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Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

(domenic.me)
699 points domenicd | 5 comments | 18 May 25 11:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.611s | source
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keiferski ◴[18 May 25 12:38 UTC] No.44020946[source]▶
I’ve been using Anki for about a decade now, and as far as I’m concerned, the only real improvements needed are design/UI based. It is functionally irrelevant if the algorithm is optimized or not when the actual user interface seems boring to potential users. While I do like that Anki has power user options, it’s also very unintuitive to the average person just looking into it.

Which is really a shame, as the spacing effect itself is such an underrated aspect of human learning that it almost feels like cheating.

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1. brightball ◴[18 May 25 13:24 UTC] No.44021265[source]▶
I’ve been reading about spaced repetition and Anki for years. Never got around to actually trying it on anything.

I wonder if there are any good recommendations for something to try it on?

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2. keiferski ◴[18 May 25 13:27 UTC] No.44021279[source]▶
Language learning is the classic use case, but I also use it from everything from historical facts to encyclopedia entries on a subject I’m trying to master.

Probably the simplest use case to get started is improving your English vocabulary. (Assuming English is your first language.) I try to add a card for any word I come across that I don’t know the meaning of, and it works very well.

3. Muromec ◴[18 May 25 14:42 UTC] No.44021763[source]▶
Try to learn a different writing system, alphabet or not. Arabic, Cyrillic, Hangul, whatever. It has finite number of cards and you don't need large context to understand them.
4. sn9 ◴[18 May 25 15:55 UTC] No.44022262[source]▶
A quick and easy one is learning the NATO phonetic alphabet. You can find premade decks for it.
5. yCombLinks ◴[18 May 25 16:06 UTC] No.44022331[source]▶
Leetcode patterns, and common problem types to apply those patterns to.