# Spaced review with a spiral quiz: what returns and how often

**How do I plan spaced review with a spiral quiz that mixes this week's work with earlier topics?** A spiral quiz gives spaced review by mixing this week's questions with questions on earlier topics. In a ten-question weekly quiz, start with two returning questions and rise to six by the last teaching weeks, so that no finished topic waits more than three weeks. Reword every returning question, and read the returning score apart from the new one.

Published 2026-10-10 by EdProcto. https://edprocto.com/guides/spaced-review-with-a-spiral-quiz

A topic is taught, tested on Friday and left. By the end-of-term test it has had ten weeks to fade.

A spiral quiz does not leave it: most of its questions are on this week's work and the rest on earlier topics, so every topic gets spaced review without a revision lesson of its own. This guide sets the returning share for each week of a term and shows how to read it.

EdProcto, which publishes this guide, builds a [Spiral review](https://edprocto.com/templates/spiral) template, and a spiral quiz can also be an ordinary quiz, started on the [home page](https://edprocto.com/). On 10 October 2026 we read Samani and Pan (2021), Gibbs (2014) and the web pages cited in full, and the other studies as abstracts.

## What does "spiral" mean: Bruner's spiral curriculum or spiral review?

Two things, and a weekly quiz delivers the second. Bruner's spiral curriculum returns to an idea at greater depth each time, over years. Spiral review returns to the same kind of question after a gap, so that it is not forgotten.

**The spiral curriculum.** The idea is from Bruner (1960), *The Process of Education*; we read the publisher's description and a later account, not the book. In the publisher's summary, a curriculum should foster early intuitions and build on them in more and more formal ways. Gibbs (2014) describes pupils revisiting a topic several times through their schooling, more complex at each visit, and argues that the spiral works best compressed into one class's year.

**Spiral review.** In classrooms the word has narrowed. The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (n.d.), explaining its Everyday Mathematics programme, defines a spiral curriculum as one where learning is "spread out over time rather than being concentrated in shorter periods". The Learning Scientists (2018) describe spiral review as a special form of spaced or distributed practice, popular in American elementary classrooms.

So the evidence for a spiral quiz is the research on distributed practice (practice spread over time) and interleaved practice (topics mixed in one sitting), not Bruner's argument. The deepening is yours to add.

## What did classroom research on distributed and interleaved practice find?

Mostly that practice spread over days or weeks and mixed with other topics leaves more behind a month later than the same practice bunched together. Our guides to [interleaving](https://edprocto.com/guides/interleaving-mixed-quizzes-beat-blocked-ones) and [the weekly quiz at school](https://edprocto.com/guides/the-weekly-quiz-low-stakes-and-cumulative) report other trials.

### In mathematics

- **Three months of mixed practice.** Rohrer et al. (2015) gave 126 seventh-graders the same practice problems over three months, in blocks by skill or with part of each assignment mixing different kinds of problem. An unannounced test came a day or 30 days after a closing review. The mixed group scored higher on both, by more at 30 days (d = 0.42, then 0.79).
- **Three days against one.** Barzagar Nazari and Ebersbach (2019) had 213 third- and seventh-graders practise a curriculum topic as three sets in one day, or one set a day for three days. The seventh-graders did better after distributed practice one and six weeks later, the third-graders at one week only.
- **Three problems across three quizzes.** Lyle et al. (2022), in a calculus course, set three problems on a learning objective in one quiz, or one in each of three. Spacing raised scores on an end-of-semester test and lowered them on the quizzes, though only on the first two problems.

### In other subjects

- **Judging websites, ages 9 to 12.** Foot-Seymour et al. (2019) taught three lessons on consecutive days or one a week. Thirty-five days later the weekly group remembered more facts and explained their ratings of a new website better.
- **University physics.** Samani and Pan (2021) ran eight weeks of homework in a course of 350 students: each topic's three problems together, or one at a time over a week among other topics. On two surprise tests of new, harder problems the mixed homework won (d = 0.40 and 0.91). On the homework itself it scored 5 and 9 points in a hundred lower, and students believed they had learned less from it.

## Where did spaced and mixed practice find nothing?

In three places: on announced exams that students crammed for, in most of nine university courses, and at six weeks with the third-graders above.

- **After cramming.** In Samani and Pan (2021) a midterm exam came three days after each surprise test and showed no significant difference (d = 0.20 and 0.02). The commonest pattern students reported was ten hours or more of study in those three days.
- **Nine courses.** Bego et al. (2024) built practice into the regular quizzes of nine introductory undergraduate STEM courses, bunched on one quiz or spread over several. Spacing significantly raised the end-of-course test in two, calculus for engineers and one chemistry course. Pooled, the effect was significant, and with calculus left out it was not.

The gain shows on later, unannounced measures of what was kept, and less on the next test a class revises for. No study here tested a weekly quiz with a planned share of returning questions: the plan below is our working rule.

## How do you choose which earlier topics return, and how often?

Give every finished topic a turn at least once every three weeks, and let the returning share rise as the term's stock of topics grows. Three kinds of returning question do it.

