benthamite, have you had success using decks you have not built yourself?
I once tried with the list of cognitive biases, and again with german and it was an atrocious experience. I thought then that I was violating rule 2:
“Learn before you memorize
Before you proceed with memorizing individual facts and rules, you need to build an overall picture of the learned knowledge. Only when individual pieces fit to build a single coherent structure, will you be able to dramatically reduce the learning time. This is closely related to the problem comprehension mentioned in Rule 1: Do not learn if you do not understand. A single separated piece of your picture is like a single German word in the textbook of history.
Do not start from memorizing loosely related facts! First read a chapter in your book that puts them together (e.g. the principles of the internal combustion engine). Only then proceed with learning using individual questions and answers (e.g. What moves the pistons in the internal combustion engine?), etc.”
Maybe it is possible to study the material by yourself first and then use someone else’s deck—experience will tell, for me it doesn’t work. Then again I can imagine that different people build different models of the same information and thus require different cards.
If you had success (or not) using other’s people decks please reply (also mention which subject—I predict something like multiplication tables or such that is just “hard memorizing” and little understanding is easier)
People who learn about spaced repetition are always tempted to look for existing decks to memorize, but I think this is a false efficiency. In order to memorize a deck of material, you are going to be dedicating a non-trivial portion of your life to memorizing its content. The time spent actually creating the cards is substantially less than the time spent quizzing for almost any material. I’m not completely against pre-existing decks, but I think people just need to keep perspective.
One of the biggest lessons SRS will teach you is humility: the amount you will ever be able to learn is extremely finite. Use it wisely.
The time is so limited, and yet even the inefficient use of time is better than wasting it completely. Using someone else’s Anki deck may be a way to overcome akrasia. It could make a difference between starting to learn a topic now or postponing it to unspecified “later”.
This said, I personally prefer making my own cards. On the other hand, it is probably not efficient. I just enjoy the feeling of control over the deck. I could probably get the same level of control more efficiently by starting with someone else’s deck and then editing anything I don’t agree with.
Funny you should mention German—I started learning German with someone else’s German vocab deck (one of the ones that’s on Ankiweb, possibly even the same one you used). Those first 200 words were not terribly well-chosen, in retrospect, but I digested them in 12 days, 20 words a day plus 2 review-only days at the end. Since then I’ve been adding to it, and have created other decks for grammar and irregular verbs and things like that.
It was the first Anki deck I’ve ever used, and I’ve never used Anki for anything but German, so I don’t have a very broad perspective. But it worked for me.
Still, if you are trying to learn material from a field that requires a general framework for understanding, then I’d advise you not to learn directly from an Anki deck, but to first study the original source from which the deck was created. Perhaps you may want to try the List of Cognitive Biases and Fallacies deck, which many people (myself included) have had good experiences with, to determine if your “atrocious experience” was the result of bad luck or bad choice of decks on your part, or if it instead reflects something else about how you are using Anki.
I did try it once. It was less bad than german but still bad: I memorized, but only after actually reading up on them I knew what I meant—leading me to think that I ended up not saving time in the long run, for if I had written them myself my memorization would probably be better.
I’ve tried it and run into what feels like the same problem. I’ve only ever kept one deck built by someone else, and I very frequently edit and delete cards from it. It’s still my only Anki deck that I don’t really enjoy spending time on—it feels more stressful. And for me, the process of creating the cards is definitely one of the most valuable components of the procedure. That said, I still haven’t got rid of that deck, and I’ll post a few of my decks that I think could be somewhat generally applicable in this thread in case anyone else wants to use them.
benthamite, have you had success using decks you have not built yourself?
I once tried with the list of cognitive biases, and again with german and it was an atrocious experience. I thought then that I was violating rule 2:
“Learn before you memorize Before you proceed with memorizing individual facts and rules, you need to build an overall picture of the learned knowledge. Only when individual pieces fit to build a single coherent structure, will you be able to dramatically reduce the learning time. This is closely related to the problem comprehension mentioned in Rule 1: Do not learn if you do not understand. A single separated piece of your picture is like a single German word in the textbook of history.
Do not start from memorizing loosely related facts! First read a chapter in your book that puts them together (e.g. the principles of the internal combustion engine). Only then proceed with learning using individual questions and answers (e.g. What moves the pistons in the internal combustion engine?), etc.”
Maybe it is possible to study the material by yourself first and then use someone else’s deck—experience will tell, for me it doesn’t work. Then again I can imagine that different people build different models of the same information and thus require different cards.
If you had success (or not) using other’s people decks please reply (also mention which subject—I predict something like multiplication tables or such that is just “hard memorizing” and little understanding is easier)
People who learn about spaced repetition are always tempted to look for existing decks to memorize, but I think this is a false efficiency. In order to memorize a deck of material, you are going to be dedicating a non-trivial portion of your life to memorizing its content. The time spent actually creating the cards is substantially less than the time spent quizzing for almost any material. I’m not completely against pre-existing decks, but I think people just need to keep perspective.
One of the biggest lessons SRS will teach you is humility: the amount you will ever be able to learn is extremely finite. Use it wisely.
The time is so limited, and yet even the inefficient use of time is better than wasting it completely. Using someone else’s Anki deck may be a way to overcome akrasia. It could make a difference between starting to learn a topic now or postponing it to unspecified “later”.
This said, I personally prefer making my own cards. On the other hand, it is probably not efficient. I just enjoy the feeling of control over the deck. I could probably get the same level of control more efficiently by starting with someone else’s deck and then editing anything I don’t agree with.
I used a deck I didn’t build myself to learn GRE vocab.
Funny you should mention German—I started learning German with someone else’s German vocab deck (one of the ones that’s on Ankiweb, possibly even the same one you used). Those first 200 words were not terribly well-chosen, in retrospect, but I digested them in 12 days, 20 words a day plus 2 review-only days at the end. Since then I’ve been adding to it, and have created other decks for grammar and irregular verbs and things like that.
It was the first Anki deck I’ve ever used, and I’ve never used Anki for anything but German, so I don’t have a very broad perspective. But it worked for me.
Yes, both to learn new material and to retain material I had previously learnt. From the list above, examples of the first type include Get Motivated, List of Cognitive Biases and Fallacies, 100 Greatest Paintings of All Time, and The Major Mnemonic Memory System, while examples of the second type include Richard Wiseman’s 59 Seconds, How to Formulate Knowledge and Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication.
Thank you all for your responses. I’ve updated my estimate that this is just a me-problem.
Still, if you are trying to learn material from a field that requires a general framework for understanding, then I’d advise you not to learn directly from an Anki deck, but to first study the original source from which the deck was created. Perhaps you may want to try the List of Cognitive Biases and Fallacies deck, which many people (myself included) have had good experiences with, to determine if your “atrocious experience” was the result of bad luck or bad choice of decks on your part, or if it instead reflects something else about how you are using Anki.
I did try it once. It was less bad than german but still bad: I memorized, but only after actually reading up on them I knew what I meant—leading me to think that I ended up not saving time in the long run, for if I had written them myself my memorization would probably be better.
I will try it again. For science.
I’ve tried it and run into what feels like the same problem. I’ve only ever kept one deck built by someone else, and I very frequently edit and delete cards from it. It’s still my only Anki deck that I don’t really enjoy spending time on—it feels more stressful. And for me, the process of creating the cards is definitely one of the most valuable components of the procedure. That said, I still haven’t got rid of that deck, and I’ll post a few of my decks that I think could be somewhat generally applicable in this thread in case anyone else wants to use them.
Thank you, this is my experience—it feels stressful. Updated prob.