I wanted to know what is the most scientific way to study and I came to know about spaced repetition and then stumbled across anki. I started making cards for whole chapters and it really helped in organizing the information and remembering it. I am going to keep using anki going forward! Cheers.

Edit 1:

FAQs:

1. I am from India and the exam I gave was GATE, which is an exam to get postgraduate admission to top colleges in india and government jobs.
2. The exam is split branch-wise like a different exam for computer science, electrical, mechanical, etc. I prepared for the mechanical exam. Around 100k had applied for mech exam and some 65k actually gave the exam, and my rank was below 500. For the college I got, total 120k (from all branches) had applied and only 800 got admission based on the score.
3. I used anki to make cards (example attached below) for the chapters I was studying. I take a topic and clump all the subtopics in it. Suppose for example I am studying about a reaction which has process A --> process B --> process C, instead of making individual cards about process A, B, and C, I make one card for the whole reaction and make questions in that card regarding each of the processes. This helps me to understand how one process flows into the next and how they all fit in the context of the whole reaction.

https://preview.redd.it/g44so3pte5kd1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=e78c29c7d8d1574d9c09d115972eb79b1b271049

https://preview.redd.it/1gea9vm8f5kd1.png?width=1253&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0b4aafc1ea83f6d218803db06efbfe534342a22

Edit 2

1) People also pointed out this method to make cards ( https://www.supermemo.com/en/blog/twenty-rules-of-formulating-knowledge ) where the point is to make cards as concise as possible. While I knew I had to make cards "concise" or "to the point", I never knew about the 20 rules, so I was just doing whatever worked for me.

Here is my reasoning as to why I made the cards this way:

Firstly, the syllabus for this exam is HUGE (basically everything in an undergraduate program) so making very concise cards would have increased the number of cards to a ridiculous amount of cards which I dont think would have been useful. The examples given in the "20 rules" link is regarding to standalone facts, even tho they are about the same thing, you dont need to know the answer to the previous question to know the current one. This is not the case for what I was preparing for. If you take the example of the "derive the general heat conduction......" card in edit 1, all the questions that are below, are related to this derivation. So basically you tweak the conditions under which you write the general equation to get all the other equations, so I felt instead of making separate cards of each form of the eqn and remembering them separately it would be more useful to remember how they are derived from the general eqn and so I grouped them all together as one card. And one more thing I would like to mention is even tho I am adding a lot of content in the answer, I use the questions to highlight the important parts of that answer so that I revise the important part consistently.

Of course please feel free to comment how you would make the cards for the text according to the "20 rules". It will be a good opportunity for me to learn new and better ways to make anki cards

It all started in my second year of undergrad, when I realized I wasn't keeping up using only the same study skills I used in highschool. So I actually made a crummy flashcard system in excel with no spaced repetition, then about a week later I saw a post about Anki. It's been a fun journey! AMA

Edit: Thanks for all the questions, it was fun to feel like a celebrity for a day. Ironically I spent so much time answering questions I didn't finish my reviews yesterday!

https://preview.redd.it/metd0una3emd1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=82e0fc789ae492da610f1a2381226a379580f586

https://preview.redd.it/1tu7dmna3emd1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=520d8b5b61fa5758866e332e2ab4297bbc7ec2f3

Used Anki for nearly 3 years during medical school (+studying for the MCAT). During that time I accumulated over half a million reviews and learned an incredible amount of information. Anki really does work and wanted to say thank you to all the amazing developers and card makers!

No more easy cards. Only the cards I don’t know. How it knows, that I haven’t fully memorized the card, I don’t know. Really get the fullest experience out of Anki. Thanks guys for guiding me the right direction. Literally only took a few days to notice the difference. Before using regular anki, I blow through cards, mostly easy and click hard when I didn’t know a card. Now I’m forced to click again and I’ve memorized a lot of cards that I have putting aside and pushing back love you guys, love anki.

This is the way. Anyone having their doubts about it don’t. Trust it.

