Hello, I’m a Vet Med Student, and I study a lot of processes. I was wondering if there’s an add on that allows me to create a card where I have to put full sentences into the right order. I did search for one but what I found mostly is shuffling words not whole sentences, paragraphs, maybe sometimes images.
Thanks in advance
You could try searching via an unofficial resource: https://www.anki-addons-catalog.com/.
I gave it a try myself but couldn’t find anything. I don’t recall seeing anything like that—though I haven’t been around for that long, and even if I had, it’s impossible to know every single add-on.
The real reason I’m writing is that I’d like to understand how you intend to use this.
For instance, if a user enters some text, and the card then shuffles the sentences, requiring you to click them in the correct order to reconstruct the original text—that serves as a way to verify that you are actually reading and comprehending what’s written, while also practicing how to piece together meaning from multiple sentences.
On the other hand, if you’re dealing with a sequence—say, a series of steps, checks, or analyses—an instructor might use such exercises to test whether someone knows the correct order. From a learning perspective, however, this could actually be counterproductive.
Let me explain.
Suppose you have a list of 100 sentences, and you make mistakes on items 3, 7, 50, and 99. If you get item 3 wrong, it means you’ve likely swapped it with one of the others (7, 50, or 99). By proceeding incorrectly, you end up memorizing the wrong sequence, which is just a waste of time.
It’s crucial to stop forming incorrect associations the moment an error occurs—in short, you shouldn’t commit mistakes to memory. However, if the setup is simply a sequential reveal—much like “cloze” (fill-in-the-blank) card types—then I am familiar with similar card formats and the add-ons used to create them. In that case, you would simply try to recall what comes next, reveal it, and if you’re wrong, the card would be marked as failed. However, you should consider at which point you made a mistake, so you don’t have to go through all 99 items again. It might be necessary to review them all to be absolutely certain, but then again, it might not be. Think of it like the alphabet: do you need to recite the whole thing from the beginning, or is it enough to simply state that “R” follows “Q”? Some people feel the need to run through the entire sequence just to identify what comes after “Q.” There’s nothing wrong with that, but a higher level of mastery implies that you can state, instantly and without hesitation, what follows “Q.”
Consider what you need and how you want to approach it. If you can’t figure it out, keep in mind that you likely don’t even need an add-on—just a custom card template will suffice. You could also ask an AI for help.
Hey, thanks for the quick response, I’m very new to anki, so for most I just download add-ons from other people (it’s super helpful and I don’t have the time to create something custom for my own).
I still don’t understand your point of “wrong memorization”, if I put things sentences into order, then say click reveal and the steps in the wrong order are colored in red, I’m much more likely to memorize the steps the next time in the correct order.
Let’s say I have a slide like this that explains steps of histology, I can describe each picture in a sentence (or hopefully I can just add the pictures separately as they are though it will just look bad), the card would shuffle the sentences and I have to drag them into the correct order.
I agree with that. But this serves as a way to identify where you might be mistaken—it’s essentially a test of what you actually know. If you’re using flashcards for spaced repetition and have already learned everything correctly—in the right sequence—then it works well. As time passes, you might forget the correct order, and the color-coding will alert you to that. In this sense, it’s a useful check. For example, suppose you’ve written down the sequence 1, 2, 3. When it comes time to add 4, you might start to doubt whether your initial 1, 2, 3 was correct. You begin to rack your brain, trying to recall the sequence—a process that is arguably more beneficial than simply being told, “Everything’s fine, don’t worry about it—just keep going.” That’s how I see it. The problem, however, is that if you’re unsure and end up inventing your own (incorrect) sequence—like 3, 2, 1—you’ll then have to remember both the correct version and the incorrect one (i.e., the mistake you made). This leads to confusion. To ensure you truly remember something, you need to repeat it correctly at least three times in a row; that way, you avoid such issues.
I always say that if you make a mistake, you should immediately perform the action correctly—or state the correct information—at least three times. While the neural connections are still fresh and you’re still within the right context, you can “reprogram” your brain with the correct version. Unfortunately, our brains have a tendency to fill in gaps or invent things that aren’t there—something that both detectives and doctors should be well aware of. If you recall something incorrectly three times, you might eventually come to believe that it’s the absolute truth. When learning, it is best to proceed step-by-step; just as you wouldn’t examine an image starting from the end, you shouldn’t review material in a random, disjointed fashion. Unfortunately, Anki will not present cards in a strict, sequential order if you have marked some of them as “already known”—those cards will simply be deferred to a later time. This can be an advantage, but it becomes a drawback when the sequence itself is essential to what you are trying to learn. You might create cards that link items together—for example, “A-B,” “B-C,” and “C-D.” This works fine as long as the connections are unique, but what happens if the list involves recurring elements, such as “A-B,” “B-C,” “D-E,” “B-D,” and “A-D”?
When the “B-D” card appears, you might remember the connection between “B” and “D,” but the memory of the “B-C” link may fade.
Consequently, complex sequences must be learned in their entirety—“A-B,” “B-C,” “D-E,” “B-D,” “A-D”—rather than being broken down into smaller, isolated pieces, as is sometimes recommended for Anki. For instance, if you are memorizing a long poem and learn it only in fragments, you may know the individual parts but fail to connect them correctly. Furthermore, some subjects require you to master certain concepts thoroughly before moving on to others. While this is common within a single topic, there are fields where every new subject is built entirely upon the foundation of everything that came before it. Anki is designed for material with a relatively uniform level of difficulty, where cards are independent of one another. As has been noted elsewhere, if you fail to recall a card, Anki won’t tell you that a deeper understanding requires mastering prerequisite topics—or perhaps even the topics that preceded those. Anki will simply tell you that a card needs to be revised—but only after you’ve failed to answer it correctly seven times in a row.
Try downloading this HTML file and viewing your example in a browser.
I would ban the use of such sequence diagrams. The thing is, we tend to remember distinct, unique visual images—not arrows. You might follow the arrows, but even if you have a good visual memory and recall the entire page, it’s unlikely you’ll remember every specific point or arrow. Consequently, you’ll end up navigating the content in the standard way: from left to right, and then from top to bottom.
You’ll also tend to recall things based on the actual operations you performed; when arrows lead you astray, it’s very easy to get confused.
