Hello! What if I had two fields in my note in Anki: (1) Sentence and (2) Word.
Let's say that one sentence is "the cat ran along the street" and the word is "ran". In another note the sentence would be "having her in the house was dangerous" and the word is "having".
So, I would like to create a note where a cloze sort-of-note is created just by inputting information in the two fields of Sentence and Word. In other words, based on the field Word, the note would know which word to "cloze" on in the Sentence field.
So, it would automatically create:
the cat [...] along the street
[...] her in the house was dangerous
Anyone know how to do this?

Was tempted to make a video to show more than tell and still might, but things are still very, very early and always subject to change.
My previous Japanese language study is obviously giving me a big head start. Knew this would be the case when I went to Taiwan a couple of times and could recognize more than a few words which really helped me get around. Obviously pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar would be radically different, but I was also aware of that. The unknown traditional Hanzi (focusing on that since it's easier given my Japanese study background) will not be the main problem, just the tones and pronunciation and thousands of words using those Hanzi.
Also, I have the benefit of going in with a set plan based on my own experience learning (and re-learning) Japanese using self-study tools: Anki, text analyzers, browser plug-ins, audio books, pop-up dictionaries, etc.
Current plan is as follows: Do the first 90 lessons of the older Pimsleur Mandarin course with serious supplementation:

• Anki - I'm using a transcript (complete for Mandarin I Lessons 1 - 30) and webpage with vocabulary and starting dialogue for all 90 lessons to generate the cards. They'll have English, PinYin, Simplified and Traditional for both the vocabulary and an example sentence. The cards will be two per word - PinYin word/sentence (audio recognition, but I'm not bothering with actual audio for Pimsleur), and English word/Clozed traditional hanzi sentence (production where preferably the English word would instead be an image/Chinese definition).
  
• Trimsleur - My term for taking Pimsleur lessons and removing the English prompts and long pauses with two second pauses. For a 30 minute lesson, I have a 10 minute pure Chinese audio that's also comprehensible. Meant for comprehensible audio immersion (and repeating/shadowing).
  
• ACHTT - stands for "All Chinese Half The Time" which is my term for Ken Cannon's suggestion to watch every episode of a show in Japanese twice: once w/ English subs for the comprehension, then once more w/ Chinese subs or no subs for the immersion. I take it one step further by ripping the audio with a program uses the subtitles to remove long non-spoken portions (CIA or compressed immersion audio).
  

So current plan just for the 90 Pimsleur lessons is:

1. Review due Anki. For these, I have strict fail and soft fail rules for each card type. "Audio" cards (PinYin word/sentence) I have to know which hanzi are used and the meaning of the word - this is a strict fail. The soft fail (I hit "hard" UNLESS the spacing will be over 6 months) is the stroke order of the hanzi and meaning of the example sentence. The Clozed Delete card I also have know the Mandarin word, it's hanzi, and it's tone for the strict fail. The stroke order and meaning/reading of the clozed deleted Mandarin sentence is a soft fail.
   
2. Do the Pimsleur lesson with the transcript (in part I at least). Pause to initially answer the English prompt then play and repeat the Chinese phrase. When the new word is introduced, go to it's Anki card to add pronunciation notes (the transcript has a few pages of charts for this) along with HanziHero as needed for Hanzi meanings and notes (super important for Hanzi that are new to me). Now, Pimsleur is normally a 30 minute lesson, but doing it this way makes it last about an hour or so.
   
3. Activate the new vocabulary in Anki (custom study option) and see how much is remembered. I set cards to long learning time (1m 10m 1440m 3600m) with graduation done at 1 week. This is also great because Pimsleur cannot tell if I remembered anything or not and balance accordingly. Anki can.
   
4. Watch one episode of Peppa Pig Mandarin at 75% speed with English sub, then rewatch with traditional Chinese subs. Peppa Pig is slowed down because the normal episodes are sped up on purpose in most languages. Any other show I would likely leave at original speed.
   
5. Update my comprehensible immersion audio playlist. It'd be 4 copies of today's Trimsleur lesson, 3 copies of yesterday, 2 copies of two days ago, and 1 copy of three days ago (so Lesson 8 x4, Lesson 7 x3, Lesson 6 x2, Lesson 5 x1). In addition, it'd be the last four days of Peppa Pig ripped audio. This is about two hours of audio in total. I then play these on random, and the most recent lessons are played more often.
   

The comprehensible audio is played a lot of the time passively in the background. I can be doing anything else and not notice, but it'll be there whenever I do take a aural snack (pay attention to what's being played). I DO NOT want to repeat the major mistake in my early Japanese study of playing incomprehensible Japanese audio (rips of TV shows I watched) near 24/7. Found out that comprehensible that frequently refreshed is key to training your brain to follow along without thinking as well as repeat without effort.
Again, I'm only on lesson 8 with a handful of vocabulary words under my belt. Still, I can read aloud all eight of the introductory dialogues in traditional Mandarin. I'm also noticing the words as they pop up in Peppa Pig.
Gonna hate moving on to Pimsleur Mandarin part II as there's no transcript. However, there are websites that'll transcribe the Trimsleur audio (and maybe even the Pimsleur if I wanted) which'll simplify doing the lessons like I'm doing now.
After Pimsleur, I plan to do deep dive study methods (read subtitles along with Chinese subs, pausing only to look up meaning of unknown words and phrases), then after 10 hours of reading (at beginning stages this might be only 1 hour of actual Chinese audio) use subs with MorphMan in Anki to get 100 most common words that are within my learned vocab range. All that means is if I know 1,500 words then MorphMan will only look for new words from 3,000 most common that's also the most common in the read material stopping at 100 new words if that before starting reading up again.
Hopefully this all makes sense. Like with Japanese, I'll freely share whatever resources I can and answer whatever questions people have (if I have time). Obviously I'm in the beginning stages so maybe don't expect much.

