Ten minutes a day beats two hours on Sunday

Two hours on Sunday afternoon, or ten minutes every evening. The total is almost the same. The result is not.

Forgetting is a curve, not a switch

After you learn a word, you do not keep it whole and then lose it all one day. You lose it slowly, and fastest in the first 24 hours.

Reviewing while the curve is falling is what makes memory longer. Reviewing while you still know it well does almost nothing. Your brain sees no problem to solve.

Two hours in one sitting means you meet each word once, then drop it for six days. Ten minutes a day means you meet it six times, each time just before it slips away.

There is a second reason, and people say it less

A two-hour session needs a free two hours. It needs the right mood. It needs nobody to call you. Every week has a reason for it not to happen.

Ten minutes needs none of that. You can do it while your coffee is made, on the bus, or in bed. A habit that survives is a habit that needs no conditions.

Ten items, not ten minutes

In Lingua, a day counts as studied when you finish 10 items. That number is low on purpose. It has to be small enough for your worst day.

The point of a streak is not to make you study a lot. It is to keep you from stopping, because the first skipped day is what ends things, not a short day.

On a day you truly cannot, freeze the streak. It is there for exactly those days.