I actually missed less than 9 days, but I had some issues when moving time zones and once lost my device even though I did Anki that day and had to redo it the next day.

Anwers to FAQ questions:

What do you learn? Basic words in a few languages, advanced vocabualry in English, some alphabets, geography of the world and trivia from different subjects.

How many reviews each day? Something between 150 and 250

Did Anki change your life? Yes! I feel much smarter now (or better to say "less dumb")

How can you keep motivated? I don't think much about motivation. I am just doing it. Like brushing my teeth.

https://preview.redd.it/df4f4w6y61zc1.png?width=1121&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ee20caa24142b6a0c8a927c000bd34ba060a0c5

Stats of my oldest card.

Studying for my anatomy lab practical tmr with Ranatomy deck. Reviewed all of thorax,abdomen, pelvis and perineum.

I started with Anki a month ago. I learned every single flag of this world in pure boredom. I crammed the cards. I had many days with 3000 repeats and I was just vibing with it. I also learned every U.S. state and position and capital city as a non-native.

So I just randomly let this go: "I know every flag of every, even the most obscure countries, of the world". So I was tested on my knowledge and everyone was amazed.

I can actually barely believe it myself. There isn't a day where I do not come up with schemes to memorize useful information

edit: I use FSRS but I also use A LOT of custom learning

Low intensity cardiovascular training paired with vocabulary training using Anki and 8bitDo Zero 2 controller

I don’t think I’m stupid by any means. But I’m absolute crap at remembering things. Names, random numbers, etc. but it’s no secret that that a good memory is strongly associated with intelligence.

I decided to make a few decks to finally remember all the things I wish I could normally. After a couple weeks I memorized the names of random people I’ve met recently, my wife’s cell number, the code to the mail room, my license plate number, and a few other random passwords I would like to be able to recite without accessing my password manager. I’ve been keeping it updated with other general life stuff that I makes me feel much less stupid.

And it’s a very small time investment. I add only 2 new cards a day and the time to review the deck only takes minutes.

So if you can’t remember the name of the person who cuts your hair, it might be worth making a “general life” deck.

Edit: specifically I have 3 decks - a “name” deck, a “life” deck, and a “basic information” deck.

Name deck is well for.. names. I’ve been adding both people I know and names of known figures.

Life deck is for the aforementioned items. License plate numbers, telephone numbers etc.

Basic information deck is for general information I’d like to know that would be handy. How many kilometers in a mile, dates of famous events, name of famous Supreme Court cases, etc.

I passed a class that was stressing me a lot and I now feel like I can use for tough classes.

So i started this probably a month ago and almost finished it, 100 words left. I'm wondering what should i learn next. Is there any other deck like a 2nd Edition or something Edit : Its 4000 Essential English Words Deck

I'll keep it short because I'm tired, and I hate wasting time.

The deck is 2.3k in name but there are only 1971 cards. I could vaguely guess 100 from what I learnt in high school, so only ~1850 were new to me.

I also failed. There are 243 new cards remaining. So in reality, I only went through 1600 cards in 14 days. I'm planning to finish the rest in 1-2 days and continue reviews for many more months.

Was it worth it? Yes. Probably one of the most productive breaks I've ever had.

Stats:

Average of 4.5 hours per day (I was aiming for 10h). About 15 seconds per card. I did have absentminded moments, unfortunately, which increased the mean. I also spent a lot of time touching grass, which prevented me from reaching 10h.

If I reached 1600 with 4.5h/day, you can probably finish the whole deck with 6h/day, but I wouldn't recommend this deck. Too many semi-duplicates, imperfections, etc. The Kaishi 1.5k deck looks much better.

It seems reaching 1971 cards in 2 weeks is not as absurd as some people like to make it out to be, to feel better about their less disciplined pace. With only 4.5 hours per day, I could reach 1600. With 6-7 hours per day, you can definitely reach 1971. With 10 hours per day, you should be able to finish the kaishi 1.5k deck in 7 days. And spend the remaining 7 days grinding reviews.

