How much time to spend on revision?

[Scoobyqueen]

I was wondering if anyone knows what percentage of studying time should ideally be spent on revision in order to improve retention.

I used to spend some 30 percent of my total studying time on revision and I think it has paid off, eg. words that would not stick did so through sheer frustration at realising that one had already forgotten. Other benefits included transferring the words and expressions that one was not going to encounter in the immediate future into the long-term memory. Spending that much time on revision obviously means less time is spent on learning new material. Now that I am spending less time on revision- some ten percent- I realise that the retention rate appears to be lower.

What do others do/other opinions?

[Charles Barkley]

I find that as one's level progresses, revision becomes less important. Or not less important, but that the best way to review changes. When you're just beginning to learn a language, it is important to get basic words down pat--to build the building blocks. When you are approaching higher levels of proficiency and can take in massive amounts of material quickly, you will naturally review what you have learned by just randomly coming into contact with it naturally. Of course writing down new words you hear in a pocket notebook and glancing at it from time to time never hurts.

Regardless, the best "review" reviews old things in different contexts, so never spend too much time beating your head against one source if there are words that just won't stick...

[renzhe]

When it comes to vocabulary and character study, I spend more than 50% of the time on revision, for sure. On some days, revision is all I do. My SRS program schedules things for me, so I don't need to plan much. If my revision load is low (meaning that my retention is improving), I drill some new items.

For other study input (reading, watching, listening, etc.) I don't do any revision. I very rarely review grammar too, hoping I'll keep running into it in context while reading/listening. I generally spend more time on this stuff than on vocabulary study, so the overall revision time is lower.

Revision is good. Some characters and words I used to have all sorts of trouble months ago has clicked by now and I have no trouble reading them. An SRS program is a great resource for this.