I have 2 primary decks that I use for school: Anking Step 1 and class-made decks. I am interested in using FSRS for the long term studying for Step 1, but I cannot seem to apply it solely to the Anking Step 1 deck alone. This means my class-made decks will also be set to FSRS, but the problem is that I’m usually doing anki for these topics within 2 weeks or less, then tossing them after an exam.
Is there any benefit to using FSRS for these short term decks or should I wait to turn on FSRS for when I slowly get closer to my dedicated boards study time?
Edit: Forgot to mention that I don’t do Anking everyday because my class-made decks pile up very quickly, so I’m not sure if FSRS would work because of this. But I do like the fact that FSRS does spread review cards out over time so its not too crazy of a pile up.
You can’t turn FSRS on for only part of your collection – the setting is profile-wide. However you can use different parameters and different desired retentions for different options presets – as many as you want. If you want to avoid FSRS for part of your collection, you’ll need to move it into a different profile – but I don’t think you should do that.
There isn’t really a deck that wouldn’t benefit from FSRS [mandatory disclaimer: unless you’ve got decks with review history where you mis-used the grading buttons, because that’s the one thing FSRS can’t handle]. You’re thinking about it as the scheduler that gives you longer intervals, and everything is more spaced – but it doesn’t have to be that at all. It’s just a better algorithm, which is more responsive to your study habits and memory.
Once you get these decks separated into different presets and optimized separately, that may be enough to differentiate them. For the short-turnaround-cycle decks, if you’re concerned that you are getting too-long intervals, you may want to set a higher desired retention, which will naturally shorten your intervals.
For the not-every-day deck – FSRS will deal just fine with giving you credit for getting overdue cards correct, and rescheduling cards you get wrong. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
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Ahhh that makes more sense, I definitely am thinking about it wrong. Its nice to hear that it will adapt to my studying overtime. I watched the Anking video on FSRS, guess I’ll have to watch it again.
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Here’s everything you may ever need to know about FSRS: Reddit - Dive into anything
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