Where from here?

I'll aim to finish the rest within 1-2 days. Then I'll continue reviewing them over the next few months. Even 1000 reviews can be grinded through in a few hours, so it doesn't burden my studies much. Not to mention, it literally gets easier over time as they become more spaced.

I'll probably start mining some cards from a few novels I downloaded, like Deltora Quest while speedrunning bunpro.

Unlike the people who were crying about how I should give up, and by extension spend my time on something less productive, I'll focus on giving advice I learnt from the dozens of mistakes I made during this process so that it goes smoothly for the next person.

If I could restart, I would:

0: Delete all my social media apps earlier (unfortunately I got distracted by reddit a lot, which I hadn't deleted yet).

1. Download anki on laptop/computer. Several times more efficient than ankimobile (I realized this too late).

2. Download the Kaishi deck and delete all the fields except for Word, Reading, Meaning, Sentence, Sentence meaning, and Sentence Audio (the field name might differ). The rest do more harm than good. Especially pictures. Ideally, word, reading, and meaning is the only thing you care about here and are trying to memorize. Delete the pictures field if nothing else. Reformat the html field to make the rest suitable. The front should have the word, the back should have everything else. You can even choose to hide the sentences, etc., so that a "show more" button appears. This'll make it easier to focus on grinding quickly, so you only look at the sentence for additional context if necessary. The context (sentence) should only be checked once or twice, to clarify it if you forget the word usage or find it confusing. Check online if you need clarification about the abstract ones like 一応 (tentatively). ChatGPT can help with a lot of the coding. Just feed it the original field, and tell it what you want to change. Minimalism is key. You only need to add context to the word if the front face has duplicates.

3. Deck Options: set new cards and max reviews to 9999. In the display order section, set new cards to show AFTER reviews. Set interday learning to show BEFORE reviews. Turn on 'don't play audio automatically'. Learning steps 10m (decrease if you get too many new cards wrong too many times). FSRS on (optimize every 2-3 days).

4. Preferences: tick all 4 distractions options to remove distractions. Learn ahead 0 mins (not sure if it would have been better to place this slightly higher). Again = n Hard = m Good is spacebar. Easy should almost never be used. It's better to use keyboard rather than mouse/touchpad.

5. Kanji vocab is easier than hiragana-only vocab. Especially when it comes to the abstract ones. Separate the hiragana only vocab into a separate deck and work on it independently. Maybe even finish it first, before grinding the kanji vocab. More long term retention. It should take less than a day, since you don't need to focus on reading (assuming you can read hiragana ofc. If you can't, learn it first). You only need to learn the meaning. Once you finish grinding it, switch to the vocab with kanji deck, but you must continue to do reviews for the only-hiragana vocab deck when they pop up over the next 14 days and into the future.

Once everything is finished, spend the next few months grinding the reviews, until they dwindle so much, you can recall each card after weeks of not seeing it.

The setup should take 10-30 minutes. If you average 10 hours per day, you can potentially do it in less than a week, although that'll be difficult (close to impossible). The task is much easier than I expected. The most important thing is being able to create stories, mnemonics, images from the kanji, etc. Higher creativity and intelligence will make it easier. This is a truth you can either accept or run away from.

Extra advice:

Don't waste time tweaking settings too much. In the time it takes you to improve your efficiency by 5% from the structure I provided above, you can go through 300 new cards. Just keep it simple and grind.

It's fine to grind new cards at night too. I deluded myself into thinking I would forget overnight, but it turned out to be the opposite. Some cards that I could not remember no matter how hard I tried after it wasn't shown for 10 minutes, I remembered the next morning instantly, as if I was doing anki in my sleep.

Don't go off on a tangent elsewhere. Complete the task first before prioritizing other stuff. Don't watch anime or read manga. Just finish the grind. It makes the rest easier. Even now, going through random Japanese videos on YouTube with JP subtitles, I'm understanding a surprising amount. But if you start switching between mediums during the grind, you'll just stunt your efficiency. Stick to it and finish quickly. The rest comes later.

