Change Intervals – Repeating

Anki Scheduling
1

Hello!
Usually I learn words with the help of Anki, foreign languages like English.
I didn’t have time to repeat words, so I didn’t use Anki about 2-3 months.
And now I have very ‘strange’ intervals in repetition of cards, the intervals I can’t deal with.
I think we are talking about “Review Cards” in this case, I am not sure.
If I open the desk I see the Cards I have already learned or started to learn some time ago. Some of them are very easy for me, some of them I don’t remember any more, not really.

The options Anki has at the bottom now look like this:

<10 min 2,0 mo 7,2 mo 1,4 year
Again Hard Good Easy

Can you please help me and explain How I can change them the intervals in repetition?
I think I need something like this:

<10 min 4 or 7 days 3 weeks or 1 month 3 months
Again Hard Good Easy

I don’t really understand the Algorithm but I think it works well for me. Although it is different if you don’t have time to use Anki regularly. I don’t want to change the system in my Anki but I need another scheme, another intervals for the time I get through all the cards I must repeat several times now. And there are a lot of them.
I’ve been using Anki since about 8-9 months. But I must confess I changed almost nothing in the preferences because I think It’s very difficult.

I have already read some topics like these:
https://docs.ankiweb.net/deck-options.html#learning-steps
https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html#review-cards
And read many topics here in the forums but it doesn’t really helps to solve this particular problem.
I am reading this one now: Deck Options Explained
And I am getting better in understanding how it works and so on… but still no idea how to manage the problem.

2

Please see Due times after a break - Frequently Asked Questions

2 Likes
3

@dae
Thank you!
During the day yesterday I read these 3 topics many times
Due times after a break
Resetting progress in a deck
I’m going on vacation. Can I pause the scheduler?
and some other from “Scheduling” (FAQ) as well.

In the topic “Due times after a break” you talk actually about memory, that during this break in the learning process your memory doesn’t make a break, it continues to work, right?
As I opened the desk after a delay I noticed that the intervals were accumulated. Is written there: Intervals depend on your answer to a card, you give 3 different mathematic formulae for Hard, Good and Easy in this article.

You speak about the phenomenon that even after a long period of time you may remember some words. I think the same as well.
But I don’t know what I should do if the cards appear which I can’t recall very well. You know something between “very bad” and “very good”.

The most of the cards became this kind of scheduler after the break:

Anki_Scheduling_10 min or 2,7 mo_cut bottom
Anki_Scheduling_10 min or 2,7 mo_cut bottom1142×151 21.2 KB

By many of these cards I can’t give a “good answer”.
It means:

  • the first option: I didn’t know the answer, I wasn’t sure but I guessed and the answer was almost right. My experience says me I need to repeat this card in about 5-7 days but NOT in 2,7 months otherwise I am going to forget it.

  • the second option: I didn’t know the answer but I guessed it right. I would like to repeat this word in the nearest future, like in 3 weeks but NOT in 2,7 months, it is too late.

Actually I have the choice between 10 minutes (Again) and 2,9 mo (Hard) if I don’t know the answer good enough (most of the cards).
If I don’t know the answer at all, it’s no problem then I can click on “Again 10 minutes”. If I know the answer very good, it’s no problem than I can choose even “10 months (Good)”.

If I don’t know the word very good and I think that I’m going to forget the word completely if I wait 2,7 months then I must click on “Again 10 minutes”, right?

What will happen if I click on “Again 10 minutes”? I will see this card in about 10 minutes and after I guess the answer I have the choice between:

Anki_Scheduling_10 min or 1 day_cut bottom
Anki_Scheduling_10 min or 1 day_cut bottom1144×151 10.5 KB

On the next day I will see the card once again. I don’t know what is going to happen after this repetition.
And this will happen to every word which I don’t know very well (many of the words). I think it doesn’t make any sense for the memory, does it?
What do you think?

That is the reason why I’m looking for help, the opportunity to change the intervals in this case.

4

Just as a matter of interest, can you please give an example of that type of Q&A, where an answer can be “almost right”.

None of my decks contain that type of question. My answer is either right or wrong. But of course folks will have different types of decks for different subjects.

Thanks

5

@OldGrantonian
You mean the first option ?
For example if you have a word in a foreign language which has two meanings in your mother tongue. And you can guess one of these two meanings.

6

.

.
OK. I understand :slight_smile:

In those cases, I force myself to choose which of the foreign words to use. That cuts down my workload by 20% (guess).

Example. English to French

different: différent, divers

In Anki, I have only “différent”. That’s an easy choice.

For the reverse, I need to be prepared for a French speaker to use either of the words, so I would use two cards:

Card 1:
Front: différent
Back: different

Card 2:
Front: divers
Back: different

It’s clear that Card1 will be pushed into the future much more quickly than Card2.

But using your method, the info on Card2 is unfairly hindering the advance of Card1.

If you had three or more words on Card2, the situation might be exponentially worse.

Thanks

7

@OldGrantonian
First of all our conversation about “two meanings” doesn’t change the problem with “intervals after a break” (above).

Secondly I don’t think you are going to learn better or quicker if you use 2 cards instead of 1 card. [I don’t speak about reverse-cards to make it simpler].
=> One card: Card 0: Front: different. Back: différent; divers.
=> Two cards. Card 1: Front: different. Back: différent. / Card 2: Front: different. Back: divers.
Probably you need more time to learn “Card 0” because of two meanings, but you need somehow the same time to learn “Card 1” + “Card 2”, right?
Thanks for your ideas anyway :slight_smile:
At the moment I use the decks which are made after Textbooks and Vocabulary Builders (a few thousands of cards each), the decks compiled by other people, compiled as good as professionally, like by Kelciour. They have a lot of fields, like IPA, audio definitions, audio examples, often “Cloze” type (with gaps), too complicated to change even if I would think I should to, you know?

8

.
Very clear explanation.

Thanks
.