What is the forgetting curve? What it means for your learning
Meet Ebbinghaus and the forgetting curve, understand its limits, and use recall practice and scheduled reviews when learning English.
You understand a word during a lesson, then struggle to recall it a few days later. The forgetting curve offers a way to think about that change. It also raises a practical question: what should you do after the first study session?
What is the forgetting curve, and where did it come from?
The forgetting curve describes how retention changes over time after learning. It is associated with psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, whose work was published in 1885. See the overview on Wikipedia .
Ebbinghaus studied lists of nonsense syllables and tested himself. He measured retention through savings: how much less work relearning took compared with the first learning session. That measure is different from the percentage of vocabulary words you can answer correctly on a quiz. His chapter on retention over time reports a rapid initial decline followed by a slower decline.
In 2015, Jaap Murre and Joeri Dros published a replication with a similar overall pattern . Their experiment also used one participant, so it does not establish a personal forgetting timetable for every learner.
How should you interpret the curve?
Use it as a reason to revisit learning, rather than a countdown showing exactly when a word will disappear. A diagram cannot tell you that you personally will forget a fixed percentage of English vocabulary after one day.
For your own study, ask more specific questions. Can you explain the word without seeing its definition? Can you recognise its meaning in a new sentence? Can you produce it when you need to speak?
For example, you may understand put off in “We put off the meeting” but struggle to retrieve it when describing a change of plans. That gives you a useful next task: practise producing the phrase from a situation cue.
Avoid treating every missed answer as a scheduling problem. If you never understood the meaning, return to the explanation. If the question is ambiguous, rewrite it. A clearer flashcard prompt makes your next self-check easier to interpret.
What should you do after learning a word?
Use a short review routine:
- Check understanding: Read the meaning and a relevant example.
- Retrieve before looking: Cover the answer and try to recall it.
- Check and correct: Identify what was missing or confused.
- Return later: Spread further practice across separate sessions.
These steps combine active recall with spaced repetition. The linked guides explain each method and how they work together.
MemorizeKit tracks review schedules for individual learning terms and shows what is due. Flashcard ratings with Track progress enabled, together with Learn results, help determine later reviews. You can use the due list to choose what to practise without setting a calendar reminder for every word.
Begin with material you want to keep using. Browse English Lessons and choose a topic for your next practice session.