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Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

natemeyvis.com

61–70 of 78 posts

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#61
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More precisely, enjoys memorizing things but isn't good at it. Professonal quizzers can absorb huge amounts of information but typically don't use flashcards. OP is grinding thousands of cards a day to get to the same level - worthy of respect!

> Professonal quizzers can absorb huge amounts of information but typically don't use flashcards. Professional quizzers almost all use flashcards. Jeopardy! people definitely do. The range of questions that you can ask in a general knowledge quiz are surprisingly limited. You're not going beyond a surface-level overview on anything. Do a ton of general knowledge flashcards for a year and you'll annihilate people at p…

Ken Jennings doesn't! I am speculating though so I'll defer to your knowledge here. I was trying to say, for some people it comes naturally. I doubt the majority of quizzers are doing 300k reviews a year.

Reminds me of that guy who "mastered the NYT Crossword" by flashcarding questions/clues. I also learned to do the Saturday consistently - just by doing the crossword every day for a while. You don't always need flashcards.

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#63
post #19

As someone who did about 51k in 2025, oh my goodness how would you possibly have time for 300k?

1. I have a long commute, and I have about 45 minutes of walking per day, during which I like to do my reviews. 2. I've put serious effort into reducing the friction in my software in order to reduce time per review. 3. You've got to do something when you're on the toilet, right?

When you review while walking are you just looking at your phone? I’m wondering if there’s some less obtrusive way it could be done, like via smartwatch or even 100% by audio or something.

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#65

They barely mention why they're even doing this. I see flashcard as a means to something (e.g. learning a language, preparing for a test...). The measured outcome should be the success in task, rather than the number of reviewed cards.

Reminds me of when I was looking for good workflows for note taking tools like Obsidian that would be relevant to me, but so many of the big articles on how to do various types of note organizations strategies all used theirs to organize notes on videos and conferences they had watched or gone to about note taking.

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#66
post #32

First of all, big kudos for not missing a single day. When I used flashcards in the past, missing even a couple of days led to an avalanche of cards to review. Since you’ve been so consistent and are using your own software, have you experimented with different resurfacing rates? Did you notice a material difference in recall?

I have done a lot of algorithmic experiments. I wouldn't say I noticed a big difference in recall, but my graphs say that there definitely is one!

Is there a reason you chose to roll your own software instead of just using Anki? Custom algorithm you think is better than FSRS? UI preferences?

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#67
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. I have a long commute, and I have about 45 minutes of walking per day, during which I like to do my reviews. 2. I've put serious effort into reducing the friction in my software in order to reduce time per review. 3. You've got to do something when you're on the toilet, right?

When you review while walking are you just looking at your phone? I’m wondering if there’s some less obtrusive way it could be done, like via smartwatch or even 100% by audio or something.

Looking at my phone. I do have exactly the plans you describe!

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#68
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. I have a long commute, and I have about 45 minutes of walking per day, during which I like to do my reviews. 2. I've put serious effort into reducing the friction in my software in order to reduce time per review. 3. You've got to do something when you're on the toilet, right?

When you review while walking are you just looking at your phone? I’m wondering if there’s some less obtrusive way it could be done, like via smartwatch or even 100% by audio or something.

Not OP but but one of the reasons I avoided Anki for a long time was that I wanted to be able to answer cards quickly without actually looking at my phone. I ended up using a combination of automatic TTS, bluetooth headphones, and swipe-up/down gestures to indicate my response because I wanted to do flashcards while going on runs.

I currently use a bespoke piece of software for this now but I've had great success in the past with Flashcards Deluxe (by Orange or Apple). It supports automatic TTS, answering by gestures, etc. I used to use it back when I had a long commute.

https://orangeorapple.com/flashcards

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#69

They barely mention why they're even doing this. I see flashcard as a means to something (e.g. learning a language, preparing for a test...). The measured outcome should be the success in task, rather than the number of reviewed cards.

That's what the business model of Doulingo is based on

Re: Yearly analytics on my spaced repetition results

#70
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done a lot of algorithmic experiments. I wouldn't say I noticed a big difference in recall, but my graphs say that there definitely is one!

Is there a reason you chose to roll your own software instead of just using Anki? Custom algorithm you think is better than FSRS? UI preferences?

I don't exactly think I have an algorithm better than FSRS yet, but I have an algorithm I like better. Hopefully I'll have more to say about this soon.
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