I’m studying from two main decks and my “due” review section, in total, is always incredibly high (300+). I spend on average an hour on Anki every day, despite barely learning new words (as my review time used to be ~ 2 hours before and I wanted to let cards mature first). However, I find it takes extremely long. It’s been around a month or more since I’ve stopped learning new cards and my “due” review count is not decreasing fast enough/I’m not able to mature my cards. I’d really like to learn new cards at a faster pace (at LEAST 10 cards a day, preferably 20 or 25) but my review time is not allowing it, since I’m using Anki to learn Japanese and I need to spend more time consuming native content than learning in Anki.
One simple thing you can tweak is setting a lower “Desired retention” in the FSRS settings. Even lowering it just a little bit (to something like 88% or 87%) may reduce your review load by 20% or more in the long run, compared to the default 90% setting.
It also looks like you have a lot of relearning reviews most days. What is your true retention rate? FSRS is currently trying to give you enough reviews that you are getting reviews right about 90% of the time. Do you feel you are forgetting cards you have learned much more often than that?
Edited to add: And how many learning/relearning steps do you have?
I’ve only just installed this add on since I wasn’t aware of it, but it’s only showing up for one of my decks (the other one is all N/As or 0s). My true retention rate seems to be ~ 65-70%? To answer your question, yes. Very much so, which is why it’s so frustrating to have such a high review count whilst always doing the same cards
You can see your true retention (now called “Retention”) in the stats screen.
Japanese is a tough language. Kanji in particular make it very hard to recall words so maybe study a few hundreds of them in isolation first, if you haven’t done already. Many people disagree with this idea, but it doesn’t hurt to try it for a week and see how it goes.
Ultimately the only way Anki knows how to make cards easier is to show them to you more often, which is the opposite of what you want. So I would focus on things you can do to help make your cards stick in your head better:
Learn words in context before adding them to Anki. Since you mention consuming native content, you can “mine” that content for important words or phrases and use that to build your own deck, rather than trying to learn from a deck that someone else has built. Then you will also be more likely to see those words again outside of Anki, and reinforce them with real-world use.
Suspend cards that are giving you trouble. For example, if you keep confusing two cards for each other, focus on just one of them and suspend the other for now. You can learn the second word after the first one is solidly in your memory.
Come up with mnemonic devices or stories to help out with cards that are giving you trouble. For example, if you have trouble remembering the Japanese word 混雑 (konzatsu, “crowding”), you could associate it with the English word “concerts” (sounds a bit like “konzatsu”) because “concerts are crowded.” (Since you are using WaniKani, you probably already do this for some words and characters.)
Practice hand-writing words that are giving you trouble. Studies find that writing by hand is an effective way to improve learning.
Setting a desired retention rate below 90% is also probably worth trying. I would start somewhere in the 85–89% range. If that feels like it’s working, you could then try going even lower.
@hamptydampty788 : I’d ask the precursor question: have you actually learnt this material first, and then you are using Anki to help you remember it? Or are you using Anki to learn the material fresh, i.e. without any foreknowledge?
The latter is not Anki’s speciality and may easily result in your reviewing the cards over and over, because you have not learnt them first.
Otherwise, I suggest following the suggestions from @mbrubeck and other similar ones: design strategies for learning. Look for patterns as was suggested above; these help you store the information in your head (two types of memory involved: lexical and shape, so the learning is reinforced).
More importantly, are you practising the languages with this new vocabulary? Walk around and talk to yourself in Japanese, describe what you see? Ask questions of yourself about what you see. Invent little scenarios in your head. All of this practice will help you retain the vocabulary and understand its correct usage.
Lastly, I think you mentioned that you are attempting to learn two languages. Unless they are both very different from each other and you are at different levels of competence with each one — and your needs for them are quite different (e.g. travel vs work) — they are probably causing interference with each other. That is, they are inhibiting your learning of either one.
If you are a beginner at both languages, I’d suggest concentrating on a single language at a time. Then take a “holiday” for several months and concentrate on the other — if you truly have a need to know both by a certain date. It’s like your trying to learn two types of football (e.g. Gaelic football vs Rugby Union): you will eventually get the terms and the rules confused.
You’re asking FSRS to schedule your cards to get you to 90% retention – but your retention is substantially lower than that. As long as there’s that big difference, your workload will remain high.
Folks have given you some very practical advice – for language-learning, and for the specific languages you are learning. My questions are much more general how-to-use-Anki things for you to consider.
Are you studying your cards on time, when they are scheduled? – You have an even lower chance of getting cards correct when they are overdue.
Are you graduating all of your Learn/Relearn cards back to Review every day? – If you let them build up in Learn/Relearn, it can be very hard to dig your way out.
When was the last time you optimized your parameters? – Re-optimize monthly to help FSRS fit your scheduling to your memory.
When you get a card wrong, what do you before grading to help increase your chances of getting it right the next time? If you’re just clicking Again and hoping for the best, you’re not going to learn that material.
