Open Thread, October 13 - 19, 2013

Scott Garrabrant

If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

How many people here use Anki, or other Spaced Repetition Software (SRS)?

[pollid:565]

I'm finding it pretty useful and wondering why I didn't use it more intensively before. Some stuff I've been adding into Anki:

Info about data structures and algorithms (I'm reading a book on them, and think it's among the most generally useful useful knowledge for a programmer)
Specific commands for tools I use a lot (git, vim, bash - stuff I used to put into a cheat sheet)
Some Japanese (seems at least half of Anki users use it to learn Japanese)
Tidbits from lukeprog's posts on procrastination
Some Haskell (I'm not studying it intensively, but doing a few exercises now and then, and adding what I learn in Anki)

I have much more stuff I'd like to Ankify (my notes on Machine Learning, databases, on the psychology of learning; various inspirational quotes, design patterns and high-level software architecture concepts ...).

Some ways I got better at using Anki:

I use much less pre-made decks
I control the new-cards-per-day depending on how much I care about a topic. I don't care much about vim, so have 3 to 5 new cards per day, but go up to 20 for procrastination or
I reorder my decks according to how much I care about them (I have a few decks prefixed with zzz that I review only if the others are done; I don't mind forgetting about those)
For Japanese, I use double-sided cards and Japanese character input for creating them (I used to manually make both-way cards)
I have various google docs for stuff I'd like to eventually put into Anki, that I then copy-paste by batch into the web interface (there are probably even more convenient ways, but so far I find that the quickest - I want to be able to work on my list of entries before it goes in Anki)

I should probably make a top-level "reminder: used Spaced Repetition" post, but I'm still going to wait a bit more to have a bit more perspective.

Any other tips/advice/spaced repetition stories?

I've abandoned many decks almost completely because I made too complex cards.

Make the cards simple and combat interference. That doesn't mean you can't learn complex concepts. Now that I've got it right, I can go through hundreds of reviews per day if I've fallen behind a bit, and don't find it exhausting. If I manage to review every day, it's because I'm doing it first in the morning.

I use a plugin/option to make the answer show automatically after 6 seconds, so it's easy to spot cards that are formatted badly or cause interference, and take too much time.

4ChristianKl13y

Some general Anki tips: If you use it to learn a foreign language use the Awesome TTS plugin. Whenever Anki displays a foreign word it should also play the corresponding sound. Don't try to consciously get the sound. Just let Anki play the sound in the background. I use a plugin that adds extra buttons to new cards I changed it in a way that gives the 6th button a timeframe of 30-60 days till the new card shows up the second time. I use that button for cards that are highly redundant. Frozen fields is a plugin that's useful for creating cards and I wouldn't want to miss it. It allow you to present specific fields in the new card dialog from being cleared when you create a new card. Quick Colour Changing is another useful addon. It allows you to use color more effectively to highlite aspects of cards. I have written my more general thought about how to use Anki lately in another thread: http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/isu/advice_for_a_smart_8yearold_bored_with_school/9vlh On of the core ideas that I developed over the last time is that you really want to make cards as easy as possible. I think the problem with most premade card that you find online is that they just aren't easy enough. They take too much for granted. Take an issue such as the effect of epinephrine on the heart. It raises hard rate. Most of the deck that you find out there would ask something like: "What's the effect of epinephrine on the heart?" That's wrong. That's not basic enough. It's much simpler to ask: "epinephrine ?(lowers/raises)? heart rate" I think that idea also helps a lot with language learning. I think the classic idea of asking "What does goood mean in French?" is problematic. If you like in the dictionary you will find multiple answer and the card can only hold one answer. A card that just asks: "good means ?(bon/mal)?" is much simplier. I have made a French Anki deck using that principle and it's astonishing for myself how well the learning flows. If someone wants to te

2shokwave13y

Using it regularly is the most important thing by far. I don't use it anymore, the costs to starting back up seem too high (in that I try and fail to re-activate that habit), I wish I hadn't let that happen. Don't be me; make Anki a hardcore habit.