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 |
