8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

Login Register search Go

O topic
Anki ruined my study habits! Tweet

2013-12-22, 2:00 am #1
youasuki Joined: May 2013
Member Posts: 65
Thanks: 0

After discovering Anki >3 years ago, I've have IMO successfully used it to teach me how
to read Kanji, memorize short facts, but that's pretty it. I think Anki works best when
used to remember short, quickly digestible bits/facts. For example, I can't use it to study
grammar. I did try a few times in the past, but it just didn't click. I learned my grammar
from tons of reading and exposure instead.

But what about studying more e ciently in general, how do you use Anki for this? Like
every time I read something in a textbook, manual, reference book, tutorial, etc., I can't
help feeling hopeless to the fact that I will probably forget most of it if I don't nd an
e ective SRS-like way to review it.

Reply

2013-12-22, 2:40 am #2
NightSky Joined: Apr 2008
Member Posts: 298
Thanks: 0

I love Anki, most peoples problems are they spend too much time doing reviews. You
should be able to do 100 reviews in 10 minutes, if not faster.

I found it best for grammar actually because I could just add 5/6 sentences all using
some pattern, I found it impossible to forget them after.

But, still, its not for everyone.

Reply

2013-12-22, 2:47 am #3
anritsi Joined: Jul 2010
Member Posts: 49
Website Thanks: 0

youasuki Wrote:

https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 1/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

...Like every time I read something in a textbook, manual, reference book, tutorial, etc., I can't help feeling hopeless to the

fact that I will probably forget most of it if I don't nd an e ective SRS-like way to review it.

Maybe you could read about how people use incremental reading with SuperMemo? I
think there's an Anki plugin for it too. Sorry, I don't know much else about it.

Reply

Advertising (Register to hide)

August Sale (14th - 25th): 30% OFF Premium PLUS - 25% OFF Premium

2013-12-22, 3:12 am #4
youasuki Joined: May 2013
Member Posts: 65
Thanks: 0

Oh, *I* love Anki, don't get me wrong. I meant it ruined my study habits as in it made
me realize the power of SRS and now I just can't go back to whatever I was doing before.

I tried the incremental reading thing too, but it was more overhead than anything,
insane. I can't do it.

Reply

2013-12-22, 5:52 am #5
Ampharos64 Joined: Dec 2008
Member Posts: 164
Thanks: 0

NightSky Wrote:

I love Anki, most peoples problems are they spend too much time doing reviews. You should be able to do 100 reviews in 10

minutes, if not faster.

Wow, that fast? Tips please! : D

That's exactly my problem, heh, it takes me forever to do my reviews. Partly it's my own
fault since I always watch anime while doing them, and can wind up getting distracted
by the show. So I end up not nishing them pretty often, and while either way I end up
doing stu in Japanese, I still feel bad because without Anki, it's hard to really quantify
my studying, and I've become a bit overly reliant on that.

Still really love Anki though, I'd struggle much more without it, I'm sure I'd have given up
trying to learn kanji. For grammar, I'd just add sentences, with the grammar point on the
back (and sometimes vice versa). It seems to work as far as picking up the pattern so as
to be able to understand it goes, for being able to actually use it myself, not so much. I
suspect cloze-deletions might help there, but haven't tried it yet.

https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 2/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

There doesn't seem to be anything I can really do about the fact that, no matter how
much I might want to learn something or know it'd be useful, if I'm not actually that
interested in it, I'm not going to remember it. Anki does help to overcome that, but it
applies even there. So with a grammar pattern, if I can nd a sentence I like that uses it,
or modify one (ie. by changing a noun), or even just add a picture, that's a lot better than
just using a boring one from a textbook as-is. So if you nd a sentence while you're
reading, that you like, that uses a grammar pattern you're having trouble with, throw it
into Anki for some extra exposure to it.

