Spaced repetition overview
Mochi uses spaced repetition to help you remember things over the long term. In this section, we’ll cover:
- New cards (cards you haven’t learned yet)
- How spaced repetition works in Mochi
- Archiving cards (removing them from review)
- Tips for managing your review queue
Starting a review session
- Open the deck you want to study.
- Click New cards in the top right.
- Mochi will begin by showing you cards that have recently been added to the deck.
When learning new cards, you’ll see two buttons on each one:
- Add to reviews — adds the card to your spaced-repetition schedule (press
SPACE)
- Again — lets you postpone the card and come back to it later (press
F)
Use Add to reviews when you feel comfortable enough with the material to start seeing it in your regular review sessions. If you’re not quite ready, choose Again to cycle past it and take another look after you’ve gone through the rest of the new cards.
You can also use the left and right arrow buttons to move backward or forward through the queue as needed.
New cards
New cards are cards you’ve created but have never gone through a review session.
Seeing your first new cards
- Create a few cards in a deck.
- Go to that deck and click Review.
- Mochi will automatically introduce some new cards at the start of your session.
Most people learn best when they introduce only a handful of new cards per day. That way, you’re not overwhelmed later when all of those cards come back for review.
Tip: If you feel like you’re seeing too many new cards, you can reduce the number of new cards you introduce per day in your review settings (look for something like “New cards per day” or similar).
What happens after you see a new card?
- When you see a new card for the first time and click Add to reviews, it becomes a learned card.
- From then on, it will follow the spaced repetition schedule instead of staying in the “new” bucket.
How spaced repetition works in Mochi
Mochi uses spaced repetition to automatically decide when to show each card. You don’t need to manage dates yourself—just answer honestly. Unlike other spaced repetition systems, Mochi only has two answers: Remembered and Forgot. The additional mental overhead of grading your answer from Easy, Medium, Hard, etc. is not worth the diminishing optimizations to the review schedule, and in the worst case can have negative effects if the wrong answer is chosen.
A typical flow for a single card
- You see the card and try to recall the answer.
- You reveal the answer and choose a rating, for example:
- Forgot – you were unable to recall the information.
- Remembered – you were able to recall the information.
- Mochi uses that rating to:
- Adjust the interval (how many days before you see the card again).
- Decide whether to show it again soon in the same session, or later.
Concept:
- Forgot = shorter intervals (you’ll see the card again soon).
- Remembered = longer intervals (the card is pushed further into the future).
Over time, well-learned cards appear less often, leaving more time for new or difficult material.
Placeholder: simple diagram showing intervals growing over time.
Re-reviews
Sometimes you'll forget a card during its regular review. This is completely normal — and part of the learning process. When this happens, Mochi gives you another chance to review the card before deciding what to do with its schedule.
How re-reviews work
- When you mark a card as Again during a normal review session, the card is moved into a re-review queue.
- After you finish the rest of your due cards, Mochi will show you the cards in the re-review phase.
This gives you a second opportunity to recall the information while it’s still fresh in your mind.
What happens if you forget again?
If you mark the card as Again a second time during the re-review phase, Mochi assumes you no longer remember it well enough to keep the current schedule. In this case:
- The card’s interval is reset,
- And you’ll begin relearning it as if it were a newly added card.
This ensures that difficult material doesn’t build up long intervals and instead gets the extra attention it needs.
Summary
- Forget once: Card goes to re-review.
- Forget twice: Interval resets and the card begins relearning.
- Remember during re-review: The card keeps a short interval and continues normally.
Re-reviews help reinforce challenging material and keep your review schedule accurate and adaptive.
Managing your review queue
As you add more cards, your review queue can grow. Here are some practical ways to keep it manageable and avoid feeling overwhelmed.
a. Limit new cards
- Introduce new cards slowly.
- If your daily reviews feel too heavy, reduce the number of new cards per day in settings.
- Remember: every new card today is a future review tomorrow.
b. Prioritize by deck, tag, or view
Use views, tags, and decks to focus on what matters most right now:
- Create a view like “Exam this week”, “#vocab-only”, or “High priority”.
- Review those focused sets first, then tackle the rest if you have time.
c. Archive aggressively when needed
If your queue feels unmanageable:
-
Archive cards that are:
-
Outdated
- Only marginally useful
- Duplicates or highly similar to others
This immediately reduces future review load.
d. Break reviews into small sessions
Instead of one big session:
- Do several short sessions throughout the day (e.g., 5–10 minutes each).
- This keeps reviews light and makes it easier to stay consistent.
Mochi