coispet
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Before you read this, check out and go over the actual Anki manual which tells you all the basics about the app, how to use it etc.
Here is the manual:
docs.ankiweb.net
What I’m explaining is a manual on how to use it for studying specific content and applying it to other study techniques
A brief summary of what Anki is, it’s a flashcard, spaced repetition tool which refreshes your brain of the content you’re trying to remember right before you forget it, remember it is not as effective when simply using it as a note/flashcard viewing tool, that is better done by physically handwritten notes/flashcards
Anki is mainly used to review your flashcards which means coming back to it after a while to refresh your memory of the content, after a card is learnt on Anki, depending on how well you remember it, it will come back as a review to make you remember it again and recall it
Anki’s gimmick is the interface, I will use one of my cards as an example:
As you can see at the bottom, it has 4 options you’re able to click, this is after the cards are slightly matured and learnt, this is just a review, when reviewing it is showing the options Again (<10m meaning it will show again in that given time), Hard (1d meaning it will show again in a day), Good (2d meaning it will show again in two days) and Easy (3d meaning it will show again in three days)
These options help you decide how well you remember the card and when you want to see them again, with Anki you’re working at a confidence interval, it all is dependant on how well you’re able to recall a card
Some things to take into consideration when starting you use Anki, you must be consistent with it, if you’re not consistent and miss even a day, your reviews will pile up, and it’ll fuck up your memory of the cards you’ve previously memorised
Another thing is to look into algorithms which make your Anki experience easier and takes a load off the amount of reviews you’re completing daily, it is extremely difficult to explain and would defeat the purpose of the simple guide in the title, but I use the FSRS algorithm, after a while it’s taken 40% of my reviews down whilst keeping a retention rate of 0.9/90% for all my cards
Here’s the manual on FSRS (It comes as two parts, the scheduler and optimiser, the manual explains it more in detail):
github.com
Now if you’re a last minute crammer like me, worried that you haven’t written down any notes, typed up flashcards onto Anki, I’m gonna teach you how to do it all in five minutes, the only thing you need to do is use Anki consistently
1) You need an AI tool, I use ChatGPT, it’s the most common, if you have ChatGPT 4, you’re golden, if you don’t, make sure not to use content pages online that have images on there which are required for the content specification, since GPT 3.5 doesn’t allow you to paste in images, with GPT 4 you can upload PDF files that content images, I’d recommend you to pay the small monthly fee for even a month since this only takes five minutes, or borrow a friends login, I’ve borrowed one of my friend’s login at University
2) What you need to do now is go online and search up your specification/module content notes, if you’re in the UK, I’ll link a resource for you (STEM only), I’m retaking my A-Levels privately whilst I’m at University so this is what I do to memorise the content:
www.physicsandmathstutor.com
3) Using the content either save it as a PDF file by clicking the share button or copy and paste chunks of the information for ChatGPT 3.5 to comprehend, you can tell GPT to not reply to anything you’re about to send until you say so, if it’s saved as a PDF, upload it, if it’s not, paste it, once it’s pasted in, ask GPT to make either question answer flashcards in the form of a CSV file (very important), or normal chunks of information (I’d recommend this since you can do past paper exam practice anyways)
4) It will generate a CSV file which you save onto your desktop, then you open up Anki, click on import, select the deck you want to upload your CSV file onto, and upload it, it will create an X number of notes that ChatGPT generated, all in the format of Anki flashcards
Another way to take advantage of Anki, once you’ve learnt the content, you still need to apply it to exam questions, if you’re a STEM student like me, you’d know the mark scheme of an exam paper is the most important thing to remember since the answers are extremely specific, messing up a single word in Biology will cost you 1-3 marks, and those marks add up and result in 1-2 grades lost (I’ve been there, even though I’m naturally good at Biology), so what I’m saying is, using Anki to memorise the mark scheme is a superbly wonderful idea, and extremely effective
However, in the circumstance of making five to six thousand cards which will take months to remember and take up a majority of your day, I would recommend you to complete a past exam paper (After you’ve memorised 60-80% of the content prior), then mark, and put a red dot next to the questions you got wrong, then do this:
1) Open up your AI tool again, this time you’re going to need ChatGPT 4
2) Save the past exam paper you just completed
3) Upload it to GPT and tell it to create a CSV for the file you just uploaded and make sure to tell GPT all the questions to generate it for
4) Once it generates a response, import the CSV file to Anki and memorise the mark scheme
Thank you for reading my simple thread, this is what has been working for me this year, it’s the only thing that works for me and I’m happy to share it as a diagnosed ADHD that finds a lot of other study techniques boring
Here is the manual:
Introduction - Anki Manual
Anki's user manual. Anki is a flashcard program that makes learning easier.