Firstly, my professional teacher will do textbook and workbook exercises/activity with me and but she will only verbally correct my sentences. I’ve requested her to type any corrections in the chat box but she will forget so unless I specifically request her during the lesson, “please type this down”, she will only verbally say the correct sentence… I’m not sure if my expectation is too high.. :/
Also, teachers, do you expect a high beginner student to read something new out loudand be able to process and understand it immediately? I have lots of trouble with reading a sentence that I’ve never seen before and also processing what it means immediately. That is the expectation of my teacher as if I take time to process what is written she will say ‘what do you mean, you have to understand WHILE you’re reading it out loud’. I find this immensely difficult especially with large paragraphs of text. I am focused on pronunciation and getting the words out right that I need time to process what the words mean..
Edit: I pay her 28USD for a 50 min lesson. I'm not expecting her to write down all my free talking corrections but rather only grammar activities. The activities aren’t many either, altogether probably around maximum of 9-10 questions like workbook bite sized cloze type sentences. I’m not asking her to type everything too, only ones I stuff up or find a bit out of my comfort zone.

Hello everyone!
We've been working on a new app, and could really use your help to test it out!
Here’s what it’s all about:

• Voqab is a language self-learning app
• You add your own words and phrases at your own pace
• We provide language-specific learning games

Here are the key features:

• Word Bank: Manage words with properties like translation, transliteration (auto-romanization supported for Asian languages), audio, word class, gender, tone, and more.
• Sentence Bank: Add sentences with translations, get cross-linked words, sentence analysis and auto-translation based on the words in word bank.
• Learning Games: Flashcard reviews, typing trainer, cloze deletion tests, and language-specific games (for select languages).
• Statistics: Track your vocab growth, review progress, and typing speed.
• Mastery System: Tiered progress for long-term learning.

Currently, the app is mainly tailored to Asian languages, with extensive support for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai. There is also extensive support for Estonian, and basic support for English, German, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.
You can request support for a new language, but please understand that for new languages, we'll go by popularity, since supporting a new language properly takes quite a lot of time and effort.
And just as not to mislead anyone: This is not an app with curated courses like Memrise or Duolingo, nor is it a purely flashcard-based app such as Anki.
With Voqab, we're trying a novel and unique approach: You add your own words as you're learning them using other sources such as books, YouTube videos or other apps, but the app uses the best spaced-repetition algorithm available (FSRS 4.5) based on the latest research and will help you memorize these words much more effectively.
Additionally, the app knows a lot about the language you're learning, and it will be able to give you automatic links to relevant online dictionaries, suggest an automatic romanization for Asian languages, understand particles for select languages and show them in sentence analysis, provide language-specific learning resources and help you getting a good feel for the language using the typing trainer, cloze deletion test, word quiz and tiered mastery system.
Join the beta and help us make it awesome! https://testflight.apple.com/join/b0f8LlYm
Please leave your feedback, feature requests and bug reports in the comment section, and we hope you have a great time testing Voqab!

I've been working on a new vocabulary self-learning app and could really use your help to test it out! Here’s what it’s all about:

Features:

• Word Bank: Manage words with properties like translation, transliteration (auto-romanization supported for Asian languages), audio, word class, gender, tone, and more.
• Sentence Bank: Add sentences with translations, get cross-linked words, sentence analysis and auto-translation based on the words in word bank.
• Learning Games: Flashcard reviews, typing trainer, cloze deletion tests, and language-specific games (for select languages).
• Stats: Track your vocab growth, review progress, and typing speed.
• Mastery System: Tiered progress for long-term learning.

Currently, the app is mainly tailored to Asian languages, with extensive support for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai. Western languages with extensive support are English and Estonian (Eesti).
Depending on feedback and how much time I have that's not purely spent on bug-fixing and improving existing features, I'll add support for more popular languages very soon.
And just as not to mislead anyone: This is not an app with curated courses like Memrise or Duolingo, nor is it a purely flashcard-based app such as Anki.
With Voqab, I'm trying a novel and unique approach: You add your own words as you're learning them using other sources such as books, YouTube videos or other apps, but the app uses the best spaced-repetition algorithm available (FSRS 4.5) based on the latest research and will help you memorize these words much more effectively.
Additionally, the app knows a lot about the language you're learning, and it will be able to give you automatic links to relevant online dictionaries, suggest an automatic romanization for Asian languages, understand particles for select languages and show them in sentence analysis, provide language-specific learning resources and help you getting a good feel for the language using the typing trainer, cloze deletion test, word quiz and tiered mastery system.
Join the beta and help me make it awesome! https://testflight.apple.com/join/b0f8LlYm
Thanks!

