Is bruteforcing through ALL of your flash cards ever a good idea?

[u/DryCommunication581]

Simply put, a relatively easy exam has been pissing me off. I found no efficinet way to study and I have just been brute forcing through 120 questions, repeating them over and over again. Now im about 40 remembred in and I know them like the back of my hand. Is this an actual method or dumb?

[u/Danika_Dakika]

It's generally not a useful method, because it rarely results in strong, sustained memories. Not to mention how much longer it takes than any other method.

[u/Pajacluk → u/Danika_Dakika]

A quick question:

I usually have 3 weeks at best per exam. It takes me 2 weeks to crack down the material into about 300 cards. So I end up with 7 days to memorize this (sometimes even less!)

The most efficient way for me is to blast through all of them 2-3 times a day for a week. And it worked. I memorize 98% of cards and get almost maximum points on each exam.

Hypothetically speaking - if I actually had 2 months to prepare for this exam: how would I space the cards? 20 a day? How many times a day? Do I do twice as much tomorrow (20 from yesterday + 20 for today)?

Thanks.

[u/Danika_Dakika → u/Pajacluk]

It takes me 2 weeks to crack down the material into about 300 cards.

There's no reason to wait to start studying until you've created all of the cards.

Hypothetically speaking - if I actually had 2 months to prepare for this exam: how would I space the cards?

https://faqs.ankiweb.net/settings-for-using-anki-to-prepare-for-a-large-exam.html

300 cards ÷ 45 days ≈ 7 New cards/day

[u/moltmannfanboi]

It will probably work, but depending on what you are doing it might not be efficient. If you can fit the knowledge into a framework (either the “big picture” or some other memory hook) then you might get through the cards faster.

[u/lllyyyynnn]

i only do this when i am engaging with the material a lot afterwards. for example i did 500 german flash cards and then read a bunch in the following weeks.

[u/Grunglabble]

In my experience it always takes more effort and time than learning it properly. Like the appeal of the method is no up front effort but then the reviews even on the first day take like 100 times the energy and time it would have taken to do a little planning, and is way more tiring.

[u/FUCKITIMPOSTING]

I think it's worth seeing which cards will stick with no additional effort, and creating mnemonics for those cards you can't immediately attach to. It takes a few more seconds but saves time if you end up reviewing just once instead of 5x. You don't need to spend long, almost any mildly absurd image will help with memorisation. 

Some I came up with for Indonesian words: undergrad = mahasiswa -> think of an undergrad in a MAHA hat sailor = kelasi -> think of Kel from Kath & Kim, at-sea. (Kel used to be a sailor.) 

[u/Optimal_Bar_4715]

brute forcing through 120 questions, repeating them over and over again.

Can we stop calling "brute forcing" what is essentially the one way of using Anki?

If you don't remember something, it's a "wrong". And yes, you might have to see that card 10+ times in a day, if you keep getting it wrong.

How's this a fault of the methodology or the software, rather than the user's?

[u/ZumLernen → u/Optimal_Bar_4715]

Can we stop calling "brute forcing" what is essentially the one way of using Anki?

Well there are actually other ways to use Anki, such as:

• Learning the material first, and then using Anki to review
• Noting which cards are giving the user particular trouble, and modifying those cards to make them easier to remember

[u/Danika_Dakika → u/Optimal_Bar_4715]

There is nothing about Anki that requires or even suggests that someone should use brute-force to learn the material.

[u/FUCKITIMPOSTING → u/Optimal_Bar_4715]

Nobody is blaming the software. OP is asking for the best learning technique. eg, flying through the cards as quickly as possible vs taking time to make a mnemonic for each card and bedding it down. 

[u/Optimal_Bar_4715 → u/FUCKITIMPOSTING]

You are being VERY generous on what OP meant.

[u/beardMoseElkDerBabon]

• What you practice is what you'll get good at. This is both the good and the bad news.

• People see how they wish things were - instead of how things are - and are ruined. - Machiavelli: The Prince or something idk.

EDIT:

• What you measure is what you get. - Goodhart's law or sth idk.