4 ms·

Yes, Anki’s goal of “let’s quickly hide all the cards you know and only show you cards you are forgetting or on the edge of forgetting” has never seemed overly

Yes, Anki’s goal of “let’s quickly hide all the cards you know and only show you cards you are forgetting or on the edge of forgetting” has never seemed overly useful. The end result is the following algorithm: “let’s present you with the toughest things you can’t remember over and over again, and ignore all the facts you’ve done so well at learning (until you have almost, or completely, forgotten those facts)” Throwing up cards you can answer in 1 second is not wasting anyone’s time. It is more likely to be encouraging to people to remind people of what they know.

echelon 7y ago
Is there an easy adjustment to the algorithm parameters to make things better? Wanikani does an amazing job at SRS. I wish Anki followed its model.
- rajlego 7y ago
  I haven’t used either Anki not wanikani (I use SuperMemo) but from what I’ve heard wanikani has no leech management meaning you end up stuck repeating the kanji you keep failing, making the experience miserable. Leech management is really important for any decent SRS
  - grep_name 7y ago
    Could you expand on this? I've used both but am not sure what you mean by leech management
    - echelon 7y ago
      Sometimes you'll have much more difficulty with certain items than others. No matter what you do, even after repeated attempts to learn, you just can't get them to stick. These are "leeches". They burn productive study and review time. I have a theory that these items have lower adjacency to past experience or knowledge and it's difficult to form mnemonics or other connections. Or they're less novel and don't cause our brain to take interest. That's where all of my leeches lie -- in the realm of things I don't particularly care about. A good leech management algorithm will back-burner unproductive items so you can focus on the rest of the concept population. There are different types of leeches too -- things you don't get during introduction, or things that you can commit to short term memory but won't stick for long. A good algorithm will identify all of them and block them.
      - grep_name 7y ago
        That's really interesting, I'll have to give supermemo a try. I definitely remember those items in WaniKani; a lot of the times they were mnemonics based on pop culture references that I just didn't get, or the mnemonic was just kind of a stretch, or too many similar concepts had been introduced at once. When I stopped I had definitely hit a wall where I just didn't feel like I could keep learning.
zadokshi 7y ago
Interesting to see the downvote. I guess there are some avid Anki users here. Leech management is ok, but I think active positive reinforcement is also necessary. Remind the user of how much they know as well.
jacques_chester 7y ago
> The end result is the following algorithm: “let’s present you with the toughest things you can’t remember over and over again, and ignore all the facts you’ve done so well at learning (until you have almost, or completely, forgotten those facts)” In my understanding, that's closer to optimal. Effortful retrieval is much more effective at strengthening future retrieval.

echelon 7y ago

Is there an easy adjustment to the algorithm parameters to make things better? Wanikani does an amazing job at SRS. I wish Anki followed its model.

rajlego 7y ago
I haven’t used either Anki not wanikani (I use SuperMemo) but from what I’ve heard wanikani has no leech management meaning you end up stuck repeating the kanji you keep failing, making the experience miserable. Leech management is really important for any decent SRS
- grep_name 7y ago
  Could you expand on this? I've used both but am not sure what you mean by leech management
  - echelon 7y ago
    Sometimes you'll have much more difficulty with certain items than others. No matter what you do, even after repeated attempts to learn, you just can't get them to stick. These are "leeches". They burn productive study and review time. I have a theory that these items have lower adjacency to past experience or knowledge and it's difficult to form mnemonics or other connections. Or they're less novel and don't cause our brain to take interest. That's where all of my leeches lie -- in the realm of things I don't particularly care about. A good leech management algorithm will back-burner unproductive items so you can focus on the rest of the concept population. There are different types of leeches too -- things you don't get during introduction, or things that you can commit to short term memory but won't stick for long. A good algorithm will identify all of them and block them.
    - grep_name 7y ago
      That's really interesting, I'll have to give supermemo a try. I definitely remember those items in WaniKani; a lot of the times they were mnemonics based on pop culture references that I just didn't get, or the mnemonic was just kind of a stretch, or too many similar concepts had been introduced at once. When I stopped I had definitely hit a wall where I just didn't feel like I could keep learning.

zadokshi 7y ago

Interesting to see the downvote. I guess there are some avid Anki users here. Leech management is ok, but I think active positive reinforcement is also necessary. Remind the user of how much they know as well.

jacques_chester 7y ago

> The end result is the following algorithm: “let’s present you with the toughest things you can’t remember over and over again, and ignore all the facts you’ve done so well at learning (until you have almost, or completely, forgotten those facts)” In my understanding, that's closer to optimal. Effortful retrieval is much more effective at strengthening future retrieval.