This is a few days worth of materials to read. If anyone finds it overwhelming, I recommend you read this comic that teaches you the basics of idea behind spaced repetition https://ncase.me/remember/
Dropping a product recommendation -- my favorite spaced repetition + notetaking + learning app: https://www.remnote.com/
I'm not affiliated, just a big booster. For those familiar with Anki it follows the same conventions. It has an excellent system for managing cards. Adding cards is as easy as writing a bullet point: [front of card] == [back of card]. They got the ergonomics right and clearly know the space very well; it has the right keyboard accessibility and shortcuts and navigation. It supports the basics you'd expect like cloze deletions (fill-in-the-blank), image occlusion (cover up parts of an image). It manages assets like PDFs and images. It uses FSRS (the best SRS scheduling algorithm atm).
It has the best (optional) AI integration into a product I've seen except for the usual code-generation suspects. I'm learning spanish and can type into a bullet point something like "el vaquero ==< [tab]" and have the translation automatically generated for me into a forward and reverse card. I'm learning math and can cloze-delete parts of latex equations; the AI can very frequently generate excellent and accurate latex equations, which I can make small edits to as I'd like. These kinds of bonuses make taking live flashcard-based notes during my spanish tutoring sessions and math-based parts of classes feasible.
It's less low-level configurable than Anki and more "works out of the box" with a smaller extension system. I've had enough of trying to fiddle with Anki. Overall just excellent -- I'm not affiliated in any way. Development is very fast. Release note videos are incredible, minor updates occur ~weekly. I've run into a few bugs, especially when I was traveling overseas where internet isn't strong, but overall very pleased with it.
I'm a big fan of Mochi[1] (also unaffiliated) after getting frustrated with the clunkiness of Anki.
Mochi has great native apps on macOS and iOS (and maybe more?), the cards are formatted in markdown so I can generate them with LLMs with a custom system prompt, and I just found out today they have an API so I might try my hand at getting an LLM to push new cards on its own via. an MCP server.
Thanks for recommending it! I’ve had the same issues with Anki and am shocked there aren’t more clones considering it’s open source. Excited to try remnote.
I've tried spaced repetition systems several times. The problem that I always discover is that I don't really have stuff that's worth memorizing. Things that are actually important I remember without trying and for the rest of the things, doing daily card reviews starts to feel like a pointless chore after a while.
I use Anki more as a serendipity engine than for memorization: Whenever[1] I have an interesting observation or thought, I'll write a couple of sentences about it and file two copies: One in Obsidian, with links to any adjacent/relevant notes (if any), and another in Anki as a Close deletion.
Anki is set up with a long review cycle (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, then automated) and I sit down to do my reviews about once a week. In that process, I usually end up having new ideas to make notes about based on either the randomized order the notes show up in or spotting a connection between the review note and something I've been working on lately.
[1] In practice, I let many/most of these go unrecorded - I probably average about one new note per day, but in bursts.
* Learning biology, memorize terms like "anabolic reaction" or "reverse transcriptase"
* Learning algebra, memorize major groups like S_n or GL_n
* Learning statistics, memorize the major probability distributions, their means, and standard deviations
* Preparing for math contests, remember things like "Chinese remainder theorem"
That's a tiny part of learning, but it dramatically accelerates the other parts. At that point, when you're working through texts, you'll understand what you're reading without looking things up or thinking about it. And when you're engage in complex problemsolving, you'll have the knowledge ready.
Do this either on or before the first (surface learning) pass, and once they're memorized, use them in more advanced contexts (e.g. reading research papers, teaching, complex problemsolving, etc.).
All this stuff interconnects, and SR gives a fast, cheap way to start building out the simpler parts of the knowledge network.
I'm in a similar position of never having found a use where memorising lots of facts would be useful. The main use I keep seeing is vocabulary building when learning a language. I'm sure people are using the system for learning other stuff too though?
Seeing this did make me wonder how I might be able to get better at memorising important parts of iso/iec standards at work, but I can't see how that maps to flashcards
I very highly recommend a blog post by this same author: [How to write good prompts](https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/). This post made spaced repetition click for me.
One of the barriers to adoption (to my adoption, anyway) not mentioned in the site author's list:
I am one of the least qualified people in the world to write cards for a topic I am learning. I would quite likely create cards that would help me memorize inaccurate information effectively and efficiently. I'd rather not take that risk.
I use a variation of an SRS for storing notes about what I've read (as well as using a regular SRS for regular SRS stuff). I chunk notes I've made from books I've read (things like Psycho-Cybernetics, 7 Habits, Iron John, etc), and review 3-4 a day, and having read them I'll clip anything that's particularly salient into "daily review" and then push back the notes for however many days, weeks, months, I think. This has worked well for me over the last 15 years or so I've been doing it.
