Thanks for clarifying. I'm with you on the finished verses. I worried about the first one because it takes so long to get it, but after that, I stopped worrying about it. I review when my verse set when the name tells me to. The percentage is what the percentage is. That said, I do love a good mystery, and how the website tallies percentages certainly is intriguing.
Joosep, if what you said is true about the percentage increases, it is never worth it to review a verse early after 90%. Doing so will add years to your mastery. For example, if you reviewed a verse daily, it would take you 35 months to go from 95% to 100% (i.e., 5 to 96%, 6 to 97%, 7 to 98%, 8 to 99%, 9 to 100%). But if you wait until it prompts you at 95%, you will save 30 months off of your mastery because it would go straight to 100%.
I know I've had a verse go from 99% to 100% after reviewing a verse six weeks early even though it had a 9-month interval. Of course, that could be a rounding-up graphical glitch. I'll know in 2 months if that is the case.
I understand where you are coming from TMG. I applaud your desire to keep Mark active in you memory. The problem with continuing books forever is that eventually you will reach a point where there is just simply not enough time in the day for your reviews. I've read stories where people have memorized multiple books of the Bible, but I've never read a story where someone kept everything they had memorized in active memory forever. Instead, they eventually move on to other books and occasionally re-read the books to keep them active.
When I first started memorizing, I remember looking down on those people. Why in the world would they do all that work and then just move on? But now I kind of understand why. I suspect that somewhere between two books and eight books the reviews probably become impossible to maintain unless a person is single and unemployed. Just keeping John active was two hours a day, and that's just one of 66 books. Even if someone was unemployed or retired, I'd think keeping that many books active would eat into actual ministry or good works time.
This is all speculation, of course. I don't begrudge people for their long-term memory plans. Perhaps someone is reading this that has been called into full-time scripture memory. History is littered with Christian monks who have dedicated their whole life to such an endeavor, so at some level, God must be OK with it. After all, it is the sacrifices of those unknown heroes that have provided us with God's word in a readable form today.
As always, follow what the Holy Spirit says to you personally. I'm just happy to see people active and posting about their experiences.
Testing fully learned verses is frustrating because it prompts you to practice after every verse. If you want to avoid that, you've really got a few choices.
1. You can reset your verse progress, which will erase the verse as fully learned. This messes with your stats because it is as if you never learned the verse in the first place. You start the verse again at zero and your fully learned number goes down.
2. You can mess up the verse drastically by making tons of mistakes on a review. This will lower the progress on the verse from 100% to like 30% depending on various factors. Rinse/repeat until it is zero. This keeps your stats on a verse under a 100%. Presumably it would do it on a 100% verse as well, but I can never bring myself to test it to confirm.
3. You can create a second account and start over. This retains your first accounts stats and you review the verses on the second account.
I think the third option would be the best if you want to keep certain verses going forever. Then you could reset the progress on those verses without affecting your stats on the primary account.
Personally, after a 1.5 years memorizing something daily I'm usually ready to move on to something else. Plus the Bible is very big, and there's always something new worth learning. I do like to read the learned stuff once a month to keep it fresh, however.
That's great information, TMG. Thanks for sharing. I love the specifics you give. It helps me to modify my own plans.
I agree that after six months repetition becomes more difficult, especially for those who memorize a whole book. John uses the same phrases in different parts of his book in slightly different ways, so it is easy to mess up if you haven't reviewed it for a while. I think at some point, I would like to create a set of physical flashcards for each chapter so I can organize the order of the verses visually. I looked into it, but I could not find an online tool that would allow you to create and move around flashcards in a way that worked for me. I also explored purchasing them online, but laminated cardstock prints costs skyrocket quickly. I considered making a business out of it, but the profit margins are so low compared to the licensing costs you have to pay to become a distributor.
Regarding tackling the 6+ month situation, I handle that all through the name of the chapter. Here's an example of my setup:
[R0] Learn: Romans 16:17-27 (ESV) [R1] Daily: Luke 15:1-32 (ESV) [R2] Biweekly (TF): Romans 01:01-07 (ESV) [R3] Weekly (Fri): Romans 01:08-17 (ESV) [R4] Bimonthly - (04/19): John 19:01-15 [R6] Monthly - (01): John 01:01-18 {Finished}: John 19:16-22
This format seems to organize well on the website. I basically just go down the list after doing my Learn verses. If time is short, I will do the Learn and then start at the bottom of the list. It seems to work well for me and keeps me from having to use a second scheduling tool.
What a great video! That is quite an accomplishment.
Regarding what to memorize next, Luke is a great gospel and one of my favorites to read. I'm currently memorizing chapter 15 myself. That said, I advise you to take the words of Luke himself, that you "consider the cost" involved with such an endeavor (14:28-30). Luke is the largest book in the NT by far (19,482 words and 1151 verses). If you memorize a verse daily, it will take over three years to touch every verse (and another three years to master it, at least).
If you are going to do it, I recommend going down the dramatic recitation path that many use successfully on the Gospels. It will help keep you from getting confused when similar verses start sounding the same. Here is a good example of someone doing it with Luke (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aoPLWl7tig).
