Step 1 is in 67 days, I have had my retention set to .9 historically but as I enter more dedicated studying with a larger amount of practice questions, my review burden is getting a bit too high. I’m thinking of lowering my retention to .85.
My true retention for the past year is 86%.
Is there any reason I should not lower my retention? Asking specifically because step 1 is so close.
I’m not an FSRS expert, but the likelihood that slightly lowering your retention rate will impact your test performance is negligible. I recommend reducing your retention rate, as completing more practice questions will likely improve your test-day performance more than reviewing cards slightly more often. Consider adjusting your retention to 0.85-0.88 and see how that affects your workload.
Agree with @CalebMD
As long as you are doing well on UWorld / AMBOSS / NBME questions then you can lower your retention rate and focus more on solving questions.