I’m trying to learn a language and am taking classes however i’d like to use anki as a way to memorise verbs, nouns and overall sentences i learn in class and my own study. So i created my own deck and gradually add a few cards to it every few days.
It seems like when I use anki though it only gives me 5 reviews of old cards till i’ve hit my limit (and any new cards if i made any that day). Daily Limit settings for my deck are set to 25 new cards per day and 500 maximum reviews per day. My deck is now approaching 50 words after 2 weeks but still if i tick “easy” on a card it says it’ll show me it again in 9 days. with only so little cards in my deck id hope to see it again sooner than 9 days though…
So that got me thinking, am i using anki wrong? is it better to just grab a deck of 1000 words online and then just use anki as an actual learning tool more than a memorisation/reinforcing tool?
And if the way im using Anki is fine, is there a way to see cards more often? im happy to study 50+ old cards a day, unsure as to why i only see like 5 when my reviews are set to 500.
This is actually a rather deep question about how to use Anki most effectively. Here’s my two cents on this. Others may have entirely different opinions, so take this with a grain of salt.
I believe the thing Anki is best at is being a memorisation tool for things you’ve just learned. Anki can additionally (and quite easily, really) be used as the tool you do the actual learning in too.
This is only a difference in what content you have in your cards. Cards intended for learning ought to have a lot more content. Cards for purely reinforcing already learned memories can be very bare-bones.
Since you’re already learning in class, I think it’d be better to stick to making your own cards. This would be more effective because you’re engaging with the memories you’ve just made as you make the cards and also the cards’ content you make will more precisely match what you’ve learned.
A pre-made deck might have differences in the presentation style that don’t quite match how you learned the stuff which would hinder recall.
I think that using a pre-made deck (for any topic) would be a good option, if you wanted to study a topic on your own that wasn’t taught in class. Because then the content of what you learn is going to be coming from the cards and thus the cards’ review content will match the initial learned content too.
This is Anki working as intended with the SRS algorithm increasing the intervals you see on cards each time you review them.
with only so little cards in my deck id hope to see it again sooner than 9 days though…
Do you really though? Anki is suggesting that you actually don’t need to see this card again until that time. The point of the algorithm is to show your cards such that you don’t waste time reviewing them unnecessarily often. Of course, reviewing more often is going to lead to even better retention, so it’s a trade-off but greater efficiency is achieved when you don’t strive for something like 100% retention.
There’s a couple options.
Set the maximum interval for cards in this deck to some very low value, like 3 days. Then every card is shown at most every 3 days.
If you have FSRS enabled, set the desired retention super high, like 99%. I think this won’t have as extreme of an effect as the maximum interval though, so if you want super high frequency like 3 days, the above option is better.
You could make filtered decks where you select what cards you want to additionally study today, make such decks each day and study the cards like that.
If you remember the card after 9 days, then everything is fine. If you often don’t remember cards when you see them again, you should adjust your intervals so that you see them sooner
No
Maybe in some cases, but I’d say that’s not a good plan in general, and you seem like you haven’t been using it enough yet to really decide for yourself. Pre-made decks can have errors and you may not even notice them if you are a beginner in the subject and/or the deck is based on a class/book/etc. you’ve never used. Making your own cards can help you remember material. Plus it’s good practice if you ever need to make more complex cards.
It’s normal to have only a few reviews when you start out with a new deck that is small. As you add cards, you will be reviewing more. Just give it time and continue making new cards (if you actually need to memorize more things).
You could also temporarily increase your daily new cards. Or use one of those pre-made decks until the reviews in your deck increase.