my cards are reverse (foreign vocabulary) and I tend to hit “easy” with back to front reviews on the first review (sometimes the first two). the idea is to space out cards that are indeed easier and to lighten the workload. the problem is that I think that because of these “easy” hits, the intervals rapidly become extremely long (after 6 months, it already becomes 3 years which I think is too much).
sometimes, I also read here that hitting “easy” disrupts the algorithm. in order to make things go back to their regular course, I now hit “hard” on these easy cards (instead of 3 years, the next interval becomes a little more than 1 year which I think is fine).
am I doing the right thing or is hitting “easy” creating even more chaos ? what should I do to keep reviewing these back to front cards less in the beginning and then come back to a normal pace ?
thank you !
Will you remember the card in 3 years? If so, it’s not too much
Another option is to add a maximum interval, which may or may not be something to consider. I don’t know that you’ll find a bunch of advice to set it as low as, say, 2 years but it is an option.
It doesn’t ‘disrupt’ the algorithm. But, like all answer selections, it is taken into account by the algorithm of course. This is how it works, fundamentally
As a general rule, you want to rate the card based on how you answered it (hard = hard, easy = easy). It’s probably not best practice to answer based on perceptions of the resulting intervals. We are notoriously poor judges of what an appropriate interval is
If you’re hitting easy when it’s not easy, then yeah that’s probably not great. If you’re hitting easy when it is easy, then it’s not ‘chaos’ it’s just the rating you’re giving it and that’s that
You shouldn’t “tend” to hit any particular grade with “the idea” to accomplish anything other than grading your answers honestly and accurately. That’s your only goal.
The algorithm is already well equipped “to space out cards that are indeed easier and to lighten the workload.” You should let it do its job. If you try to do that job too … you can see how you might end up with less accurate scheduling.
Grade your answers honestly and accurately. If your memory curve requires, that quickening pace and then slowing pace, it will show up for FSRS and it will be able to schedule your cards accordingly.