Edited: 2013-12-22, 5:54 am Reply

2013-12-22, 6:10 am #6
Betelgeuzah Joined: Mar 2011
Member Posts: 464
Thanks: 0

Quote:

Wow, that fast? Tips please! : D

I don't think there's much more to it than "don't get stuck on the words you don't
remember".

If it takes you more than 5 seconds to remember a word, fail it. Think about why you
didn't remember and make adjustments if necessary, then move on. The ve second
rule is very e ective for keeping the review times at minimum, regardless of how many
cards you end up failing in the process.

If you learn 20 words a day and it takes you more than 30 minutes to nish your reviews
there is much improvement to be done. Anki only deserves half an hour of our time at
best...

Edited: 2013-12-22, 6:13 am Reply

2013-12-22, 6:44 am #7
Ampharos64 Joined: Dec 2008
Member Posts: 164
Thanks: 0

Betelgeuzah Wrote:

Quote:

Wow, that fast? Tips please! : D

I don't think there's much more to it than "don't get stuck on the words you don't remember".

If it takes you more than 5 seconds to remember a word, fail it. Think about why you didn't remember and make

adjustments if necessary, then move on.

https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 3/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

Hmm, 'k, I was just about to go do my reviews now so I'll try it, thanks. : ) I think I've just
been a bit reluctant to end up having to fail a card that I feel I ought to know, because I
know if I do, the interval will go down and I'll have to see it again repeatedly for weeks,
till I'm sick of the thing. So, that had been slowing me down.

Reply

2013-12-22, 7:02 am #8
ryuudou Joined: Mar 2009
Member Posts: 595
Thanks: 9

Interesting. Supermemo 16 recently came marking a huge two year update. The only
version I've tried (2008 version) was terribly buggy with a garbage UI, but the updates
(and bug x/stability work) in the last two releases looks promising. Not to mention it
was rewritten.

I wonder if the UI is nally polished enough for me to switch from Anki. It destroys Anki
in about everything else (well more accurately I'm more interested in how SM-15
performs considering Anki is using the version of the algorithm from 1987; 6 answer
choices also seems much better considering I've always thought the decision gap
between "hard", "good", "easy" was too large).

That price though.

Edited: 2013-12-22, 8:40 am Reply

2013-12-22, 8:10 am #9
SomeCallMeChris Joined: Aug 2011
Member Posts: 1,376
Thanks: 119

Most of the suggestions in SuperMemo's 20 rules apply to writing Anki cards,

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm

Reply

2013-12-22, 8:30 am #10

NightSky Joined: Apr 2008
Member Posts: 298
Thanks: 0

Ampharos64 Wrote:

Betelgeuzah Wrote:

Quote:

Wow, that fast? Tips please! : D

I don't think there's much more to it than "don't get stuck on the words you don't remember".

https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 4/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

If it takes you more than 5 seconds to remember a word, fail it. Think about why you didn't remember and make

adjustments if necessary, then move on.

Hmm, 'k, I was just about to go do my reviews now so I'll try it, thanks. : ) I think I've just been a bit reluctant to end up having

to fail a card that I feel I ought to know, because I know if I do, the interval will go down and I'll have to see it again

repeatedly for weeks, till I'm sick of the thing. So, that had been slowing me down.

Sounds like you aren't aggressive enough using either the "Fail" answer or the "Easy"
answer. Before I was the same and seemed to click the options that meant the card
never went away, if you click easy each time it takes a while to come back

Reply

2013-12-22, 9:30 am #11

youasuki Joined: May 2013
Member Posts: 65
Thanks: 0

This thread is really more about how to e ectively study anything that is *not* Kanji,
which up until now is the only one thing that I have very much successfully used Anki
for.

Reply

2013-12-22, 10:14 am #12

Betelgeuzah Joined: Mar 2011
Member Posts: 464
Thanks: 0

Ampharos64 Wrote:

Betelgeuzah Wrote:

Quote:

Wow, that fast? Tips please! : D

I don't think there's much more to it than "don't get stuck on the words you don't remember".

