After a while, I honestly believe that “Review (# ready)” needs to have a reset option.
You see, having “Review (23 ready)” is better than “Review (307 ready)” when you are on Chapter 7. Sometimes, people have a life outside and they may lack behind on the course but in my case, I remembered the materials and I would like to focus on new chapter questions.
The gamer in me made me feel like I need to make sure I clear up 307 questions before attempting to read new chapters with new questions. I couldn’t shake off that feeling. I had to aimlessly click all the answers and submit it to clear up the questions to 0. So that I can feel like ok, I can start over and focus on a new chapter with questions pertaining to the specific chapter I was reading.
I know that I can go in the setting and untick the boxes for previous chapters but those questions will come back when I log in.
So, why not reset them to 0 so that I can focus on new questions from the chapter I left off when I log in?
I think having that option to reset the questions to 0 makes a better experience and not freak out the user when they see something like “Review (423 ready)”.
The simple reason that we don’t have a “reset” option is that the review schedule is calculated based on the system modeling your memory retention of those concepts.
As a fellow human, I totally understand and respect that you have other things to do besides study 24/7. And as the product lead for Achievable, I also appreciate this feedback since we want to provide a good experience regardless of your study habits. But the big “but” is that your memory decays at a relatively standard rate regardless of whatever else you’re doing. Your memory doesn’t stop decaying when you’re sleeping, on vacation, or studying something else.
We backtest our scheduling algorithms every few months to ensure our memory modeling is accurate, and it is: we’re typically within about 1% of our expected results. While we strive to make studying fun, easy, motivating, etc., our primary goal is to get you the score you want, and the scheduling algorithms are at the core of this, helping you review and retain the information with a minimum of effort.
If you stop reviewing the information you’ve learned, for whatever reason, your memory will decay and your score will suffer. Period.
As you’ve noted, you don’t have to follow the system’s recommendations and can take whichever quizzes you prefer. We recognize that we have a diverse user base and people like to study in different ways. Our quiz scheduling is fundamentally based on actual memory science and the way your brain works, so we can’t change that. But, we are exploring ways to give you more flexibility and control over the study experience.