The Pass/Fail add-on (which removes “Hard” and “Easy”, and renames “Good” to Pass and “Again” to Fail, leaving only those two answer buttons) description says:
The “Hard” button in Anki has an effect the opposite of what you would desire – when you find something difficult, it increases the amount of time before you review it again, giving you more time to forget it.
But the time-until-next-review above my “Hard” button is always less than on the “Good” button. Can somebody explain this?
A Hard grade increases the next interval as compared to the current interval – not as compared to the next interval for a Good grade.
Although it’s factually correct, whoever wrote that is working with faulty logic. If you struggled to remember a card after a certain interval, but you did successfully remember it, then a slightly longer next interval is entirely appropriate. “You remembered it after this long so let’s stretch your memory for a little bit longer for next time.”
You don’t say which of the add-ons you’re talking about, and I would ordinarily suggest you bring this question up with the add-on developer directly. But in this case – I suspect you’ll have a difficult time convincing a 2-button-grading devotee that the Hard button has any value. It’s probably not worth it.
Thanks, that clears it up. I panicked and thought I had understood (and used) the Hard grade all wrong for all this time.
I understand the authors general sentiment though, sometimes the Hard interval seems too long after really struggling to remember a card. Picking “Again” seems wrong because I did remember it, if barely. Maybe I should redesign the card in this case, or split it up or something.
The add-on is called ‘Pass/Fail 2: Remove the “Easy” and “Hard” buttons’ if anyone’s interested.