Got a 690, nice.
Prior to this, my only real experience with Linux had been making a Raspberry Pi tablet that nobody really uses, and installing Kali Linux on a potato laptop. I'm a Mac user and I have used Terminal a bit, and I used DOS a lot in the 90s, so some of the material (particularly hardware, basic CLI) was familiar to me. I started studying about two and a half weeks ago.
In case this is helpful to anybody, this is what I did and here are my thoughts:

• I went through the Cisco NetAcademy course. I did some of the labs. I read all the content and outlined it. It was extremely boring.
  • I completed all the unit tests on the Cisco course (In one case, and chapter 9 I am looking at you, up to 11 times...) and looked up answers and reread material until I was consistently scoring 80% or, ideally, 90-100% on each unit, the midterm, the final, and the cumulative final. Last night I finally hit 80% on all except Chapter 18 (Special Directories and Files), which is sorta funny since I got 100% on the "Security and File Permissions" component of the exam.
• I made Anki flashcards for everything I got wrong or that confused or even mildly interested me. Basically, I "Ankified" everything that was not a transition sentence, lol.
• I also had a big document where I took notes from every single section. This was, honestly, mostly to keep myself from just skimming through and skipping over stuff because it was really really dull. It might not be efficient, but throughout my education (and this ain't my first school rodeo), I've found it useful to see how information is organized, so I generally make top-down outlines of what I read. I used to do this in MS Word but lately I've been using Notion since the formatting is nicer Maybe it's a total waste of time, because it took fivever. But I did it and now I have a huge Notion document of Linux notes....so I've got that going for me.
• I went through the big blue Linux book. It was also EXTREMELY boring. It was actually sort of impressive, just how incredibly dull they managed to make that book. After a certain point, it felt almost like meditation or a fever dream. I had a friend who did a silent meditation retreat and I think I started to feel like she described feeling towards the end of that. I did as many of the exercises and "explorational" activities as possible (some required permissions that weren't possible with the VMs I had at the moment).
• For a few days, I was using the online tests / flashcards that went with the LPI Linux Essentials Study Guide: Exam 010 v1.6 book, but apparently the site those were on was "retired" on April 30th, and it was annoying enough to get access the first time, so I didn't bother to try & figure out whatever it changed to. I found that book to be the least helpful of the materials anyway. The practice tests were the best thing about that one.
• I completed the Codecademy Bash scripting course one afternoon, since I like Codecademy's approach to scaffolding material and wanted to practice actually doing Bash scripting (but without, like, installing a VM).
• I took all the Dion exams multiple times.
• I followed the same process as with the Cisco exams, making cards / looking up anything and everything I got wrong.
• I made Anki flashcards for all of the above, and used GIFs or made graphics or used ChatGPT / Midjourney to generate ridiculous / weird images or songs to help me remember commands. Please, let me regale you with my and ChatGPT's interpretation of Johnny Cash, called "A Command Named Su." (And, actually, su came up ZERO times on the actual exam for some reason).
• I played this "Command Line Murder Mystery" game and really wished there was more to it, because while it's a great intro to the CLI that I'd recommend to anybody new to it, it also replicated a lot of the stuff I was more familiar with. I would have loved it if there had been something like that for every corresponding unit of the Cisco course or chapter of the book.
• I spent about a week and a half going through the flashcards during any and all downtime: During my kid's bath, on a flight, at a stoplight, at a family wedding, hair appointment, meals, whatever.
• I had started out by downloading a public Anki deck that was supposed to be for Linux Essentials, but ultimately I didn't think those cards helped nearly as much as the ones I made myself. The process of making the cards is important, and the deck I found was all "basic" format (instead of Cloze or Image like I was using). The deck I found had very open-ended questions that lacked context, and I regret wasting time on it instead of just making my own cards from the get-go. In the end, my deck was 835 cards, though that included the rando one I had downloaded. I don't think I use Anki in the most efficient way, so that was probably too many.
• I was able to attend one of the Cohorts and do the online game yesterday, and it was both fun and helpful. So I'd definitely recommend doing that.

Exam:

• I was mildly surprised that there were a few more "pick X of these options" questions than I'd expected. I had thought there'd be 7; by my count, I had 9.
• In case you aren't aware, there are about 3 fill-in-the-blank questions on the exam. They only ask for one word, though. The practice exams do not have these types of questions. However, since I had no idea until yesterday that this was even a question type, I wanted to put that out there, since some people might get thrown off by a question type they're not expecting.
• I did my exam at a testing center and it felt like a damn vacation. I managed to show up precisely on time for the first and probably only time in my entire life. It was, just extremely nice people, free parking, free locker for my stuff, a nice sunny window in the testing room, everything was very clean and bright. I wish I could take all the OAs that way!
• I've taken the Dion and Cisco and Study Guide practice tests so many times they run together, so it's hard to say exactly which questions came from where, but I was surprised that a lot of the questions on the exam were verbatim from the pool of practice tests I'd been using.
• In general, I think Dion's exams were a little bit easier than the actual exam and Cisco's were a little bit harder. Dion tends to have some goofy or humorous "distracter" wrong answer options (which, frankly, I appreciate because this was generally extremely boring material to me, sorry), but the other practice exams I took were all srsbiz. Also, since Cisco's unit tests are specialized to each topic, I think they go into greater depth than the actual exam might.
• In the end, I think I did substantially better on the exam than I had on the Cisco material, so I'd say that Cisco over-prepares you a tiny bit and that's probably what you want, right?
• I was so psyched about the "Command Named Su" and never even got to use it. :(

Recommendations:

