Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards • Hacker News Board

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#161

Post by Jtsummers » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:24 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #146

xedrac wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90 minutes is a very big ask if you want to be consistent. Maybe you're simply trying to bite off more than you can chew? I think consistency is king, so whatever you have to do to stay consistent will pay dividends, even if that means shaving your working set down to just 10 minutes a day.

The thing with Anki is that you cant control how much workload you have per day. Anki algorithm decides that. Say, you start by doing it little bit every day and you are fine for first three weeks. But then, Anki starts assigning you more and more repetition and that is it. If you do less one day, Anki gives you those cards the next day on top of the normal workload of that day. There is no way out. Worst, the less y…

There is a cap on how many cards will get reviewed from a deck each day. Lower it if the default cap is too high.

If you're finding that you reliably do not recall some card Anki will eventually mark it as a leech. Those cards get suspended automatically after some number of lapses. That will reduce your workload because suspended cards are't part of your workload.

https://docs.ankiweb.net/leeches.html

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#162

Post by Jtsummers » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:27 PM UTC

rpearl wrote: post #135

AlbertCory wrote: post #134

I actually looked into Anki recently, my idea being: instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media during downtime, why not memorize poems and great song lyrics? The issue is: I'm sick and tired of apps that want your web credentials. I want an app that doesn't share anything about me. Completely local. I have to admit, I haven't searched on Play Store for one.

> The issue is: I'm sick and tired of apps that want your web credentials. I want an app that doesn't share anything about me. Completely local. Anki does not require your web credentials, so it's very well suited for you! You can create an account if you want to sync your decks between computers or to your phone. It is not necessary or required.

You can also run your own sync server so you can get the benefit of multi-device syncing without needing to use the free provided service.

https://docs.ankiweb.net/sync-server.html

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#163

Post by guytv » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:28 PM UTC

siddbudd wrote: post #41

For all you people who have used Anki or other SRS for many years: how do you get over the problem of being bored by it? Or does that not happen to you? Though I have not used Anki, I used a similar SRS for learning Chinese - the flashcards built in Pleco, but no matter how often I try to use it, I never last longer than 5-10 days, I just get bored by it. Also, no matter how I try to adjust the algo, I have the feeli…

I've noticed that sticking exclusively to words I already know results in boredom, leading me to skip several days. This typically ends with me needing to catch up in a lengthy session (40 minutes to an hour), which seems less effective for memory retention.

Now, I make it a point to introduce new words at least weekly, which maintains my interest and reduces boredom. The challenge of new words, balanced with the familiarity of known ones, creates an engaging experience, much like a well-designed game with a mix of easy and challenging elements. This approach keeps me motivated.

Additionally, actively using the language by conversing with native speakers greatly enhances my motivation. The positive feedback and tangible understanding of its value significantly boost my commitment to learning.

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#164

Post by FL33TW00D » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:30 PM UTC

jhrmnn wrote: post #132

itsrajju wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your boy is precious! He's on his way to becoming a highly intelligent adult. I've seen a lot of people going like... why remember stuff when you can easily google it? But it doesn't work that way. The more facts reside in your brain, the more avenues it has to connect them together and generate insights (after all, that thing is the OG "neural network"). I highly admire your parenting in this aspect, and I hope to d…

I’ve never remembered anything by memorization. Only at school and university for exams, and only to promptly forget it one week later. The stuff that I have remembered for years I learned organically by using it, as part of some mental process, by embedding it in some larger structure. Be it coding, physics, or history. So I think this is a fairly individual matter

I highly doubt this is an individual matter. Cramming (massing) for exams is literally the antithesis of SRS.

Look into Andy Matuschaks work: [Dwarkesh Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmeRQN9z504) [How to write good prompts](https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/)

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#165

Post by grep_name » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

gcr wrote: post #2

I LOVE anki!! I’m a heavy user. Everything goes in my morning flash cards. Knots, geography, language, tar commandline flags, papers, statistics homework. Fill them with things you like, is my advice - it’s fun to say hello to hobbies on the verge of your memory in the morning. Bird calls! I’m learning sounds of bird calls since I can’t see very well so I can’t learn by sight. I listed eBird’s set of common birds nea…

As someone who has a had some false starts with SRS, this seems like an interesting approach. Do you add all these disparate topics into one huge deck? What does adding a new topic domain look like?

I think a bit of the problem (for me) when I tried anki before was friction from the overhead of 1.) deciding how to split time among decks and 2.) having to assign a 1-5 value for 'how well I remembered the info'. That second point is huge, I find that kind of task to be incredibly exhausting. Do you have any tips for getting over that?

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#166

Post by FL33TW00D » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

pavelboyko wrote: post #36

Spaced repetition, especially when using tools like Anki, is effective for memorizing facts. However, memorization represents the most basic level of learning objectives, see e.g. [1] and [2]. Are there any recommended tools for practicing more advanced levels of knowledge, such as relational analysis, synthesis, and critical evaluation? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_taxonomy [2] https://en.m.wikipedi…

You can use Anki to learn subjects more deeply - it's just harder.

Check out this experimental work to learn Quantum Physics using SRS: https://quantum.country/

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#167

Post by Version467 » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

romeros wrote: post #129

Version467 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they were, writing cards yourself forces you to engage with the material in a way that's highly conducive to learning it. It makes knowledge gaps more visible and forces you to understand it if you want to have any chance breaking the material down into pieces that make good cards. The positive effects of SRS rely just as much on the repetition as they do on the creation of the cards. I know that not everyone…

writing your own cards is very tedious.

It gets easier the more you do it. As you become more comfortable with the software as well as develop an intuition for what makes a good card, the effort shrinks dramatically. Not just because I'm faster at creating cards, I also create fewer cards overall.

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#168

Post by computerphage » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

tyrust wrote: post #158

redcobra762 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ChatGPT is great at taking my notes and turning them into Anki cards. Some tweaks are occasionally needed, but I have done well on numerous exams letting ChatGPT figure out the cards (and the formatting tedium) for me.

This is the opposite of what the commenter is suggesting.

I'm not sure it is. Not if chatgpt is operating off of the notes you already took yourself

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#169

Post by redcobra762 » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:32 PM UTC

tyrust wrote: post #158

redcobra762 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ChatGPT is great at taking my notes and turning them into Anki cards. Some tweaks are occasionally needed, but I have done well on numerous exams letting ChatGPT figure out the cards (and the formatting tedium) for me.

This is the opposite of what the commenter is suggesting.

I’m offering my experience, while agreeing with the larger point that you need to customize your cards to your situation.

Re: Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards

#170

Post by CuriouslyC » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 5:33 PM UTC

tyrust wrote: post #158

redcobra762 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ChatGPT is great at taking my notes and turning them into Anki cards. Some tweaks are occasionally needed, but I have done well on numerous exams letting ChatGPT figure out the cards (and the formatting tedium) for me.

This is the opposite of what the commenter is suggesting.

One of the biggest roadblocks to using anki or cards in general is coming up with good cards. Automating that part lets you use anki a lot more, which is a win. If you want to connect with the question you can still manually transcribe the card.