docs.ankiweb.net
What I’m explaining is a manual on how to use it for studying specific content and applying it to other study techniques
A brief summary of what Anki is, it’s a flashcard, spaced repetition tool which refreshes your brain of the content you’re trying to remember right before you forget it, remember it is not as effective when simply using it as a note/flashcard viewing tool, that is better done by physically handwritten notes/flashcards
Anki is mainly used to review your flashcards which means coming back to it after a while to refresh your memory of the content, after a card is learnt on Anki, depending on how well you remember it, it will come back as a review to make you remember it again and recall it
Anki’s gimmick is the interface, I will use one of my cards as an example:
As you can see at the bottom, it has 4 options you’re able to click, this is after the cards are slightly matured and learnt, this is just a review, when reviewing it is showing the options Again (<10m meaning it will show again in that given time), Hard (1d meaning it will show again in a day), Good (2d meaning it will show again in two days) and Easy (3d meaning it will show again in three days)
These options help you decide how well you remember the card and when you want to see them again, with Anki you’re working at a confidence interval, it all is dependant on how well you’re able to recall a card
Some things to take into consideration when starting you use Anki, you must be consistent with it, if you’re not consistent and miss even a day, your reviews will pile up, and it’ll fuck up your memory of the cards you’ve previously memorised
Another thing is to look into algorithms which make your Anki experience easier and takes a load off the amount of reviews you’re completing daily, it is extremely difficult to explain and would defeat the purpose of the simple guide in the title, but I use the FSRS algorithm, after a while it’s taken 40% of my reviews down whilst keeping a retention rate of 0.9/90% for all my cards
Here’s the manual on FSRS (It comes as two parts, the scheduler and optimiser, the manual explains it more in detail):
GitHub - open-spaced-repetition/fsrs4anki: A modern Anki custom scheduling based on Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler algorithm
A modern Anki custom scheduling based on Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler algorithm - open-spaced-repetition/fsrs4anki
github.com
Now if you’re a last minute crammer like me, worried that you haven’t written down any notes, typed up flashcards onto Anki, I’m gonna teach you how to do it all in five minutes, the only thing you need to do is use Anki consistently
1) You need an AI tool, I use ChatGPT, it’s the most common, if you have ChatGPT 4, you’re golden, if you don’t, make sure not to use content pages online that have images on there which are required for the content specification, since GPT 3.5 doesn’t allow you to paste in images, with GPT 4 you can upload PDF files that content images, I’d recommend you to pay the small monthly fee for even a month since this only takes five minutes, or borrow a friends login, I’ve borrowed one of my friend’s login at University
2) What you need to do now is go online and search up your specification/module content notes, if you’re in the UK, I’ll link a resource for you (STEM only), I’m retaking my A-Levels privately whilst I’m at University so this is what I do to memorise the content:
Physics & Maths Tutor
Revise GCSE/IGCSEs and A-levels! Past papers, exam questions by topic, revision notes, worksheets and solution banks.
www.physicsandmathstutor.com
3) Using the content either save it as a PDF file by clicking the share button or copy and paste chunks of the information for ChatGPT 3.5 to comprehend, you can tell GPT to not reply to anything you’re about to send until you say so, if it’s saved as a PDF, upload it, if it’s not, paste it, once it’s pasted in, ask GPT to make either question answer flashcards in the form of a CSV file (very important), or normal chunks of information (I’d recommend this since you can do past paper exam practice anyways)
4) It will generate a CSV file which you save onto your desktop, then you open up Anki, click on import, select the deck you want to upload your CSV file onto, and upload it, it will create an X number of notes that ChatGPT generated, all in the format of Anki flashcards
Another way to take advantage of Anki, once you’ve learnt the content, you still need to apply it to exam questions, if you’re a STEM student like me, you’d know the mark scheme of an exam paper is the most important thing to remember since the answers are extremely specific, messing up a single word in Biology will cost you 1-3 marks, and those marks add up and result in 1-2 grades lost (I’ve been there, even though I’m naturally good at Biology), so what I’m saying is, using Anki to memorise the mark scheme is a superbly wonderful idea, and extremely effective
However, in the circumstance of making five to six thousand cards which will take months to remember and take up a majority of your day, I would recommend you to complete a past exam paper (After you’ve memorised 60-80% of the content prior), then mark, and put a red dot next to the questions you got wrong, then do this:
1) Open up your AI tool again, this time you’re going to need ChatGPT 4
2) Save the past exam paper you just completed
3) Upload it to GPT and tell it to create a CSV for the file you just uploaded and make sure to tell GPT all the questions to generate it for
4) Once it generates a response, import the CSV file to Anki and memorise the mark scheme
Thank you for reading my simple thread, this is what has been working for me this year, it’s the only thing that works for me and I’m happy to share it as a diagnosed ADHD that finds a lot of other study techniques boring