• I am sure the best actual approach is to have and use Linux daily via the command line, or perhaps to be bo(u)rn(e) to a family fluent in C and grow up speaking Bash or C as your native language... but failing that, I'd start with the Cisco course (Link). It's fantastic that it's FREE. Note that about once a week they take it down for an annoyingly long maintenance window, but still. Each unit test is only 10 questions, and it doesn't actually tell you what the "right" answers are if you get them wrong, so it's extremely hard to get through a unit without having a good understanding of the material.
• If you're not familiar with the CLI, definitely try the game I linked above. It's really cool. Actually, try it even if you are, it's just a fun way to practice.
• If you can figure out where the practice tests went for the LPI Linux Essentials Study Guide: Exam 010 v.16 (by Bresnahan and Blum), they are fairly useful, but they are also very, very similar to the Cisco course.
• It took me some time to figure out that the Dion course on Udemy is really two courses. One has videos and 2 practice exams, one is just 6 practice exams. Between the two courses, there are 8 practice exams. I took all of them multiple times and thought they were really good practice. I tried feeding the exams to Chat GPT and asking it to generate new questions, but it didn't work very well (they were too easy / just reworded, etc).
• I love Anki, though I guess it might not work for everybody, and don't take a shortcut; make your own flashcards.
• A lot of the material that seems to be floating around about this exam is redundant to the big boring book and the Cisco course. So I think it probably matters to just find a format you enjoy, or at least that you can stand (e.g., video, course, whatever) and stick with it all the way through.
• The thing that helped the most for me, in terms of both trying to stay sane and memorizing the material, was trying to turn it into something fun and interesting. I actually began to enjoy the process of studying once I started making stupid / weird / traumatizing AI art images. I am sure a smarter person than myself (which is most of you) would've probably figured that out a lot faster.
• The real kernel is the soul-crushing boredom we found along the way. Right?

OK, onward and upward. Hope this helps somebody out.

大家好，
I'd say I'm around HSK 3 level, and by now I think I know around 700 characters.
In the past, what I did to study Hanzi was use a website called "HanziHero", which approaches learning characters by teaching components first, giving them a memorizable name, next teaching single characters by using mnemonics that also teach the pronunciation of a character, and then teaching words by combining individual characters.
I have found this method to be quite useful at learning the initial characters. I feel like because they use components, I now have a much better understanding of how the Hanzi work. But I do have some problems with the approach.

1. The words that it teaches can be quite random and they are usually given without context, making it hard to know how they can be used and thus remember. (for example, teaching me the word 送行 at HSK2)
2. The fact that you cannot add your own words (and it does not contain that many words, not even all of the HSK words are included) makes it quite useless for helping with immersion. If I learn a new word, sure, I can learn the individual characters, but in the end, a lot of the times I will have forgotten the word that they're a part of.
3. Due to the sheer amount of characters, components and words that are studied (and the SRS algorithm that is, in my opinion, a bit inefficient), the review load is pretty high. In order to learn 10 new characters and 10 words per day, you can expect to put in an hour of reviews every day. If you miss just one day, review time doubles.
4. The method it uses to teach words felt quite intuitive at the beginning (teaching individual characters first to then introduce words that are made up of these characters), but as you progress, it seems like it's not super efficient. I feel like knowing the individual meaning of the characters is quite useless in many cases, so it feels like I am just wasting time by doing this.

So, I have adapted my approach a little bit. What I now do is I have my HanziHero for learning individual characters only (not words) and I use another SRS software for doing sentence clozes to practice using the characters. But now I am wondering if I shouldn't just entirely ditch HanziHero. I feel like it doesn't benefit me all that much and it costs me a lot of time every day.
My question is, what do you guys do to learn characters? And what do you guys think of HanziHero's approach? I would be very interested in hearing your opinions.

Hi all,
I am trying to make flashcards for my Intro to Biology course, but ChatGPT 4 keeps having trouble producing .csv files. Do you have any advice for me to make ChatGPT 4 create these flashcards more effectively?
Here is my prompt:
I am making anki flashcards of cloze deletion type. Please create a .csv file formatted as such: column 1: text Please insert the entire question or questions and answer in this column. The question(s) and answers will always be separated by a return line. Do not add statements starting with "Note".
Format the question and answer like these taken directly from the file:
What is a gene? {{c1::Region of DNA that is transcribed as a single unit; directs the production of a particular protein or functional RNA molecule Code for proteins or functional RNA that dictate characteristics or phenotype of an organism}}
What are sigma factors? What is the function? {{c1::A bacterial-specific protein that helps bring RNA polymerase to the start of the gene by binding to the promoter. }}
The exception is for numbered questions. Here is how I'd like you to format numbered questions: What are the 3 steps of Eukaryotic transcription? 1. {{c1::Initiation – TBP bind at TATA box, GTF assemble, RNA polymerase II binds at +1}} 2. {{c2::Elongation – occurs as the RNA polymerase II moves down the gene}} 3. {{c3::Termination – termination sequences make the RNA polymerase II fall off the DNA}}
column 2: Tag Please fill this column with cells containing the string "M3::L1"
column 3: Extra Every time you read "Note", please put the following sentence in this column.
Here is the error I get from ChatGPT 4: "It seems there was another syntax issue in my attempt to compile the full data. I'll correct this and ensure all the entries are properly formatted and included in the .csv file, especially focusing on the correct formatting for the question about the three steps of Eukaryotic transcription. I'll proceed with fixing and completing the data preparation now. "
Then, it will continually try to generate more code, and inevitably gets stuck every time.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Hello Anki,
I can convert or copy something to Anki. I'm a bit familiar with programming and can help with data extraction or batch convert, automate, web scrape, copy something to Anki, or maybe do some simple labour and mindless work that can be done without much prior knowledge.
# Things I can't do

• I can't manually create flashcards in the QA or Cloze format from the study notes, textbooks and presentations according to the "Twenty Rules of Formulating Knowledge".
• I can't help with automating OpenAI GPT-4 / Google Gemini / Anthropic Claude / etc. to generate Anki flashcards.