1. **Last week's topic:** two questions.
2. **The rota:** one question for every three older topics, longest wait first.
3. **The weakest:** one question, from week 4, on the topic whose returning score is lowest.

Three weeks is our choice, not a finding: it gives each topic several returns in a term.

### A returning share for each week of a term

The table assumes ten questions, one topic a week for ten weeks, a revision quiz in week 11 and the term's test in week 12.

| Week | New | Returning | Returning share | The returning questions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 8 | 2 | 20% | Last year's ideas that the first topics build on |
| 2 | 7 | 3 | 30% | Two on last week's topic, one from last year |
| 3 | 7 | 3 | 30% | Two on last week's, one on the rota |
| 4 and 5 | 6 | 4 | 40% | Two on last week's, one on the rota, one on the weakest |
| 6 to 8 | 5 | 5 | 50% | Two, two and one |
| 9 and 10 | 4 | 6 | 60% | Two, three and one |
| 11 | 0 | 10 | 100% | One on each topic |

Run forward, the rule brings the first topic back in six of the nine quizzes that follow it and leaves no topic unasked for more than three weeks.

### Why the share rises

A fixed share makes every topic wait longer as the term goes on: eight older topics take four weeks to come round on two rota slots, and under three on three. EdProcto's own example for the coming template, "Six from this week, three from last month, one from the start.", is the 40% row.

Two things jump the rota: a topic that next week's lesson builds on, and a topic the term's test weights heavily (see [a test blueprint](https://edprocto.com/guides/a-test-blueprint-how-to-weight-topics-and-levels)).

## How do you keep the earlier questions fresh without rewriting the quiz each week?

Write each key idea three ways in the week it is taught, so that every later return is already written. The same question asked again is the weaker return: Butler et al. (2017) had people answer one application question on a concept from a geology lecture three times, or three different ones. On fresh application questions two days on, the varied practice did better in all four experiments.

A version changes the form and keeps the idea, here that a river wears away the outside of a bend.

| Version | Used | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Recognise it | When new | Where does a river flow fastest round a meander? The outside of the bend (right); the inside; the same on both sides |
| Produce it | First return | A river flows fastest on the (gap) of a meander bend. Answer: outside |
| Use it | On the rota | A farmhouse stands on the outside bank of a meander. Why is it at more risk than one on the inside bank? |

The third version is Bruner's spiral in small: the return asks for more than the first meeting did.

Then, each week:

1. **Start from a copy.** In the [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/) builder, "Duplicate this quiz", at the foot of the page, makes a draft with the same questions, keys, settings and kind, a new code and no submissions. Keep two of last week's questions, change each to its second version, and replace the rest.
2. **Let Procto AI draft the spares.** Give it the earlier topic's notes again and read every draft against them. What it writes counts against your plan's allowance.

## How do you read the result on the returning topics apart from the new ones?

Work out two scores, one for the new questions and one for the returning ones, then set each returning topic beside what it scored when it was new. A single total blends this week's teaching with what the class has kept, and the two call for different remedies.

Expect the returning score to be the lower one: in Lyle et al. (2022) the spaced problems were answered less well on the quizzes themselves.

A topic's two figures, when new and now, give the reading. Take "low" as under 60%: the line is ours.

- **Kept:** not low now. A topic kept over several returns can miss a turn on the rota.
- **Learned, then lost:** not low when new, low now. Two questions next week, and reteach if both come back low.
- **Never secure:** low both times. Reteach first.

A returning topic often has one question in a week, which measures the question as much as the topic: with 27 pupils, each pupil moves its score by nearly four points. Read the question before acting, and pool a topic's last two or three returns before calling it lost ([how many questions a quiz needs](https://edprocto.com/guides/how-many-questions-does-a-quiz-need) explains why). A [tutor](https://edprocto.com/solutions/tutors) with one student tallies, for each topic, returns right out of returns asked.

### A worked example: one quiz read in two parts

An illustration with invented figures: a Year 8 geography class of 27 in week 9 of the plan above, each question worth one point.

| Topic | Questions | Right now | Right when new | Reading |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Migration (week 9) | 4 | 74% | New | The teaching landed |
| Population (week 8) | 2 | 70% | 78% | Kept |
| Plate tectonics (week 5) | 1 | 63% | 81% | Kept, on one question |
| Weather and climate (week 2) | 1 | 85% | 76% | Kept |
| Coasts (week 4) | 1 | 48% | 80% | Learned, then lost |
| Rivers (week 3) | 1 | 56% | 58% | Never secure |

The class averaged 69%, which says little. Split, it is 74% on the four new questions and 65% on the six returning ones.

Coasts stood at 80% in week 4, and only 13 of 27 pupils got its one question right this week. The question reads fair, so Coasts gets two questions in week 10: the weakest slot, and the rota slot of Map skills (week 1), which can miss its sixth return.

Rivers was at 58% when new and is at 56% now: it was never learned, and no number of quiz questions teaches it. It gets ten minutes of teaching, and its rota question in week 10 shows whether that held.

