation period after executing Mercy
should only be made/executed after the vacation.
Another advantage of the adopted solution is that repetitions scheduled in the vacation period provide an interesting insight into your learning process. In particular, how load bottlenecks form and get resolved.
All in all, you only need a mental adjustment to accept non-zero workload in the vacation period.
Non-zero workload does not imply lower learning efficiency upon return from
vacation! The only, and usually not significant, damage you will incur is the
inevitable side effect of taking a break from learning
Short-interval topics and today's topics do not qualify for the Advance operation (#4697)
(Gary Belhomme, Canada, Tuesday, May 31, 2005 11:18 AM)
Question:
I tried to use
Advance on my important branches to undo Postpone but I keep getting the message “No topics qualify for advancement”.
Answer:
The
Advance operation will not work on two kinds of topics:
To undo Postpone, open the postponed subset in the browser and choose sufficiently short advance interval
You cannot undo Mercy
(Daniel McCarthy, Aug 17, 2004, 02:43:32)
Question:
I
used Mercy instead of Postpone to delay learning material till after
a vacation. Now SuperMemo is only giving me 2-10 repetitions per day, instead of
the 100 it used to give. How can I undo this?
Answer:
You cannot
undo Mercy; however, you can schedule your repetitions back to the present day.
In other words, you can get back to 100 repetitions per day, but you may end up
with a changed (sub-optimum) sequence of repetitions. To collect future
repetitions and get 100 repetitions per day, use Mercy
again, check Consider future
repetitions, provide a sufficiently long Gathering period and
set Number of items per day to 100
Auto-postpone is confusing (#2972)
(Mike,
Mar 03, 2007, 04:37:03)
Question:
I think there are some problems with the way
Postpone works. Auto-postpone leaves some low-priority topics in
Outstanding. When I try to use Postpone with Skip the following number of top priority
elements it postpones everything (!) and I got nothing to learn! BTW: Simulate does not ever seem to react to change in Skip the following number of top priority
elements.
Answer:
Auto-postpone indeed causes a lot of confusion. The three least
understood points are: