The Case For Multiple Goals

Posted on November 23, 2019

A useful flashcard application would allow users to set different goals for different cards, control the way cards are prioritized during review sessions, and code custom scheduling and prioritizing algorithms. Furthermore, it would be very useful to purposely design the application to allow for experimental data generation and collection if... [Read More]

Overlapping and Nested Clozes

Posted on November 21, 2019

Being able to use overlapping and nested cloze deletions is super useful in a flashcard application. It’s something that I felt was sorely missing from the flashcard applications that I’ve used. [These are overlapping] cloze deletions These are [overlapping cloze deletions] And these are [nested] cloze deletions And these [are... [Read More]

Ideas For A Good Flashcard Or Review Application

Posted on March 25, 2019

These are some ideas I have for creating a usable flashcard program. They are somewhat organized by topic, but not placed in any particular order. This is sort of a brain-dump for me. I wanted to get these idea out of my head and written down. Some of these ideas... [Read More]

Poorly Named, But Good Anki Addon

Posted on November 9, 2018

Just ran across a reference to this cryptically named addon today: Another Retreat It sets the new interval after a lapse to whatever the interval was before the one that led to a lapse. This is a nice way of solving the problem of finding a decent post-lapse interval. Be... [Read More]

Anki - Dynamic Efficient Learning Steps With Feedback

Posted on February 6, 2018

Use the average ease of mature cards as feedback to generate efficient learning steps for new cards. Udate 2018-03-14: Addon coded; see bottom of page. In a Nutshell Create 5 learning steps for each deck with steps 3-5 based on the initial ease factor of the deck (which is set... [Read More]

Anki - Auto Adjust New Cards per Day to Meet a Deadline

Posted on January 8, 2018

A lot of students use Anki to study for an up-coming exam. And in that case, you want to make sure that you see all the new cards by some arbitrary deadline (leaving ample review time before the exam). Conceptually, it’s easy to adjust the new cards per day setting... [Read More]

My Current Anki Deck Settings

Posted on October 26, 2017

In a nutshell Here are the settings I currently use for most of my decks: New Cards Steps: 15 2160 10080 40320 Order: Show new cards in order added New cards/day: varies Graduating Interval: 45 days Easy Interval: 4 days (not used; I don’t use the easy button anymore) Starting... [Read More]

Anki And The Hidden Dangers Of Filtered Decks

Posted on October 26, 2017

In a Nutshell If you move a card in the learning queue into or out of a filtered deck (including by rebuilding or deleting the deck), then Anki will set all learning cards to new status and re-learning cards back to review status. While not quite a fix, you can... [Read More]

Anki - The Power of Making New Cards on the Fly

Posted on July 20, 2017

OK, so you’ve found Anki and started using it, or you’ve used it for a long time and you’re taking advantage of the efficiency of spaced repetition. Maybe you’ve studied Piotr Wozniak’s “20 Rules” article, so you’re formatting your cards well too. But how do you handle leeches? How do... [Read More]

Anki Auto-Adjust New Interval After A Lapse

Posted on June 30, 2017

In a nutshell The code below will loop through each of your deck options groups, find the success rate for post-lapse reviews, and attempt to adjust the Lapse New Interval percentage to hit an 85% average success rate. Background Previously, I wrote about using efficient settings for the new interval... [Read More]

Open The Anki Database From Python

Posted on February 19, 2017

At some point, you might want to script something to open up the Anki database and collect some information without having to run as an add-on. For example, I have a script that runs from cron. It copies the anki collection to the /tmp directory and then opens it up,... [Read More]

Thoughts On A New Algorithm For Anki

Posted on February 18, 2017

I’ve had some thoughts about a change to the way Anki handles ease factors. UPDATE: 2018-01-08 I’ve shared out the experimental addon that does exactly what I describe in this article. See experimentalCardEaseFactor on Github. In a nutshell Instead of simply increasing the ease factor a little when the user... [Read More]

Anki New Interval After A Lapse

Posted on February 17, 2017

In a nutshell In deck settings, set the New Interval under the Lapses tab to make the new interval of forgotten cards a percentage of their previous interval. Ideally, play with this percentage until you have an 80-90% success rate on re-learned cards. Anki’s default behavior I’m pretty sure that... [Read More]

What Anki Learning Steps To Use

Posted on February 16, 2017

Anki, and spaced-repetition in general, are geared towards retaining information you’ve already learned rather than learning new information. That’s because in general, flashcards are good at reminding you of some learning experience, but not so good at creating a memorable experience to begin with. Still, Ank provides some support for... [Read More]

Target An 80-90 Percent Success Rate In Anki

Posted on February 15, 2017

In a Nutshell Adjust the interval modifier in Anki’s deck options until you’re getting 80 to 90% of your reviews correct. Anki isn’t going to do this for you. Anki isn’t magic If Reddit’s Anki forum is any indication, new Anki users seem to think that Anki has some magic... [Read More]

Anki's Starting Ease Factor Setting

Posted on February 14, 2017

In a Nutshell For each deck options group in Anki, set the initial ease factor to the average ease factor of the mature cards in that deck options group. UPDATE 2017-02-15: I completed an addon to do this automatically for all decks. To install from within Anki, use Tools » Addons »... [Read More]

Working On Anki Auto-Calibrate

Posted on February 12, 2017

I’m working on an addon for Anki that will do the following things for deck options that you select: Set starting ease factor of cards to the average ease factor of cards with intervals > 90 days Adjust the interval modifier to try to hit your selected success rate (80%,... [Read More]