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How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

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Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#111

Post by MeinBlutIstBlau »

RootReducer wrote: post #55
MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you do it? I've been torn on learning sentences or just words as both are difficult in their own right. One helps with speaking, another expands your vocab. It almost feels like to me they're both necessary to stay good at this.

Both! I make a card with English on the front and Korean on the back, and I include a sample sentence in a custom field with the target word highlighted. I always read the sentence out loud after I answer the card. I also make Cloze cards specifically for grammar where I'll cloze out the conjugated verb and put an English hint, like: 7시니까 댄 씨는 벌써 {{c1::퇴근했을 거예요::I think he left work}}.

I will have to make an effort to give those a go. I'm always interested in finding new ways to make self study more worthwhile instead of just a memory game. Thanks!

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#112

Post by porknubbins »

nullsense wrote: post #102
simbyotic wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author of the piece here. My number one recommendation is to not get overly excited about it. One of the first things that happen when you start using Anki and realize the superpower that it is being in charge of your memory is that you want to include EVERYTHING in it. You start creating cards with obscure bash one-liners, little-used git commands, or Javascript functions you read about in a random article. You add…

This was exactly my experience when I tried to use it for software engineering. This is after having used it incredibly successfully to learn Japanese a decade prior and being very experienced with it.

I’m having some success remembering C++ with Anki because the language itself has such massive complexity and syntax. I am inputting Scott Meyers books into it right now. Its still really hard to write good prompts with enough context- akin to writing an interview type quiz. So far I think the main benefit is in understanding complicated template code I wouldn’t have a reason to write myself. I don’t expect to be able to use these features just recognize them though.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#113

Post by samiulg3 »

johnny_b wrote: post #11

I feel like Anki is not designed to help you succeed. Eventually, you'll start missing your reviews. One day you'll open Anki, see that you have hundreds of cards scheduled, and just quit the app. The author of this article mentions he'll post an article tackling this issue, looking forward to that!

I built a Chrome extension that is basically Anki. It doesn't schedule anything but you can set intervals for how often you want cards to be shown on the website you're surfing. Check it out: https://yeerodite.com It currently doesn't support importing Anki decks like it says but I'm still working on it!

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#114

Post by samiulg3 »

johnny_b wrote: post #22
allenu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found that issue too when I tried Anki. I missed a few days and when I returned there was a pile of cards that needed review. I later wrote my own flashcard app[1] with spaced repetition and ended up hiding the details of what was overdue and instead just let you set up a daily goal of number of cards reviewed. When you do a lesson, it picks up the overdue cards first, but if there aren't any, it pulls in new cards…

Looks great! Is a Windows and/or Linux version on the cards?

Checkout https://yeerodite.com ! It's basically Anki but a chrome extension where you can set intervals for how often you want the cards to show up!

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#115

Post by samiulg3 »

iamwil wrote: post #67

I kinda wish there was spaced repetition for interview practice. So that everyday, I have a set number of questions to try, and I don't have to make that decision. And if I don't get it the first time, no problem, I know it'll come up again. And if I do get it, the goal is to get faster. Anyone else study this way, like an Anki for interview questions? If not, how do you pick what questions to practice and what order…

Yeah! I actually built a Chrome extension that is basically like Anki. I'm actually using it to study for interviews! Its called Yeerodite! It basically shows cards on the website you're browsing at intervals (e.g. every 10 minutes, 5 cards show up to test me).

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#118

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

kazinator wrote: post #63
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yea, no program, no method of learning, will make it impossible to forget something. You should have >90% retention on mature cards however (it's what the default settings are configured for). There's plenty of charts that show the diminishing returns of aiming for higher retentions, and surprisingly aiming for 75% retention is actually much more efficient, however your sanity would likely take a hit from missin…

> Then you'll need the discipline to do ~10x your normal daily volume when you get back I've seen curious comments like this in various past forum discussions on the topic of Anki vacation ideas. A vacation is not a period of rest followed by double the amount of work to catch up. A vacation is a pause in work, which delays all subsequent work by that much time. > not doing new cards ever day makes it not a clean 14x…

>You can't do new cards everyday; eventually you will have seen all new cards of a deck. I'm still working decks whose new cards ran out years ago. The presence and scheduling of new cards is a temporary condition with little long-term significance.

My new cards comment was to explain why it's not 14x when you go on vacation.

>I've seen curious comments like this in various past forum discussions on the topic of Anki vacation ideas.

>A vacation is not a period of rest followed by double the amount of work to catch up.

>A vacation is a pause in work, which delays all subsequent work by that much time.

This is simply cheating the SRS. Some SRS programs do allow you to do this, wanikani does it for instance, but it is quite literally cheating. Instead of seeing it after 30 days, you see it after 44, but the program pretends it's only been 30. It's not a good feature, besides to make people feel better about themselves.

>I've seen curious comments like this in various past forum discussions on the topic of Anki vacation ideas.

It's cheating. And in this case, the only person you are cheating, is yourself.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#119

Post by lemming »

wonder_er wrote: post #39
nomad225 wrote: post #4

Any suggestions for what to use Anki to remember in everyday life as a software engineer?

I use it to remember the names of persons I encounter in my day-to-day. Coworkers, neighbors (like that neighbor 3 blocks away that I talked with for a few minutes about {such-and-such}, but don't see that often), restaurant employees/proprietors, delivery people, maintenance workers, friends-of-friends I've met. Without Anki I have an abysmal memory for names. I have aphantasia[0] which might relate to my difficulty…

I'm curious, what format do you use for cards to do this? Do you use Cloze cards like: My delivery driver is ___? How do you specify in the card which co-worker you mean?

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#120

Post by lemming »

allenu wrote: post #17
johnny_b wrote: post #11

I feel like Anki is not designed to help you succeed. Eventually, you'll start missing your reviews. One day you'll open Anki, see that you have hundreds of cards scheduled, and just quit the app. The author of this article mentions he'll post an article tackling this issue, looking forward to that!

I found that issue too when I tried Anki. I missed a few days and when I returned there was a pile of cards that needed review. I later wrote my own flashcard app[1] with spaced repetition and ended up hiding the details of what was overdue and instead just let you set up a daily goal of number of cards reviewed. When you do a lesson, it picks up the overdue cards first, but if there aren't any, it pulls in new cards…

That looks great, I will definitely try that out. How well does the time-to-response work as a proxy for how difficult it was to remember something? Is there an option to specify that manually instead?
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