# Things I did in the past

• Copied Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) from Word or PDF to Anki (free or pay-what-you-want)
• Copied QBank to Anki ($20-...)
• Converted Medical Cases to Anki ($20-...)
• Used Image Occlusion Enhanced to add IO boxes ($10-...)
• Batch generated audio using Google & Microsoft Azure Text-to-Speech ($5)
• Batch added audio from Forvo, Wiktionary, ... ($5)
• Batch split images using OpenCV by questions and answers ($10-...)
• Searched for relevant pictures on Google Images and added to existing Anki cards ($5 per 50 cards, 5-7 days)
• Used the Fluent Forever method by Gabriel Wyner to make Anki flashcards with unknown words from Kindle Highlights. The front side included the example sentence with the target word blanked along with an image and the English definition. The back side included the target word, the dictionary definition, the word and audiobook audio ($15-20 per 100 cards, 5-7-10 days)
• Helped to transfer flashcards from Byki and Quizlet ($5-...)
• Helped to transfer flashcards from AnkiPro to Anki (free or pay-what-you-want)
• Web scraped online & offline dictionaries ($20-50)
• Converted audiobooks to Anki ($10-20)
• Converted podcasts with transcripts to Anki ($10-20)
• Made parallel/bilingual books in Anki or Google Sheets ($10-20)
• Made parallel/bilingual audiobooks in Anki or MP3 ($15-30)
• Converted movies and TV series or YouTube videos with subtitles to Anki using Aegisub and subs2srs / movies2anki ($5-20)
• ...

# How fast is the delivery
It might take from a few days to a few weeks.
I might be able to do it faster, if I have time and you don't mind paying a bit more.
# How to pay me
My main payment method is via a bank card on EasyStart ($10-1000) - https://start.easystaff.io/en
The payment will be secured by Stripe.

• (1st option) I send you an invite link to create an account on EasyStart and automatically register as my customer, then I'll create a PDF invoice (10 USD is a minimum amount) and send you a Stripe payment link. Here's a few step-by-step screenshots - https://imgur.com/a/deftYxQ
• (2nd option) You create an account on https://busy.easystaff.io, add a new task (20 USD is a minimum amount) and invite me to do it. I'm available at https://appstart.easystaff.io/easylancekelciour. Here's a step-by-step screenshot - https://imgur.com/Hx2IviO

Alternatively,

• With a bank card on Boosty ($5-200) using the Donate button on the left - https://boosty.to/kelciour
• With PayPal on Hipolink ($5-15) by buying a cup of coffee - https://hipolink.me/kelciour

# How to get in touch
Please contact me by email [kelciour@gmail.com](mailto:kelciour@gmail.com) or send me a PM on Reddit, provide some details, and I'll try to reply back within 24-48 hours with a custom quote and maybe make a free sample if I can do it.
# My Anki Decks Collection to learn English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, ...
For more information, please see the Essential Idioms in English page - https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/995462426

Thank you.
Nickolay Nonard ([kelciour@gmail.com](mailto:kelciour@gmail.com))

Last-Minute Studying

Ever pull an all-nighter fueled by coffee and desperation while doing a last-minute studying? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Studies say 80% of students cram, but results often stink.
There’s a better way! Spaced repetition is a brain-training technique for learning smarter, not harder. It works with how your brain forgets things. By strategically reviewing information at specific times, spaced repetition helps you remember it for the long haul.
Ditch the all-nighter! Spaced repetition turns last-minute cramming into memory-boosting sessions. Get ready to ace that exam and maybe even sleep!

The Science Behind Spaced Repetition

Forget the all-nighter blues! Spaced repetition isn’t just a fancy term, it’s backed by science. Our brains forget information over time, following a steep curve called the forgetting curve. Cramming might seem to work short-term, but that info vanishes quickly.
Spaced repetition tackles this head-on. Imagine strategically spaced reviews, like spaced seeds growing into strong memories. By revisiting information at increasing intervals (think minutes, days, weeks), spaced repetition strengthens those connections in your brain. This translates to several benefits:

• Stronger, Long-Term Memories: Spaced repetition helps information transition from short-term to long-term memory, making it readily available for exams and beyond.
• Deeper Understanding: The act of spaced repetition forces you to actively recall information, leading to a deeper grasp of concepts, not just rote memorization.
• Retrieval Strength: The more you revisit information with spaced repetition, the easier it becomes to retrieve it later. Imagine effortlessly pulling out that perfect formula during your exam!

Science backs this up. A 2013 study published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest found that spaced repetition was significantly more effective for long-term learning compared to cramming. So, ditch the outdated cramming methods and embrace the science-powered approach of spaced repetition!

Implementing Spaced Repetition for Last-Minute Studying

Spaced repetition takes the chaos out of last-minute studying. Here’s how to transform those frantic cram sessions into focused memory-building exercises:

• Craft Powerful Study Materials: Flashcards are your best friend! Focus on key concepts, formulas, and challenging topics. Keep your flashcards concise and clear – think bite-sized knowledge bombs! You can also use digital tools like Anki or Quizlet for added features.
• Schedule Smart Reviews: Don’t just cram everything in at once. Spaced repetition relies on spaced-out reviews for optimal memory retention. Start strong with a review session shortly after creating your flashcards (like 15 minutes later). As you answer correctly, gradually increase the interval between reviews (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day). Spaced repetition apps will manage this scheduling for you, so you can focus on learning.