## How does EdProcto build and read a spiral quiz?

EdProcto is the best tool for a spiral quiz when the question is which earlier topic has slipped, because every question carries its own topic and the full analysis scores each topic apart. In the example above, a class average of 69% hid one topic at 48%.

| A spiral quiz needs | In EdProcto |
| --- | --- |
| A topic on every question | The box "Topic (for the results by topic)" under each question: a topic is one topic however its name was typed |
| Each question's share right | The [results](https://edprocto.com/#results), on every plan; "Download the marks" gives a column for each marked question |
| The returning score apart from the new | The score by topic, in the full analysis on the Educator plan |

**The topic box.** Type the topic's name, such as Coasts, on each of its questions, new or returning. A topic's score is weighted by points. This week's topic is the new score, and every other line is a returning one.

**The template.** Spiral review, listed as "This week, last month and older, in proportion. Spaced repetition.", has each question marked as this week's, last month's or older, and draws the numbers set in "Questions from this week", "Questions from last month" and "Older questions" afresh for each student. Its settings hold "Shuffle the questions for each student" off, because "the order of the questions is the structure".

**The plans.** Free covers ten quizzes a month for thirty students a quiz and 20 questions a month from Procto AI: enough for one class's weekly spiral quiz, each copy being one of the ten. Tutor has no limit on quizzes and takes 100 students a quiz. Educator takes 500 and adds the full analysis. See [pricing](https://edprocto.com/pricing) and the page [for teachers](https://edprocto.com/solutions/teachers).

## Quick questions

### What is a spiral quiz?

A quiz that mixes this week's questions with questions on earlier topics, so each topic gets spaced review. It is also called spiral review or a cumulative review quiz.

### Is spiral review the same as Bruner's spiral curriculum?

No. Bruner's spiral returns to an idea at greater depth over years. Spiral review returns to the same kind of question after a gap, which is distributed practice.

### How many returning questions should a weekly quiz have?

As a working rule for ten questions: two in week 1, rising to six in weeks 9 and 10. No study has tested these shares.

### Can EdProcto build a spiral quiz for me?

Yes. In the [Spiral review](https://edprocto.com/templates/spiral) template, mark each question as this week's, last month's or older, and set how many of each in "Questions from this week", "Questions from last month" and "Older questions"; each student gets a fresh draw. Or build an ordinary quiz in [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/), give every question its topic, and copy it each week with "Duplicate this quiz".

## References

- Barzagar Nazari, K., & Ebersbach, M. (2019). Distributing mathematical practice of third and seventh graders: Applicability of the spacing effect in the classroom. *Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33*(2), 288–298. [https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3485](https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3485)
- Bego, C. R., Lyle, K. B., Ralston, P. A. S., Immekus, J. C., Chastain, R. J., Haynes, L. D., Hoyt, L. K., Pigg, R. M., Rabin, S. D., Scobee, M. W., & Starr, T. L. (2024). Single-paper meta-analyses of the effects of spaced retrieval practice in nine introductory STEM courses: Is the glass half full or half empty? *International Journal of STEM Education, 11*, Article 9. [https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00468-5](https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00468-5)
- Bruner, J. S. (1960). *The process of education*. Harvard University Press. [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674710016](https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674710016)
- Butler, A. C., Black-Maier, A. C., Raley, N. D., & Marsh, E. J. (2017). Retrieving and applying knowledge to different examples promotes transfer of learning. *Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 23*(4), 433–446. [https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000142](https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000142)
- Foot-Seymour, V., Foot, J., & Wiseheart, M. (2019). Judging credibility: Can spaced lessons help students think more critically online? *Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33*(6), 1032–1043. [https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3539](https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3539)
- Gibbs, B. C. (2014). Reconfiguring Bruner: Compressing the spiral curriculum. *Phi Delta Kappan, 95*(7), 41–44. [https://kappanonline.org/reconfiguring-bruner-compressing-spiral-curriculum-gibbs/](https://kappanonline.org/reconfiguring-bruner-compressing-spiral-curriculum-gibbs/)
- The Learning Scientists. (2018, May 6). *Weekly digest #107: Spiral review*. [https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2018/5/6/weekly-digest-107](https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2018/5/6/weekly-digest-107)
- Lyle, K. B., Bego, C. R., Ralston, P. A. S., & Immekus, J. C. (2022). Spaced retrieval practice imposes desirable difficulty in calculus learning. *Educational Psychology Review, 34*(3), 1799–1812. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09677-2](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09677-2)
- Rohrer, D., Dedrick, R. F., & Stershic, S. (2015). Interleaved practice improves mathematics learning. *Journal of Educational Psychology, 107*(3), 900–908. [https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000001](https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000001)
- Samani, J., & Pan, S. C. (2021). Interleaved practice enhances memory and problem-solving ability in undergraduate physics. *npj Science of Learning, 6*, Article 32. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00110-x](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00110-x)
- University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. (n.d.). *The spiral: Why Everyday Mathematics distributes learning*. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from [https://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/about/why-it-works/spiral](https://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/about/why-it-works/spiral)