Lukas Vacula a08a4ff2b6 ssss
2024-01-31 07:30:44 -05:00

1.9 KiB

Note: this page is not meant to be documentation for me as much as information to share with others.

SRS is an incredibly useful tool for learning and remembering things. I highly recommend reading Gwern's writing if you want the full story. I'll only highlight the most important parts:

  • One of the best ways to "train" your memory is to try to actively recall something.
  • This is easy with flashcards.
  • You can end up spending a lot of time reviewing flashcards that you already know the answers to.
  • SRS aims to fix this by showing you cards at the optimal time.
  • Anki is an SRS flashcard program.
    • It's open source.
    • It's free on all platforms except iOS (because that is the only way the developer the dev has chosen to make money, but it's only a one-time fee).
  • You can share card decks with others. This makes it easy to get decks for things like languages that would have potentially thousands of cards.
  • You can customize the scheduling to fit your needs.

Now, Anki is a very versitile program and can be modified a lot to fit your needs and preferences. However, I'd recommend that you start off with the defaults and use a deck that you make yourself. Go find a Wikipedia article on a topic that interests you and collect various facts from it. If you need some inspiration: the Wardian case, Eustace Tilley, or Nightwish (My first deck was trivia from Index, A history of the by Dennis Duncan.) Why do I recommend this?

  • The defaults will prevent you from overloading on reviews early on.
  • A deck that you make yourself will always be better than a pre-made for everything except the time taken to make it. You have to understand the content before you can make questions about it.