List of experiments with Anki

On this page, I want to keep a list of experiments that I have tried or am currently trying with Anki. These experiments aren't formal (I don't do any rigorous data collection or blinding or randomizing or anything like that); instead, they're just ideas I have or read about and decided was worth trying for a while to see whether it worked.

Name	Description	Result
Writing down answers on a piece of paper	For certain cards like kanji or math formulas, write down the answer on a piece of paper and then compare with the back side, rather than mentally trying to diff what you thought with what's on the back side.	I like doing this and continue to do it. It allows your cards to be slightly bigger than would be otherwise, which I think is a good thing. If I don't have a piece of paper, I can always bury the card.
circling things on paper to flag things that need to be fixed	[1]
Linked list to remember lists (e.g. linked list proof card)	e.g. to memorize A, B, C, you have the cards (blank)->A, A->B, then B->C, and maybe also a card that asks the length of the list.
Cumulative prompts to remember lists	e.g. to memorize A, B, C, you have the cards (blank)->A, A->B, (A,B)->C.	I didn't end up liking this style of card for proofs in math, but I know some people who do it extensively (e.g. Paul Raymond-Robichaud).
Central node trick for remembering equivalent properties
Permutation trick
Full proof cards	The front side is a theorem statement or exercise description, and the back side is the full proof or exercise solution.
Poor man's incremental reading
Adding not-fully-digested quotes or online comments
Cloze deletion for quotes/definitions
burying cards to speed up review	[2]
repositioning non-cloze cards periodically so they get processed sooner	[3]	I eventually moved away from cloze cards in general.
Orphan cards as alarm clocks	[4]
mixing in reviews during the day rather than doing all reviews at night		still haven't really tried this; I do my reviews before going to sleep
entering in cards for some definitions/theorems in a single card, and for some as multiple cards, and seeing which are more fun to review/result in remembering things better		i now think it's best to have both; the holistic ones can go in the proofs deck with other big cards while the smaller cards can be kept in normal decks
One-sentence summary card
Reverse side card for everything

See also

• Iteration cadence for spaced repetition experiments
• Spaced repetition allows graceful deprecation of experiments
• Anki deck philosophy