MaruMori Knowledge Base

What is SRS and how does it work?

What's SRS? Can I eat it?

SRS stands for "Spaced Repetition System(s)", which is the study method used here in MaruMori for learning Japanese. This means... sadly, no, you can't eat it. Trust me, I've tried.

It's a study technique whose efficacy has been proven by many studies. (You can even Google it if you want!) In fact, you may have already even heard of SRS somewhere. After all, it's not just used for language learning. I even know someone who used it to memorize how to best prepare different cuts of meat... But anyway, you're probably not here for that, you're here to learn Japanese!

But why is it effective exactly?

SRS is based on this awesome scientific finding called the spacing effect . It showed that studying through repetitions spaced out over time makes much stronger long-term memories as opposed to reviewing at random or worse, the bitter frenemy we know as... cramming.

It works so well because memories grow stronger and more persistent every time they are recalled just as you're about to forget them . So hurray for no longer needing to review every hour of every day! 😊

Awesome! How does MaruMori implement SRS then?

MaruMori provides a smart, optimized flashcard system by giving you everything you need right from the get-go. Cards (i.e. lessons) can be created with a few clicks, and punctually scheduling reviews to make sure you achieve the spacing effect is handled entirely by the system. So instead of worrying about the hows and whens of SRS, just take a peek at your home page and see if you got any lessons or reviews to do!

What's that? You wanna know the entire SRS process too?

Yes please! How is the whole process done?

Once you finish a lesson, it'll immediately enter the SRS, starting with Beginner. Having just learned it, things start off nice and easy with its first review being due in only 4 hours. As it moves up an SRS level, the interval between reviews gets longer and longer. Here are all of them per level:

Beginner (contains 4 sub-levels) : (1st Level) Just finished the lesson, (2nd Level) 4 hours , (3rd Level) 8 hours, (4th Level) 24 hours
Novice (contains 2 sub-levels) : (5th Level) 2 days, and (6th Level) 1 week
Intermediate : 2 weeks
Expert : 1 month
Master : 4 months 🎉

If you answer a review incorrectly, that means you still need to see it sooner and more often. That's done by simply sending it back a level or two! For Beginner items, it steps back by one SRS level, and for items that are Novice and above, it steps back by two SRS levels. That way, you can be sure to remember everything you need! 🙌

And that just about does it for SRS! Hope all your questions were answered, but if not, feel free to send us a message through the MaruMori Discord server! Happy studies!