Tools and Resources for Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition can be done with pen and paper flashcards, but why not leverage technology to supercharge your studying? Here are some popular spaced repetition apps and online resources:

• Anki: A free, open-source powerhouse. Highly customizable, allowing for flashcards, images, audio, and even cloze deletion (where you remove parts of a sentence to test recall).
• Quizlet: A user-friendly option with a vast library of pre-made flashcards on various subjects. Offers different study modes like “learn” and “test” to cater to your learning style.
• Brainscape: An interactive platform that incorporates spaced repetition with spaced retrieval, where you answer questions in different contexts to solidify memory.

These digital tools offer several advantages:

• Automated Scheduling: No need to manually track review intervals – the app takes care of it, ensuring optimal spacing for knowledge retention.
• Multimedia Magic: Go beyond text! Use images, diagrams, and even audio recordings to create engaging and memorable flashcards.
• Customization is King: Tailor your study sessions to your needs. Adjust font sizes, backgrounds, and even create different decks for various subjects.

Setting Up for Success:
No matter which tool you choose, take some time to explore its features and customize it to your learning style. Experiment with different card formats (text-based, image occlusion) and see what works best for you. Remember, consistency is key! Schedule regular spaced repetition sessions and watch your knowledge grow!

Overcoming Challenges and Optimizing Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition sounds great, but let’s be real, there will be hurdles. Here’s how to navigate them and become a spaced repetition pro:
Challenge #1: Review Timing Blues
Finding the right time for reviews can be tricky. Life gets busy! The key is to be flexible. Maybe you squeeze in a quick session during your commute or dedicate a focused hour before bed. Remember, consistency is better than cramming a giant review session once a week.
Challenge #2: Motivation Meltdown
Let’s face it, flashcards aren’t always thrilling. Here’s a hack: track your progress! Seeing those “easy” cards pile up is a great motivator. Reward yourself for completing review sessions – a fun activity, a coffee break – anything to keep you engaged.
Optimizing Your Spaced Repetition Journey
Spaced repetition is powerful, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Here’s how to personalize it:

• Adjust Intervals: Pay attention to your progress. If you’re consistently getting something right, extend the review interval. Conversely, shorten it for trickier topics.
• Mix it Up: Spaced repetition works beautifully with other study methods. Try active recall exercises like summarizing concepts in your own words or explaining them to a friend. This creates stronger neural connections.

Consistency is Key!
Remember, spaced repetition is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t get discouraged if you miss a session or two. Just pick yourself up and get back on track. The more consistent you are, the more your long-term memory will thank you. So, ditch the cramming, embrace spaced repetition, and watch your exam scores soar!

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Hi everyone,
I really need your help. I'm preparing for a very important oral exam in French literature, and I've been trying to study through Anki. My French is pretty good, but I'm trying to learn literary concepts, facts, historical periods, and authors using elaborate sentences to stand out during the oral exam.
At this stage of my preparation, I'm wondering how to best use Anki for this kind of knowledge, which isn't just about memorizing facts but also about verbal fluency.
I've created flashcards with cloze deletions that I recite out loud, but it all seems too chaotic and hard to remember. What techniques do you recommend for using Anki for this type of study?

I’ve been using cloze cards for a while now but I’ve recently started to notice an issue surrounding context that I feel like I don’t know how to resolve.
For example: I’m learning about types of seizures (tonic-clonic, myoclonic, absence, etc) and all I have to learn in this topic is what happens during the seizure. In the material provided to us, there are just paragraphs for each seizure type discussing the observable characteristics of them eg eyes fluttering, muscles stiffening but it seems to go on this long tangent and it’s not as if they’ve summarised it. So, in an attempt to be efficient with my time, I’ve decided I would just copy and paste bits of sentences and cloze certain details, such as “Your {{c1: eyelids might flutter}} and you might have {{c2:slight jerking movements}} of your body or limbs” but the problem is that I constantly have to go back to the start of the sentence and type “In typical absence seizure”. And anyways this is better than copying and pasting a whole paragraph and then clozing many words, right?
So, my solution to all of this is having an extra field called ‘title’ where in that field I’d type “Typical absence seizure”, pin it, and then in the cloze field just copy and paste bits of information and that way I’ll know what the sentence is talking about.
I hope this all made sense. If there’s a better approach to this PLEASE let me know.

I have read a lot of advice that Anki cards work best if you test yourself on little discrete pieces of information. What do you think?
For example, if you grab a sentence in your TL that you'd like to learn - let's say "je vais peut-être me promener," I might go for a stroll - common advice is to use clozes to isolate and test smaller chunks of language (like "peut-être") rather than forcing yourself to come up with the entire sentence all at once. Some might say to make multiple cards out of this sentence, so you see it several times with different little chunks blanked out in the clozes.
I've only been using Anki for a couple months, but so far my experience is that I prefer the opposite approach - I'd rather force myself to construct the entire sentence all at once.
When I test smaller clozes, my crafty test-taking brain takes over and I memorize the phrase that is the correct answer, but I feel like I'm not making connections between the phrase that's being tested and the entirety of the sentence. That is, I don't memorize the connections that tie the whole sentence together, I don't really learn the word order. I don't even necessarily read the other words except very briefly - my brain can spit out the right answer before I've really considered what they mean. I can counteract this by going very slowly, saying the whole thing out loud, but I have to force myself to do so, it doesn't happen naturally.
But when I test myself on the entire sentence, it forces me to repeatedly reconstruct the entire sentence. It emphasizes why these words are connected the way that they are connected. For certain sentences, ones that I might say myself exactly, this also gives me an anchor in conversations in my TL, an entire sentence that I know I can recall and say correctly. Thoughts? Am I doing this wrong?

