Spaced repetition is the most evidence-backed memory technique in cognitive science: reviewing each fact right before you would forget it, with intervals that grow when you recall and shrink when you miss. Vortixy Exam Mode schedules your reviews with an FSRS-style scheduler —you grade each card and the system decides when it returns—. This guide teaches you to use it well, because the algorithm only works if you grade honestly. No magic numbers: daily consistency, small cards, sincere grading.
How FSRS schedules your reviews
Each card carries an estimated difficulty and stability: when you recall it, the next review moves further out; when you miss it, it returns soon. You grade with four levels —again, hard, good, easy— and the system adjusts the intervals from that signal.
The whole system runs on your grading. Marking a shaky card as known pushes it far away right when you were about to forget it. When in doubt, mark it hard: an extra review costs a minute; a false easy costs the exam question you miss.
Make atomic cards or the system lies
Each card tests ONE fact: a definition, a formula, a date, a step. The classic mistake is packing three concepts into one card —triple question, three-paragraph answer— and then grading "more or less": the scheduler receives noise and schedules noise.
Three atomic cards beat one bloated card every time. If a card fails three sessions in a row, it is not bad memory: it is a bad card. Split it in two, add a concrete example, or rewrite the prompt so it asks for one thing.
Short sessions every day
Fifteen to thirty minutes daily is the sweet spot: enough to make real progress, short enough to sustain for months. Three-hour marathons destroy the scheduling —you skip days, hundreds of cards come due at once, you quit—.
Set one fixed moment per day rather than relying on motivation: after breakfast, on the commute, before bed. Anchor the habit to something that already happens and the streak builds itself. On bad days, five minutes are enough: consistency beats volume.
Combine with weekly free recall
FSRS fixes what you already understood; it does not teach you anything new or train you to apply it. Once a week, close the material and write everything you remember about the topic without looking —free recall— and explain one concept aloud as if to a twelve-year-old.
That weekly discomfort is the highest-impact retrieval technique: it reveals gaps that isolated cards never show, because cards ask for pieces and free recall asks for the picture.
What to do with leech cards
Every collection has leeches: cards you keep failing despite reviewing them. Grinding them does not work —the problem lives in the card, not in you—.
Fix it or delete it: split it into simpler pieces, add a mnemonic, or drop it if the fact is not worth its review cost. A deck without leeches moves forward; one with them stalls and makes you doubt the method when the method was never the problem.
Frequently asked questions
Does FSRS replace Anki?
It does not compete with Anki: Exam Mode generates the cards from your material and schedules the reviews, and when the deck is stable you export it to Anki to keep reviewing on mobile or copy it in Markdown for your notes app.
How many new cards should I add per day?
A handful, not hundreds: creating in bulk guarantees an avalanche of reviews in two weeks and quitting in three. Consistency beats volume —a few daily cards sustained for months—.
Does it work for languages?
Yes: vocabulary, grammar patterns and characters respond very well to spaced repetition. One card per word or pattern, with a usage example on the back.
What if I skip several days?
Do not try to catch up at once: review in short batches and the system reorders itself —overdue first—. Five minutes on a bad day sustains the habit better than zero.