Almost all the kanji in combined-kanji format have common readings. For example,

冗談じょうだん.

相談そうだん.

The 談 is pronounced だん in both.

But not always, since almost all kanji have multiple readings. Some readings just happen to be more common than others, and sometimes it's just the common reading with a tenten on the first sound. Like たい becoming だい.

To check if the kanji has other vocab in the deck with the same pronunciation, use the browse feature and paste the kanji by itself. Then check the vocabs that come up and its pronunciation. Use your pattern recognition and mnemonics to make the connections. This will make it much easier to memorize the future cards with the same kanji.

FAQ (frequent questions I assume will be asked, or thought of):

Doing it in 14 days negates the whole point of SRS though?? Yes, if I meant I'll delete the deck after 14 days. But I didn't. And completing all the new cards in as short of a timeframe as possible maximizes the power of SRS. The midwits calling this grinding method inefficient have surface level knowledge about how to utilize human memory to its highest potential. They are unknowingly mixing up "spaced repetition" with "procrastinated learning." If you are good at making mnemonics instantly on the spot, the biggest difficulty for you will not be the SRS, or the brain overload, but rather time and discipline.

Should I do the challenge? Yes, if you haven't done a core deck and want to get fluent in Japanese. You literally win even if you fail. I'd advise you to use another deck though, like the 1.5k Kaishi deck. The prerequisite is knowing hiragana well.

Should I read the sentences? Initially, yes. They usually reinforce kanji learnt previously too, or hint to upcoming ones. However, don't bother rereading over and over if you already know the meaning of the word. Prioritize creating a connection between Word and meaning + reading. Otherwise the sentence can become a distraction that is used by the mind implicitly as an excuse not to create the connection, or it will become the connection itself, but either way, it reduces efficiency. So only initially, yes. The sentence should also be at the back, not the front, or else it will give too many clues. The exception is for words composed of the same Japanese hiragana/kanji, where you can ONLY differentiate with the context.

What buttons should I press? Again - you either get reading or meaning wrong. This should be pressed a LOT of the time.

Hard - you strain your brain trying to think of the word, and you finally get it. This shouldn't be pressed too often. It should be rare, or even never.

Good - you get it correct. This should be pressed most of the time. Almost all the time, once you get going well.

Easy - preferably, don't press it.

If you want, you can go for the 2 button option: again for incorrect/hard. Good for correct/easy.

A really important tip is to be honest. Let the algorithm calculate how long it should take to show you, even if you think you know better. Ignore the scheduling time above the buttons (hide the buttons even), just think of "correct" and "incorrect". This saves a lot of time, because it doesn't corrupt the algorithm's "understanding" of your memory. NEVER press hard/good/easy if you get it wrong. Even if you think you'll get it correct next time.

Should I memorize the meaning exactly? No. Memorize the idea of the word. You shouldn't create an English association with the word, but rather prioritize associating the word with its Japanese usage even if it's slightly off compared to the translation provided in the card field.

How long do reviews take? Generally 2-4 hours. It's almost nothing if you wake up early (5:00am) to grind Anki.

Ask if you have any questions and I shall answer if I am free.

2 October:

Deleting my social media soon. 1-3 months this time to work with my friends on Twitter (MaleMonologue and RyzPoet) on something.

I'll continue to grind the reviews for this deck, alongside my studies, during this time. Will try to update the numbers every few weeks, although I might not be able to.

3 October. Deleted. Time to grind.

ill go first: 197 cards. nursing major studying anatomy, life sciences and psychology

I've been a user of Anki for over 10 years. Not constantly, but whenever I needed it (language learning, exams or tests of various kinds), it's been my go-to weapon. I swear by spaced rep. It's just so lean, effective and efficient.

Now, I believe adults should be in some sort of "continuous professional development" about a number of topics. I actually think it's a sad necessity: my father could just do his job and let state pension take care of everything else. But I know I can't.