Hi everyone,
I have been using Obsidian for a month now and I love the integrated note taking system.
For my purposes, I need to integrate Anki into my workflow. I prefer Cloze Deletion style cards and I feel like that is the best way to seamlessly integrate note taking with a spaced repetition practice.
Unfortunately, I have trouble with the implementation. With both Obsidian to Anki plugin and the Flashcard Plugin, I have encountered the following issues:
-Flashcards that are made cut off half of the card that I intended to make, even though I marked the Start and End (Obsidian to Anki plugin)
-Flashcards with multiple cloze deletions will be split into separate cards or a front/black card instead
-Flashcards made out of bulletpointed passages will break up the card into separate cards instead of one card with multiple cloze deletion.
The work around I have found is to write the parts I want to make a flashcard out of in one continuous passages instead of bulletpointed and segmented. I do not like this because it hurts the readability and organization of my notes.
Has someone else encountered these problems and, if so, what were some solutions that you found
TLDR: Making cloze deletion flashcards out of Obsidian notes end up being truncated. I can write my notes in straight sentences instead of lists, but that makes the notes harder to read.

Memorizing these two things and anything where there is a set order of things that you have to memorize has been my bane. It takes me an ENORMOUS amount of time to get them inside my head and I always, forget them. I figured Anki might help with this, since I am using cloze cards ( I used cloze overlapped as well before but now it is hidden behind a pay wall) to help break them down.
I am using -acronyms, -I have combined these acronyms with imagery as memory palaces and made them into cards of their own -drawn out mind maps based on these acronyms -used colours -and I am testing myself on what these acronyms stand for
However I still do take a very long time to get the word which the acronym stands for into a fully formulated sentence. Even more so when I try to recall the next letter of the acronym and repeating all of that once again.
And much more mnemonics to help get around this but I almost end up wasting too much timetrying to recall the next step or I am forgetting it altogether.
I have been using cloze overlapper and it did not help much with the memorizing of lists. I have tons and tons of lists and learning all of them takes a very huge chunk of my time. Is there a different tool or method you could suggest me.
After using images as basically memory palaces, with each part of the image symbolizing a step of that process. The problem is that it was getting too repetitive, so I conflated it with something else. Other problems arise, like too much valuable time spent designing the flow of the steps on top of the image, or that the parts of the image (even though I recall what the image is and what it is about) are too vague in my head, which poses a problem for me since I use the parts of the image as cues. Ergo, I have to basically have to have the Image in HD in my brain.
It can be done, but I believe I am using a lot of time in doing so, would be creating unnecessary work for me and in the end I would still get the bad result of me not being able to recall the information in time or at all.
I was thinking of using an image to symbolize each step, but I dont know if that would be worth it (e. g. Would I be able to memorize 10 images for 10 different items) … I am hopeless

I just came across the latest question on the Taiwan University Entrance Exam (GSAT, General Scholastic Ability Test, 大學學科能力測驗）English subject. It seems to be quite easy for native English speakers. However, from what I've seen in the past, LLMs like GPT 3.5, PaLM 2, and Llama 2 70B weren't really up to the mark in handling it. The exam ended a few hours ago, so the exam question is not part of the LLM training set.
​

LLM	Origin	Score	Notes
Alibaba Qwen-72B	China	Full Score	Stunning performance. Although I was amazed by past test results, I always wondered if Taiwanese exam questions were included in the training set. This exam proved the model's remarkable ability.
GPT-4	USA	Missed 1 Question	The model performed well, both in past exams and in this exam.
Claude 2.1	USA	Missed 1 Question	The model did well in the past and on this test too, but it lost to GPT-4 before. This time, it tied with GPT-4.
Google Gemini Pro	USA and UK	Missed 9 Questions	Really disappointing performance.
Mixtral 8x7B	France	Missed 12 Questions	This model performs well in the vocabulary cloze test for short sentences, but it's riddled with errors in short articles.
Mistral-7b-instruct-v0.1	France	Too many errors	The model fared poorly on this type of exam. Even basic vocabulary questions were riddled with mistakes, so I couldn't even finish testing them.

Exam Paper Link
Note:
1.My focus is on multiple-choice, cloze, and short-answer questions, skipping translation and writing for now. There was one image-based question, but I ditched it since some models I'm testing aren't multi-modal.

1. I did not try LLMs like GPT-3.5, PaLM 2, and Llama 2 70B because they always performed poorly. I will gradually add performance data for these models.
   
2. East Asian societies (e.g., China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Singapore) place immense value on academic success in national examinations, viewing them as the ultimate measure of personal achievement.
   

Governments understand the importance of these tests and take strict measures to control the question-writing process. This process is shrouded in secrecy, almost a ritual. A group of selected scholars, usually university professors, are locked away in a place with no outside communication to create the exam questions. South Korea even involves its intelligence agency to ensure the confidentiality and security of this process. There are even historical stories from ancient China about officials who were executed for leaking exam questions!
Therefore, we can conclude that it is not possible for these LLMs to add these questions to the training set, which means that these questions can evaluate the actual performance of these large language models.

