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Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

domenic.me

11–20 of 538 posts

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#11
post #2

Pretty OT: A few month ago I tried to marry my simple note system with anki. My goal was to be able to send simple front/backside cards to an api and it would get integrated and I can use it immediately. Ofc, when I edit cards via my notes-backend, the cards in anki should update too. Long story short: not possible with anki. It took like an entire day for me to realize its just not possible without diving deep into…

Every anki card is just a webview. Its very possible to call an api

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#12
post #6

Spaced repetition has been all the rage for 20 years now. Dozens of apps, thousands of lectures, and it turns out its not really a silver bullet. There's nothing really wrong with it, it's just that people tend to fall off the same way they do on any other education pattern. A couple years ago I was thinking "If Google and Apple really cared about kids they would make a spaced repetition unlock system", where by you…

> There's nothing really wrong with it

And a gigantic amount right with it.

This is a strange comment because it shrugs off something that has been transformative and hugely useful to a lot of people because it doesn’t fix all conceivable problems.

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#13
I'm sorry, I didn't read the article but I thought my experience would be a good anecdote.

I've used Anki for multiple years and learned around 18'000 Japanese words. It's difficult to say but I'd say I've learned how to read around 5'000 kanji. When I studied in Japan, my kanji reading—don't mix that up with comprehension!—was way above everyone else's. And most of my classmates were either Korean or Chinese.

That's what 10 minutes of free time—I did that during my daily train rides—can get you! Keep practicing. Being ignorant is the first step towards becoming more knowledgeable.

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#14

Language vocab seems a good use case. What other things are people here using spaced repition for?

Everything, I use it to memorize anything that doesn't stick the first time.

I just don't use an app. I will challenge myself to remember things or practice things manually.

It's probably sub optimal compared to structured spaced repetition, but it works well enough for me.

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#15

I’ve been using Anki for about a decade now, and as far as I’m concerned, the only real improvements needed are design/UI based. It is functionally irrelevant if the algorithm is optimized or not when the actual user interface seems boring to potential users. While I do like that Anki has power user options, it’s also very unintuitive to the average person just looking into it. Which is really a shame, as the spacing…

I love Anki but it’s an archetypal example of “designed by an engineer”.

It’s powerful, with a lot of depth to its features - but it’s also hideous, clunky and unintuitive, and it takes a long time to figure out how to use it effectively.

An HN-reading tech nerd can probably figure it out, but your average Duolingomaxxing normie? No chance.

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#16

Language vocab seems a good use case. What other things are people here using spaced repition for?

I used it whenever i studied anything, but with a 'recursive' twist.

Every time i did repetition, i've made a shorter note about the subject.

Then next repetition cycle, i'm reading the note, and making shorter note based on it. and so on.

once few cycles i'm re-reading the main starting note i made.

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#17

Language vocab seems a good use case. What other things are people here using spaced repition for?

Mine has all sorts of shit in it. Mac keyboard shortcuts. Nautical terms. Cyrillic characters. Credit card verification codes. Phone numbers. Airport codes. Ionic component names. Names of my friends’ kids. A surprising amount of Z Specification. Anything I think it would be useful to remember.

Re: Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

#20

I’ve been using Anki for about a decade now, and as far as I’m concerned, the only real improvements needed are design/UI based. It is functionally irrelevant if the algorithm is optimized or not when the actual user interface seems boring to potential users. While I do like that Anki has power user options, it’s also very unintuitive to the average person just looking into it. Which is really a shame, as the spacing…

I love Anki but it’s an archetypal example of “designed by an engineer”. It’s powerful, with a lot of depth to its features - but it’s also hideous, clunky and unintuitive, and it takes a long time to figure out how to use it effectively. An HN-reading tech nerd can probably figure it out, but your average Duolingomaxxing normie? No chance.

Sorry, but what's clunky about it? All buttons in reach of your thumb on the mobile app and usable keybindings on desktop?

Is there not enough useless whitespace around every button?

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