I use it as an accompanying tool in a real language school (learning German).
I started a new Study Set from scratch, and add new words to memorize every lesson.
Liking it so far!
[+] [-] lovestory|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|10 months ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] golly_ned|10 months ago|reply
I'm not affiliated, just a big booster. For those familiar with Anki it follows the same conventions. It has an excellent system for managing cards. Adding cards is as easy as writing a bullet point: [front of card] == [back of card]. They got the ergonomics right and clearly know the space very well; it has the right keyboard accessibility and shortcuts and navigation. It supports the basics you'd expect like cloze deletions (fill-in-the-blank), image occlusion (cover up parts of an image). It manages assets like PDFs and images. It uses FSRS (the best SRS scheduling algorithm atm).
It has the best (optional) AI integration into a product I've seen except for the usual code-generation suspects. I'm learning spanish and can type into a bullet point something like "el vaquero ==< [tab]" and have the translation automatically generated for me into a forward and reverse card. I'm learning math and can cloze-delete parts of latex equations; the AI can very frequently generate excellent and accurate latex equations, which I can make small edits to as I'd like. These kinds of bonuses make taking live flashcard-based notes during my spanish tutoring sessions and math-based parts of classes feasible.
It's less low-level configurable than Anki and more "works out of the box" with a smaller extension system. I've had enough of trying to fiddle with Anki. Overall just excellent -- I'm not affiliated in any way. Development is very fast. Release note videos are incredible, minor updates occur ~weekly. I've run into a few bugs, especially when I was traveling overseas where internet isn't strong, but overall very pleased with it.
[+] [-] theappsecguy|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] christiangenco|10 months ago|reply
Mochi has great native apps on macOS and iOS (and maybe more?), the cards are formatted in markdown so I can generate them with LLMs with a custom system prompt, and I just found out today they have an API so I might try my hand at getting an LLM to push new cards on its own via. an MCP server.
1. https://mochi.cards/
[+] [-] fsargent|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] whereistejas|10 months ago|reply
- it has a clunky and complicated UI: interactions with blocks/line was clunky on mobile and web.
- The table UI for showing your cards, can also be very limiting.
- Converting blocks to cards by adding `<==>` is an ingenious idea.
- The use of "AI" is really over-rated.
[+] [-] britannio|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] vjk800|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] kd5bjo|10 months ago|reply
Anki is set up with a long review cycle (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, then automated) and I sit down to do my reviews about once a week. In that process, I usually end up having new ideas to make notes about based on either the randomized order the notes show up in or spotting a connection between the review note and something I've been working on lately.
[1] In practice, I let many/most of these go unrecorded - I probably average about one new note per day, but in bursts.
[+] [-] frognumber|10 months ago|reply
* Learning biology, memorize terms like "anabolic reaction" or "reverse transcriptase"
* Learning algebra, memorize major groups like S_n or GL_n
* Learning statistics, memorize the major probability distributions, their means, and standard deviations
* Preparing for math contests, remember things like "Chinese remainder theorem"
That's a tiny part of learning, but it dramatically accelerates the other parts. At that point, when you're working through texts, you'll understand what you're reading without looking things up or thinking about it. And when you're engage in complex problemsolving, you'll have the knowledge ready.
Do this either on or before the first (surface learning) pass, and once they're memorized, use them in more advanced contexts (e.g. reading research papers, teaching, complex problemsolving, etc.).
All this stuff interconnects, and SR gives a fast, cheap way to start building out the simpler parts of the knowledge network.
[+] [-] bizzleDawg|10 months ago|reply
Seeing this did make me wonder how I might be able to get better at memorising important parts of iso/iec standards at work, but I can't see how that maps to flashcards
[+] [-] pillefitz|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] steezeburger|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] dmazin|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] dpkirchner|10 months ago|reply
I am one of the least qualified people in the world to write cards for a topic I am learning. I would quite likely create cards that would help me memorize inaccurate information effectively and efficiently. I'd rather not take that risk.
[+] [-] unknown|10 months ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] adolph|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] petesergeant|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] CuriousToaster|10 months ago|reply
I use it as an accompanying tool in a real language school (learning German). I started a new Study Set from scratch, and add new words to memorize every lesson. Liking it so far!
[+] [-] max_|10 months ago|reply
That only does space repetition?
[+] [-] yjftsjthsd-h|10 months ago|reply
* Open Source
* Cross-platform
* $0 except on iOS
* Popular enough to have a community and ecosystem around it
[+] [-] Tomte|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] sunnybeetroot|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] navbaker|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] synergy20|10 months ago|reply
[+] [-] collyw|10 months ago|reply
A lot of it down to the effort this guy has put into making the deck. https://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/w_ultimate_spanish_conjuga...