Memorizing these two things and anything where there is a set order of things that you have to memorize has been my bane. It takes me an ENORMOUS amount of time to get them inside my head and I always, forget them. I figured Anki might help with this, since I am using cloze cards ( I used cloze overlapped as well before but now it is hidden behind a pay wall) to help break them down.
I am using -acronyms, -I have combined these acronyms with imagery as memory palaces and made them into cards of their own -drawn out mind maps based on these acronyms -used colours -and I am testing myself on what these acronyms stand for
However I still do take a very long time to get the word which the acronym stands for into a fully formulated sentence. Even more so when I try to recall the next letter of the acronym and repeating all of that once again.
And much more mnemonics to help get around this but I almost end up wasting too much timetrying to recall the next step or I am forgetting it altogether.
Help😓

Apologies for the terrible title/explanation.
Below is an example of what I would like to try and achieve. Basically, I would like to have a field that contains a block of text, followed by fields that I can use for generating question cards that specifically relate to parts of the text.
This much is easy, but I would like to know if it is possible to have each question/card highlight (or bold) the specific sentence containing the answer when revealed?
I am aware this could be achieved using cloze deletion, however I sometimes prefer to write more specific questions that don't always work well with cloze deletion format. I also often use notes with lots of fields and questions/cards that relate to a single topic. And having the ability to "edit note" and scan/find other related cards, as well as adding cards is something that I value.
Anki Note:
Field 1: Text/answer " The common wombat (Vombatus ursinus), native to Australia, is a distinctive marsupial known for its sturdy build and burrowing habits. These herbivorous mammals have a stocky, bear-like appearance, with short legs and a robust body covered in coarse fur, ranging in color from sandy brown to gray. They possess powerful claws, ideal for excavating extensive burrow systems, which serve as both shelter and protection against predators. Wombats are predominantly nocturnal, spending their nights grazing on grasses, roots, and bark. "
Field 2: Question: "What is the scientific name of the common wombat?"
Field 3: Question: "The common wombat diet consists of?"
Field 4: Question: "Wombat burrows serve what purpose?"

Hi all! I'm new to the Clozemaster community. I recently decided to take my language learning more seriously and last Black Friday I was looking for a good app at a good price to expand my vocabulary and learn new words. I saw a lot of kind words about Сlozemaster here on Reddit among language learners and decided to immediately pay for a lifetime subscription, since it came with a good discount. I reasoned like this: it’s not cheap, but if people say it’s good, I’ll buy it - one way or another, I plan to actively use it! (And besides, I hate the subscription models)
English is not my native language and right now I would rate my level somewhere between intermediate and upper intermediate. I was expecting to see an application for "intermediate language learners looking to get fluent faster", who answered the question "what will I do after after Duolingo?". Here on the official forum I read (first post) that "Cloze-Listening lets you hear a sentence recorded by a native speaker, and then attempt to fill in a missing word from the sentence", which made me very happy, because this is one of the features that I wanted to see in an application to improve my vocabulary. In particular, many users advised purchasing a subscription precisely for the reason that it gave access to Cloze-Listening, i.e. (I thought) natural voice-over.
Imagine my disappointment when I started using the application. And if only the robotic voice acting was good, but it's just terrible! Especially the one that tries to look like a little girl. There was one particularly poorly spoken sentence that I jokingly tried to recognize using Google Translate audio-to-text and... he could not!
But let's go further. The best thing is when a language learning app has ready-made, well-designed sets. Sets of "Сommon words" play such a role here. But what if I don’t want to spend time on basic words of levels A1-B1, but at the same time I want to learn common words of levels B2+? Do I really have to manually mark the words I know as known? It was only after purchasing a lifetime subscription that I found out about the application "Vocabulary Builder by Atlas". It also has a subscription model, and also has a lifetime subscription, albeit more expensive than Clozemaster, but the sets of words in this application are really very precisely selected for different levels of knowledge.
Now let's move on directly to the implementation of learning words. After selecting an answer, a very nice (and really cool) feature is the ability to click on each individual word in a sentence to see a pop-up menu. I like the proposed list of services and the ability to add your own to follow the link to the corresponding pages. But what I really don’t like is that out of all these services, Wiktionary was chosen for the preview. Because most of the pages do not have any information on the site Wiktionary (perhaps this is due to the native language I indicated?). Why couldn't they add, for example, the Cambridge dictionary? Or Oxford? Or at least some kind of explanatory dictionary. And most importantly, why exactly this cannot be configured manually? Is this all due to copyright? In the already mentioned "Vocabulary Builder by Atlas" you can see the translation of the word according to the Oxford dictionary, seeing the transcription, definition and examples of use, as well as optional translation into your language + historical information about word formation. And for this you don’t need to follow any additional links, everything is right there in the application. I also found another one application, called "Vocabulary Builder by Magoosh", it's completely free. It does not allow you to add words to your favorites or repeat individual words, there are only ready-made (but very well selected) sets, but even in this application, after answering, you are shown a word with examples of use and normal natural voice acting.
If you have read my long text to the end, then I am turning to you for help, I really need it. Can I somehow justify paying for a lifetime subscription? Is there somewhere I can find more interesting ready-made sets of words to practice with? Can I find a set with normal voice acting (in particular, for use on iOS), , and not with this ridiculous thing? Can I still change the stupid preview on Wiktionary for something more adequate and useful? I will be very grateful for any recommendations.
​

Hi folks,
I've been using CM for a while now on the free version and am curious to learn what you recommend to maximise my learning and that of my students. So there are two things that I'm interesting in hearing your thoughts on:

1. What do you think is the most effective/efficient way to use CM to learn? Currently I'm just doing 30 text input sentences per day.
2. How could I best use CM to help my learners improve their English? I heard about the facility to make our on cloze sentences but as yet haven't tried this because my old pro m/ship has now expired. What do you think about this? Is there something better that could be used?

Many thanks!
Mark hoca 🌸