If you do decide on Luke, one benefit you'll have is that your mind is now in memorization mode. Plus, you've proven to yourself that you can memorize a book! Additionally, this video proves that memorizing Luke can be done. And since you put your pants on one leg at a time just like he does (and serve the same God), you can do it too.
As a side note, many biblical scholars agree that Luke (3.19%) was actually written as part of a two-part series with Acts (3.02%) being the sequel. Some scholars even argue that they are in fact one book, which is a stretch (although some translations present it as such). If this theory is true, however, Luke and Acts would become the largest book in the Bible, surpassing Genesis (5.24%), Psalms (4.93%), and Ezekiel (4.89%).
That's a good question. I organize my memorization into intervals for review built into the passage set name, but reviewing finished verses is kind of obtuse on LS without resetting the verse. Some people choose to do so for that reason. Others have a second account. Still others use an external tool such as Anki, flashcards, or a spreadsheet to keep track of them. Honestly, I'm not sure what my goals are right now since I've been gone for so long. Once I decide that I'll pick one of the options above.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for your prayers!
I hold no ill will against you, joosep, or anyone else on this website, but I do appreciate your apology. I'm glad you're active again here. Memorizing is hard work, and we are blessed to have an encourager like you back.
TMG, I'm glad that you're still rocking Mark. You've progressed so much so quickly! I'm proud of your dedication. Based on your memorization method, assuming nothing has changed, I'd say probably somewhere in the 150m range before you are done with Mark.
Regarding how the website tabulates points and percentages, at every percentage level, there seems to be a built-in dead zone where it is impossible to get a percentage increase until a certain number of hours/days have passed. If it is your goal to get 100% as quickly as possible, it is inefficient to study too early during the dead zone period because the system is not going to give you a percentage point. In fact, studying early can make the finishing time even longer the higher the verse percentage gets.
Here are the normal monthly intervals that I have received this week finishing my verses: 90% 3 months (90 days) 91% 3 months (90 days) 92% 3/4 months (90-120 days) 93% 4 months (120 days) 94% 4/5 months (120-150 days) 95% 5 months (150 days) 96% 5/6 months (150-180 days) 97% 6/7 months (180-210 days) 98% 7 months (210 days) 99% 7/8 months (210-240 days)
So if you consider just straight division, the percentage point minimum interval would seem to be as follows: 90% 18 days 91% 18 days 92% 18-24 days 93% 24 days 94% 24-30 days 95% 30 days 96% 30-36 days 97% 36-42 days 98% 42 days 99% 42-48 days
Now, if you hit 90% and 95% and waited the recommended system time, you'd be looking at 240 days (90+150) to get the last 10 points to finish the verse. But if you do it after each minimum interval, you'd be looking at 282 days (18+18+18+24+24+30+30+36+42+42). As you can see, reviewing early like this will add significant time to your finish. In my experience, however, you can get a point increase earlier if you review a bit earlier than the minimum and get a score of 95% or higher.
This is what I perceive to be the true dead zone of each percentage point: 90% 10 days 91% 10 days 92% 10-16 days 93% 16 days 94% 16-22 days 95% 22 days 96% 22-28 days 97% 28-34 days 98% 34 days 99% 34-40 days
So if you review at the edge of the dead zone, you'd be looking at 202 days (10+10+10+16+16+22+22+28+34+34) to finish a verse. That's quite a savings. Now the caveat to this is that the minimum interval seems to increase if you review too early into the dead zone. So reviewing daily would increase your time.
So what do we make of all this data? It seems like it is worth it to review a verse early (daily even) until the percentage gets to about 85%. After that, and especially post-90%, reviewing frequently will make you take longer to finish the verse than just following the system-approved interval. You can, however, game the system a bit by tracking dead zones to shave days off your finish time if you want to spreadsheet it.
Personally, I don't track intervals. I review verses daily, biweekly, weekly, bimonthly, and monthly based on how well I know the verse or passage. Generally, this method seems to hit the dead zone intervals naturally, so I tend to finish verses early as a result, but I'm not too concerned about it, honestly. The verses finish when they finish.
That's a good question. I organize my memorization into intervals for review built into the passage set name, but reviewing finished verses is kind of obtuse on LS without resetting the verse. Some people choose to do so for that reason. Others have a second account. Still others use an external tool such as Anki, flashcards, or a spreadsheet to keep track of them. Honestly, I'm not sure what my goals are right now since I've been gone for so long. Once I decide that I'll pick one of the options above.
I have a notebook that I use to track the chapters that I've memorized and a schedule to put them on, but it isn't digital enough. :D I'm thinking of making a site to digitize my review schedule.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Most of my verses were within 5% of being done when I left, apparently. I'm glad to see all the usual suspects are still here.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Most of my verses were within 5% of being done when I left, apparently. I'm glad to see all the usual suspects are still here.
I'm a fan of dark humor as well, Carla, within reason. Here's one I've heard recently.
Last night my girlfriend came over to my house upset because her stylist took two inches too much off of her hair. I don't know why she's crying. I'm the one who has to find a new girlfriend.