Title: RatFr Anki Basics
Tags: anki history

Question: What is a card?
Answer: A question answer pair. The equivalent of a paper flashcard with a question on one side and the answer on the answer.
Notes: For example the question side of the card could say "What is the capital of Nicaragua?" and the answer side "Managua".
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: What is a deck?
Answer: A group of cards that you want to learn together. A real world analogy is a pile of paper flashcards.
Notes: For example you could have one deck "Spanish", one deck "Chemistry" and one deck "Personal" if you wanted to group the cards by topics. Or you could have one deck "High importance", one deck "Average importance" and one deck "Low importance" to group cards by your personal priority.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: Can a card belong to more than one deck?
Answer: No.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: Must a card belong to a deck?
Answer: Yes.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: What is a note?
Answer: A grouping of related information that is used to generate one or more cards.
Notes: There is no good analogy from the world of paper flashcards but you could consider a sheet of paper where you wrote down multiple facts about a country of the world (e.g. capital, official language, head of state, population, flag, location on the map). One sheet for France, one sheet for Indonesia, one sheet for Malawi etc. Each of these sheets is a note. You would then use each note to create multiple flashcards from it e.g. "What is the capital of France?" and "What is the flag of Malawi?", ensuring that you are always creating the flashcards with the same question structure for each note.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: When adding new information to Anki, do you create a note or a card?
Answer: You create a note, which automatically will create one or more cards. Cards are never manually added but created or updated automatically when creating or editing a note.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: What is a collection?
Answer: Everything. Your notes, cards, decks, options, progress information etc. If you export your collection you have everything.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: What is a tag?
Answer: Labels to classify your notes.
Notes: For example you can apply labels such as "math", "chemistry" or "english::vocabulary".
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: Are tags applied to cards or notes?
Answer: Notes. All cards generated from a note will have the same tags.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: Can a note have more than one tag?
Answer: Yes.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: Can a note have no tags?
Answer: Yes.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: What is a cloze?
Answer: A "fill-in-the-blank" question.
Notes: For example "To be, or ____, that is the question".
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: What is a leech?
Answer: A card that you have failed many times.
Notes: They can suck all the energy and joy out of studying so be careful with them. Naming them the same as parasitic worms that suck blood is apt.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/leeches.html
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leech#/media/File:Sucking_leech.jpg (Author GlebK, License CC BY-SA 3.0)

Question: What should you do (and not do) about leeches?
Answer: You should delete them or edit them. Don't try to "give it another try, maybe this time it will work". Closely monitor your own feelings and don't allow a handful of crappy cards to ruin your enjoyment of Anki. If in doubt, delete those notes! As a minimum, suspend the offending cards.
Source: Advice from Omar (12.2023)

Question: What is a card's ease or easiness?
Answer: A number that indicates by how much the interval of a card will increase after the next successful review. It is a representation of how hard you find the card. High ease means the card is easy to remember and low ease means the opposite.
Notes: For example a card that you review today and last reviewed 10 days ago that has an ease of 2.5 will get a new interval of 25 days after you successfully review it.
Ease is sometimes represented as a decimal number e.g. 2.5 and sometimes as 250%.
Source: Advice from Omar (12.2023)

Question: Can a card have more than one tag?
Answer: Yes and No. Tags are set on the note and then appear for each card created from that note. A note can have multiple tags. Tags are not set directly on the card.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: Can different cards created from the same note have different tags?
Answer: No. Tags are set on the note and all cards created from that note will have the same tags.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: After editing a note do I have to do anything to update the cards created from that note?
Answer: No. It's done automatically.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html

