Ebbinghaus Review Scheduler

Enter a learning date and optional subjects to get the four spaced review dates, day 1, 7, 16, and 30, based on the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve.

By Marshkalk

Leave this empty for a single generic review schedule, or add each subject or deck you studied on this date to track them separately.

The forgetting curve, and what most revision skips

In the 1880s the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus tested his own memory using lists of made-up syllables and tracked how much he could still recall over the following weeks. He found that most forgetting happens in the first day after learning something new, then the rate slows down each time the material is reviewed at the right moment. A single read-through the night before an exam does not use this effect at all; reviewing the same material again just as it starts to fade is what pushes it into longer-term memory. Enter the date you studied a topic below and this tool works out the four calendar dates for that spaced review pattern.

Review intervals: day 1, day 7, day 16, day 30

IntervalWhat it doesIf you skip it
Day 1Catches the sharpest drop in memory, right after learningMost of what you studied is gone before the next review
Day 7Confirms the material has moved past short-term memoryYou are close to relearning the topic from nothing
Day 16Tests recall over a longer gapThe earlier two reviews are largely wasted
Day 30Pushes the material toward long-term memoryThe topic needs a full restart closer to the exam

Where this scheduler falls short

This fixed 1, 7, 16, 30 day pattern suits facts you need to recall on demand: vocabulary, formulas, dates, definitions, anatomy terms, case law. It does not fit skills that improve through repeated practice rather than recall, such as playing an instrument, a sport technique, or a lab procedure, and it does not adjust the gap if you already knew the answer instantly or got it completely wrong, the way an adaptive flashcard app would. Pair it with the Study Planner to block out the actual revision time, or the Pomodoro Timer to structure each review session.

How the review dates are calculated

Each review date is simply your learning date plus a fixed offset: day 1, day 7, day 16, and day 30. The day-of-week label for each date comes from your browser's calendar settings, so it matches your local calendar.