Spaced repetition memory system (2024)(notes.andymatuschak.org)
notes.andymatuschak.org
Spaced repetition memory system (2024)
https://notes.andymatuschak.org/Spaced_repetition_memory_system
46 comments
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/
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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 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.
Insanely expensive. 18$ usd per month?? I’m going to guess it’s also an Electron monstrosity
RemNote founder here - the free version has unlimited cards and notes!
You can upgrade to the Pro version for $10/month if you want tables, PDF uploads, and more.
The $18 version is our most expensive plan that includes AI credits as well.
You can upgrade to the Pro version for $10/month if you want tables, PDF uploads, and more.
The $18 version is our most expensive plan that includes AI credits as well.
It’s amazing how many people try to make an inferior clone of Anki and profit off of it. The only people who ever fall for it are ones with low computer literacy.
What about this is inferior? I'm a software developer (that is to say, not low in computer literacy), and I've bounced off Anki a few times, the UX is terrible. I haven't used RemNote any more than you have, but unlike Anki it seems actually care about reducing UI friction.
It's not an Anki clone and I don't have low computer literacy. I'm a senior staff ML engineer at a large public company. I don't have the time or patience that Anki requires to make it a passable product. Not a childless student without real responsibilities and all the time in the world.
The majority of the population has low computer literacy
Yup.
As H. L. Mencken observed in 1926 [0]: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the North American public."
Perhaps there should be an event next year to note the centenary of that astute observation, which seems to have aged quite well.
[0] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/03/01/underestimate/
As H. L. Mencken observed in 1926 [0]: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the North American public."
Perhaps there should be an event next year to note the centenary of that astute observation, which seems to have aged quite well.
[0] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/03/01/underestimate/
It also appears to require an account even for local-only use. It’s nice to see any kind of local support, but making an account mandatory renders that feature somewhat moot. I understand requiring an account for syncing (Anki does this too), but otherwise there’s not much of a good reason for it.
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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.
1. https://mochi.cards/
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/
Mochi is excellent but the apps aren’t native (albeit they are better than many non-native apps)
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.
My astroturfing radar is going into overdrive from this comment chain.
I'm not astroturfing. There's been a dearth of quality products around efficient learning. There's Anki, then there's Mochi, a slightly more modern Anki. That's it. It's wild to me how little selection there is in this space.
After using remnote for months, I eventually switched to Mochi (Anki, but prettier). My personal experience was:
- 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.
- 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.
There were a few rough edges for me with the block-based editing. I chocked it up to me never having used a block-based editor with any frequency.
I stay away from some of the AI features:
- One feature generates additional context for a flashcard as you practice. This burned up my AI credits like crazy and added nothing but distraction to my practice. - Another AI feature for PDF summarizing just didn't work. It made a claim immediately and clearly contradicted by text in the exact area I was highlighting.
The cases where it works, I absolutely love.
I stay away from some of the AI features:
- One feature generates additional context for a flashcard as you practice. This burned up my AI credits like crazy and added nothing but distraction to my practice. - Another AI feature for PDF summarizing just didn't work. It made a claim immediately and clearly contradicted by text in the exact area I was highlighting.
The cases where it works, I absolutely love.
I used this throughout my computer science degree, and it worked a charm. Now I rely on it as a solid personal knowledgebase.
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.
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.
I'll give a few examples.
* 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.
* 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
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
In what context do you find yourself wanting to recall a specific part of an iso/iec standard? Distill that context into a short description and put it on the question side of the flashcard. The answer side then has the corresponding information you want to memorize.
But of course it's possible that you almost never need the same information twice, in which case committing it to memory wouldn't be particularly useful.
But of course it's possible that you almost never need the same information twice, in which case committing it to memory wouldn't be particularly useful.
I've built one for the US Amateur Radio exam pools (which are public) as I'm trying to sit for both my Technician and General in the same volunteer exam session.
Mixing the questions between both pools and studying as a unit I've found has had two great benefits: 1) I'm not focusing on Technician first and then going for General as a "bonus" and 2) it helps me see the connections between the material.
Mixing the questions between both pools and studying as a unit I've found has had two great benefits: 1) I'm not focusing on Technician first and then going for General as a "bonus" and 2) it helps me see the connections between the material.
I have used Anki to memorize cube numbers and roots, recipes, and music theory. If you're interested in other ideas, you can browse public decks here: https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks.
Here's Michael Nielsen on using spaced repetition for math:
https://cognitivemedium.com/srs-mathematics
https://cognitivemedium.com/srs-mathematics
His article https://andymatuschak.org/books/
inspired me to build https://readboost.io/ to embed Q&A and SRS into ePubs. Might be buggy still, but I personally found it quite useful!
I'm getting an internal server error on the preview step! But I really like this idea!
Thanks for letting me know! Haven't used it in a while after losing the initial momentum, day job and all, but will take a look on the weekend and report back in case I can replicate the issue
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 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.
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I typically just copy/paste directly from a sufficiently valid corpus of the domain.
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.
Dropping another Product recommendation (available on Android):
https://normata.com/flip/
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!
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!
Is there a good space repetition app on Android that you recommend?
That only does space repetition?
That only does space repetition?
To mirror the sibling comment: https://apps.ankiweb.net/ is
* Open Source
* Cross-platform
* $0 except on iOS
* Popular enough to have a community and ecosystem around it
* Open Source
* Cross-platform
* $0 except on iOS
* Popular enough to have a community and ecosystem around it
Shameless plug: you can use org-anki[1] to manage Anki cards from your org-mode notes.
[1] https://github.com/eyeinsky/org-anki
[1] https://github.com/eyeinsky/org-anki
Mochi is excellent
Has anybody found a good site with pre-made cards or (ideally) some sort of play-along tracks for memorizing piano chord voicings?
it's good for cramming up stuff, say to pass exams. but for long term deep think this did not work well for me.
It's been a huge help for me learning Spanish verb conjugations, which in turn has helped my Spanish in general.
A lot of it down to the effort this guy has put into making the deck. https://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/w_ultimate_spanish_conjuga...
A lot of it down to the effort this guy has put into making the deck. https://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/w_ultimate_spanish_conjuga...