If it takes you more than 5 seconds to remember a word, fail it. Think about why you didn't remember and make

adjustments if necessary, then move on.

Hmm, 'k, I was just about to go do my reviews now so I'll try it, thanks. : ) I think I've just been a bit reluctant to end up having

to fail a card that I feel I ought to know, because I know if I do, the interval will go down and I'll have to see it again

repeatedly for weeks, till I'm sick of the thing. So, that had been slowing me down.

I know what you mean. The thing is that if it takes you 5+ seconds to know a card then
you don't really know it well enough to justify a pass in the rst place. You aren't
learning the cards for the purpose of having a good success rate in Anki.

I also suggest using a re-learn multiplier (mine is 0.10) so that if you fail a card with, say,
https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 5/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

a 5 months interval you don't necessarily have to start from the very beginning again (so
in my case if you fail once the interval becomes 0.10x5 months instead of one day, and
grows from there).

Even if it ends up lowering your success % if the gains are much bigger (less time spent
reviewing, faster completion of the deck) then to hell with the success %.

Reply

2013-12-22, 11:44 am #13

Ampharos64 Joined: Dec 2008
Member Posts: 164
Thanks: 0

Hmm, well, one thing I've found useful, is if I'm having trouble remembering a reading,
to make a vocab card for the word, kanji on front, picture on the back. Since there's
already a sentence including the word in the deck, seeing it out of context isn't really a
problem (can always put the sentence on the back, too), and for concrete nouns it's not
really an issue anyway.

Tae Kim highlights the relevant part of the sentence in orange when introducing a new
grammar point, so I do that as well on the back of the card. You could do it with
sentences you nd while reading, too.

NightSky Wrote:

Sounds like you aren't aggressive enough using either the "Fail" answer or the "Easy" answer. Before I was the same and

seemed to click the options that meant the card never went away, if you click easy each time it takes a while to come back

Hee, yeah, I hardly ever click 'Easy', and the card just stays around forever. Guess maybe
I should be a bit bolder there...

Betelgeuzah Wrote:

I know what you mean. The thing is that if it takes you 5+ seconds to know a card then you don't really know it well enough

to justify a pass in the rst place. You aren't learning the cards for the purpose of having a good success rate in Anki.

I also suggest using a re-learn multiplier (mine is 0.10) so that if you fail a card with, say, a 5 months interval you don't

necessarily have to start from the very beginning again (so in my case if you fail once the interval becomes 0.10x5 months

instead of one day, and grows from there).

Even if it ends up lowering your success % if the gains are much bigger (less time spent reviewing, faster completion of the

deck) then to hell with the success %.

Yeah, trouble is I think that my concentration is a mess (sleep very badly due to nerve
pain), and Anki in particular tends to cause me to phase out - especially when it keeps
showing me cards I'm bored of. So I can end up failing a card I'd most likely have been
ne with if I'd just happened to come across the kanji normally. I should probably have
switched to Japanese keywords, really. Still.
https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 6/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

Oh, that sounds handy, how do you set that?

Reply

2013-12-22, 2:21 pm #14

KanjiMood Joined: Apr 2009
Member Posts: 128
Thanks: 0

I think problems only arise once you start thinking "Oh, I'll just anki that later" so key
learning processes shut down.

And yes, where is this relearn multiplier? Quite a few options in settings about intervals.

Edited: 2013-12-22, 2:27 pm Reply

2013-12-22, 2:34 pm #15

Vempele Joined: Jun 2013
Member Posts: 865
Thanks: 37

KanjiMood Wrote:

And yes, where is this relearn multiplier? Quite a few options in settings about intervals.

Options->Lapses->New interval.

Reply

Subscribe to this thread Enter Keywords Search Thread

View a Printable Version

^ Return to Top Current time: 2017-08-29, 2:41 pm Powered By MyBB

https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 7/8
8/29/2017 Anki ruined my study habits!

https://forum.koohii.com/thread-11411.html 8/8