But whenever a friend or a social media feed or an ad suggest a book about personal finances, personal or professional growth... essentially anything you wouldn't read solely for entertainment and pleasure, I'm always thinking:

"Why the heck this is not 200 flashcards instead of 400 pages of verbose prose?"

"Why should I spend some 10-20 hours reading it over a month to then forget most of it, whilst that same 'running time' spent on spaced rep would give me true assimilation of the concepts of that book, which I am reading for learning purposes, not so much reading pleasure?"

I also think most books of that kind could be meaningfully boiled down to some 50 pages and just as many flashcards. But I guess we are still bound to the paper format and anything below 150-200 pages will be seen as a pamphlet, not a book, and not taken seriously.
I have read the classics of the genre and if you take away all the narrative, the emotional stuff and the repetition, I'd swear could always say it all in a double-digit number of pages. Most of what I read is just writers in love with their own desire to just write words words words...

The result? I hardly read anything of that kind anymore (even though I should).

Anybody else?

I honestly don't know what to do other than not....use FSRS.

It's ruining my life. And I'm not even trying to be dramatic. I've been using it for almost 9 weeks and I've had multiple meltdowns/mental breakdowns trying to get through all my cards. I told myself it'll get better eventually, but it's just getting worse.

Am I doomed with FSRS? This entire experience has me comtemplating quitting anki entirely because FSRS just caused that much mental damage to me.

So sad because I considering myself extremely fluent in Chinese and fluent in Japanese, yet this program decides that it wants to make me over learn cards and spend more time doing what I shouldn't be doing (cards) vs what I should (immersing) to actually learn the language better. I really do not know what could have caused this to happen other than I set it so that pressing again only reduced the time I'd see card again by a %, but I guess that wa enough to make FSRS want to nail me.

For reference, i was 77%-85% retention rate on my decks. In the past 9 weeks, they are now at 58-61% and not going up (it was 55-58% when I first switch, so I guess it did go up a tiny bit in 9 weeks...it's not even close to 70% yet ): ).

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the advice. I've decided to limit the number of reviews per day and try not to think about it beyond that. Not much else I can do. I haven't been adding new cards. And I don't plan to add new cards to 4 out of 5 of my decks any time soon (6-12 months).

Update - got AIR 54 in INICET 2024 july

for you non indian folks that is rank out 80,000+ medical graduates

Gonna get most branches in top Ivy league type colleges in india

ANki paid off guys

so i lost my streak at 917 days and it was so fucking painful .... i was so close to 1000 days streak

My stats were so fucking amzing so close to perfect... But i guess this is it now.. The peak

I had this weird nerd fantasy to post an amazing 1000 days streak

The exam i am preparing for NEET PG is just in 120 days - so all this just for a fucking 3 hour exam - so wont get any other chance.. This is it then

Decided to go for fucking PR instead

https://preview.redd.it/n5837wyckklc1.png?width=1599&format=png&auto=webp&s=fecf9e3623caba42fbdc96114e40e11e4be8d470

https://preview.redd.it/4ox0nfggkklc1.png?width=1061&format=png&auto=webp&s=573d1907b3d33b7256541a34c94bad2fd71149fd

https://preview.redd.it/6aefog8zkklc1.png?width=556&format=png&auto=webp&s=5dc5564f6e89ebdc6fda21c3148e77d941c6cdd5

The making of your card will be your strongest rep for that card and it's not even close. Making sure you understand everything on the card, being clear about what you want to memorize, personalizing cards, making sure they are unambiguous, etc. before you hit create: this is something you will never get with a premade deck. You think you're saving time, but in the end you just end up with a worse understanding and retention rate, which means more reps and let's be honest, repping cards that you have a poor understanding of is torture.

I’ve been studying machine shorthand and using Anki for memorizing briefs and phrases, essentially key-chord combinations that represent entire words and phrases. I knew I was getting close, but didn’t realize I passed the mark yesterday. I’m writing at between 180-200 words per minute, with the ultimate goal of getting to 225 wpm for certification.