Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my approach to using FSRS buttons and get your thoughts on whether it’s “correct” or if I might be undermining the algorithm’s effectiveness.
I’m using the latest Anki with FSRS, getting a 4.07% RMSE on my main Japanese language deck (radicals, kanji, vocabulary) and a 3.78% RMSE on my geography deck. I have separate FSRS parameters for different deck types.
For review cards I follow the standard approach of using again if I don’t recall the card and the other buttons otherwise (mainly good).
For new cards in my language learning deck I click “easy” if I already knew the back before reviewing the card; “good” even if I’m not too familiar, I’ll study it and click it once I think I’ll remember it in 10 minutes; never click “again” because I’d rather study it now, click “good,” and do 2 reviews total (initial + 10 min) rather than 3 reviews (initial + 1 min + 10 min).
For geography and similar content I use “again” more frequently because these types of associations are more difficult to remember without mnemonics but I still apply the same principle of clicking “good” if I think I’ll remember the card in 10 minutes.
I do this because I find it inefficient to use “again” and see the card in 1 minute if I’ve just studied it and will still remember it in 10 minutes. I’d rather do 2 reviews total for new cards than 3 with what feels like a redundant step in between.
I’m achieving my target retention rates, and the FSRS parameters seem to be optimizing well (4.07% RMSE for my Japanese deck).
I’ve seen some threads (on reddit) advising against using different button strategies for new vs. review cards. However, I’m being consistent within each stage (new cards vs. review cards), using separate FSRS parameters for different deck types and achieving good retention results.
Is this approach actually problematic? Or is it reasonable to have different (albeit systematic) criteria for new vs. review cards?
Or should I just change my learning steps from 1 minute and 10 minutes to simply 10 minutes?
My understanding is that FSRS treats new cards and review cards as different stages in the learning process anyway, so having different button criteria for each stage should be fine as long as I’m consistent within each stage.
I’ve already accumulated over 10,000 reviews with this approach in my language learning deck. If I were to change my button usage strategy now (or my learning steps), wouldn’t that potentially disrupt the algorithm’s efficiency even further?
Would love to hear from more experienced FSRS users on this.
Sorry for the wall of text :')
Thanks!