Spaced repetition is one of those topics where the gap between "I read about it" and "I do it consistently" is enormous. The theory is well-trodden — exposure to a word right before you'd forget it strengthens the memory more than re-exposure while it's still fresh. Most apps stop there. The practical question is: how does that translate into a daily routine that you can actually keep up for months?
The cadence we recommend
For most adult learners working at CEFR A2–B1, the cadence that works best looks like this:
- 15 minutes of new vocabulary, once a day. Same time every day if you can. Mornings work better than evenings for most people because retrieval practice benefits from a full sleep cycle within the next 24 hours.
- 10 minutes of review, every day. This is the non-negotiable. New cards without review is wasted effort.
- One longer session per week, around 45 minutes. Use it to mix in reading or listening at your level. This is where vocabulary you've drilled in isolation gets re-encountered in context, which is what actually moves it into productive use.
Why not "until the queue is empty"?
Because the queue is never empty, and treating it as a target creates the wrong incentive. Learners who chase queue-zero start avoiding new vocabulary to keep their review load down, which is exactly backwards.
Instead, treat the daily review minutes as a fixed budget. Whatever fits inside that budget gets reviewed; the rest waits a day. This costs you slightly worse retention on the cards that get pushed, but it costs you nothing in motivation — and motivation is the binding constraint over a six-month horizon, not retention efficiency.
When to break the cadence
Travel weeks, exam weeks, the first week of a new job — these are when cadence collapses for everyone. Our advice: drop new cards entirely and keep doing the 10-minute reviews. You'll lose less than you think, and you'll preserve the habit, which is what you actually need to protect.