Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I have absolutely no idea ... how I could more efficiently memorize information that must be memorized. Outside of a schooling/testing context, memorization alone is rarely beneficial. You need to be able to practically apply the knowledge, which happens through experience; looking details up when you need them forms a natural kind of spaced repetition anyway that’s tuned to what you actually need to know.
I don’t agree. I was for a long time of the school that understanding is the only things that matters, and the details can always be looked up. Then during my post doc ( physics) I worked with a couple of Russian guys who had been forced to memorise a lot. What they gained was an enormous speed. They could try six different ideas in their mind while I still looked up the details necessary to try my first. So don’t un…
Sometimes the thing holding you back from improvement is a lack of facts, and sometimes it’s poor understanding of theory. In my experience, however, the fastest way to get better at doing something is almost always to practice doing that thing; most of the time a sufficient collection of facts and theoretical understanding will come along as a side-effect of that work.
How much of their prior training was memorizing specific facts, and how much of it was drilling the mechanics of solving typical problems? The former is what most people use spaced repetition for and what I believe is of limited utility; the latter is incredibly valuable and I never meant to imply otherwise.