Question: What does it mean to suspend a card?
Answer: You can think of it as "deactivating" the card. It will no longer appear during reviews in any way. It's useful for cards you do not want to learn (now) but don't want to delete e.g. because some day you want to improve the card.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean to suspend a note?
Answer: It's the same as suspending all cards of that note.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean to bury a card?
Answer: Hide the card until tomorrow (i.e. don't review it today).
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean to bury a note?
Answer: Bury all cards from that note.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: Is burying and suspending the same thing?
Answer: No. Suspending means forever removing that card from review (unless you un-suspend it). Burying means hiding the card until tomorrow.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: While studying, what happens if you press the answer button "Again"?
Answer: The answer is marked as incorrect, the card's progress is reset to 0 and the ease is decreased. The intuition is that you forgot this card, you must start from scratch and the interval length should be shortened because you forgot.
Example: Card with ease 200% and last successful review 30 days ago. After pressing "Again" the new interval will be 1 day and the new ease will be 180%.
Notes: This is a simplification and there are some minor differences between cards that are in "learning" and cards that are in "review". This is not important in the beginning and you can read up on the details in the Anki documentation when needed.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: While studying, what happens if you press the answer button "Hard"?
Answer: The answer is marked as correct, the card's next interval will be a little longer than the last one and the card's ease is decreased. The intuition is that even though you were able to remember it was quite hard so the interval length must be reduced.
Example: Card with ease 200% and last successful review 30 days ago. After pressing "Hard" the new interval will be 36 day and the new ease will be 185%.
Notes: This is a simplification and there are some minor differences between cards that are in "learning" and cards that are in "review". This is not important in the beginning and you can read up on the details in the Anki documentation when needed.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: While studying, what happens if you press the answer button "Good"?
Answer: The answer is marked as correct, the next interval is multiplied by the ease and the ease remains unchanged. The intuition is that everything is working as expected and the interval length is perfect.
Example: Card with ease 200% and last successful review 30 days ago. After pressing "Good" the new interval will be 60 days and the ease will remain at 200%.
Notes: This is a simplification and there are some minor differences between cards that are in "learning" and cards that are in "review". This is not important in the beginning and you can read up on the details in the Anki documentation when needed.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: While studying, what happens if you press the answer button "Easy"?
Answer: The answer is marked as correct, the next interval is multiplied by the ease and again multiplied by the "easy bonus" and the ease increases. The intuition is that since the card was easy to remember the intervals should become longer in the future.
Example: Card with ease 200% and last successful review 30 days ago. After pressing "Easy" the new interval will be 78 days and the ease will increase to 215%.
Notes: This is a simplification and there are some minor differences between cards that are in "learning" and cards that are in "review". This is not important in the beginning and you can read up on the details in the Anki documentation when needed.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: While studying, what is the risk of pressing "Easy" too many times for one card?
Answer: Since the ease will increase, the intervals can start increasing so fast that you will fail the card after a few more repetitions.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What effect does ease 2.5 have after a successful ("Good") review?
Answer: The previous interval will be multiplied by 2.5 .
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What effect does ease 250% have after a successful ("Good") review?
Answer: The previous interval will be multiplied by 2.5 .
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: While studying, what should be your default choice if you got the answer right?
Answer: "Good"
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean for a card to be in "learning"?
Answer: It was only very recently (1-2 days ago) studied for the first time.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean for a card to be in "relearning"?
Answer: It was very recently forgotten and is starting the study process again.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean for a card to be in "review"?
Answer: It was studied more than a couple of days ago for the first time and now you are repeating it to remember it.
Notes: If the interval is less than 21 days the card is "young" otherwise it is "mature".
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What do these numbers mean?
Answer: 6 (Blue) is the number of new cards you want to study today. 9 (red) is the number of "learning" cards you want to study today. 59 (green) is the number of review cards you want to study today.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What do these numbers mean?
Answer: 2 (Blue) is the number of new cards you want to study today. 2 (red) is the number of "learning" cards you want to study today. 62 (green) is the number of review cards you want to study today.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean for a card to be "new"?
Answer: You did not study it before.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/studying.html

Question: What does it mean for a card to be "young"?
Answer: The card is in "review" and has a short interval.
Notes: Less than 21 days.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: What does it mean for a card to be "mature"?
Answer: The card is in "review" and has a long interval.
Notes: 21 days or more.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Types of Cards
- New
- Learning
- Review
  - Young
  - Mature
- Relearn
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: Can different cards created from the same note belong to different decks?
Answer: Yes.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: Can one card created from a note be in "review" and another card from the same note be "new"?
Answer: Yes. Cards are studied independently of each other, even if they are created from the same note.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Question: Can one card created from a note have ease 180% and another card from the same note have ease 270%?
Answer: Yes. Cards are studied independently of each other, even if they are created from the same note.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/getting-started.html

Q: Anki (and similar systems) is based on which key insights?
- [...]
- [...]
A: Spaced repetition: Increasing the intervals when you study a piece of information is both more time efficient and strengthens that memory.; Active recall testing: Asking a question and coming up with an answer is a more effective study technique than passively re-reading information.
Source: https://docs.ankiweb.net/background.html

Question: Who is the inventor of modern spaced repetition software?
Answer: Piotr Woźniak
Notes: Polish pronunciation: [pjɔtr ˈvɔʑɲak]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piotr_Woźniak_(researcher)

The first and most important rules of Piotr Woźniak's "Twenty rules of formulating knowledge" are:
- Do not memorize if you do not understand. Cramming material that you do not understand is useless in the long run.
- Start with an overall picture. Do not start by memorizing loosely related facts! First read a chapter in your book that puts them together (e.g. the principles of the internal combustion engine). Only then proceed with learning using individual questions and answers (e.g. What moves the pistons in the internal combustion engine?), etc.
- Build upon the basics. Simple models are easier to comprehend and encompass. You can always build upon them later on. Do not neglect the basics. Memorizing seemingly obvious things is not a waste of time!
- Stick to the minimum information principle. Make your cards as simple as possible. Simple items are easier to remember and are easier to schedule. If a card contains two pieces of information forgetting just one of them will make you fail the entire card. If you separate them, the more difficult piece of information will get shorter intervals to ensure you remember it.
Notes: The first two rules were re-formulated because I (Omar 12.2023) found the original formulation confusing.
Source: https://www.supermemo.com/en/blog/twenty-rules-of-formulating-knowledge

Name: Isaac Newton
Date of birth: 1642
Date of death: 1726/27
Contemporaries: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Christopher Wren, John Locke, Robert Hooke, Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Known for: Laws of motion, law of universal gravitation, and foundational work in mathematics and physics
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

Name: Aristotle
Date of birth: 384 BC
Date of death: 322 BC
Contemporaries: Alexander the Great, Philip II of Macedon, Archimedes, Demosthenes, Theophrastus
Known for: Philosophy, including contributions to metaphysics, ethics, politics, and natural sciences.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle

Name: Marie Curie
Date of birth: 1867
Date of death: 1934
Contemporaries: Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck
Known for: Research on radioactivity, discovery of the elements polonium and radium, and two Nobel Prizes in different scientific fields.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie