Free CCNA | Anki Flashcards | Day 1 Extra | CCNA 200-301 Complete Course

Summary

This video provides a comprehensive guide on using Anki, a powerful spaced repetition software, for enhancing learning and retention of the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) course content. It explains how to download and set up Anki, import pre-made flashcard decks, customize settings, and effectively review flashcards using Anki's algorithm. The instructor emphasizes the benefits of Anki's spaced repetition system in committing information to long-term memory and recommends integrating Anki flashcards with the course material for optimal learning outcomes.

Takeaways

• 👨‍💻 This is a guide on using Anki flashcards for learning and reviewing information from the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) course.
• 📚 For each lecture video, the instructor provides a deck of Anki flashcards to help students review and remember important information covered in that lecture.
• 💡 Anki is a spaced repetition software that schedules flashcard reviews to help information stay in your long-term memory.
• 📥 The instructor provides links to download Anki flashcard decks and lab files for each day of the CCNA course.
• ⚙️ The video demonstrates how to install Anki, create a parent deck for the course, import individual daily decks as sub-decks, and configure settings like daily new card/review limits.
• 🔄 Anki's algorithm schedules flashcard reviews based on your performance, increasing intervals for cards you answer correctly and decreasing intervals for cards you struggle with.
• 📆 The recommended approach is to add each day's flashcard deck after studying that day's lecture video, and consistently review the scheduled cards daily.
• 🧠 Effective use of Anki flashcards can help you actively choose what information to remember, rather than leaving it to chance.
• 📱 While most versions of Anki are free, the iPhone app costs $25, but there is a limited web version available for reviewing flashcards on an iPhone.
• 🔍 The video covers the basics of using Anki with the provided flashcards, but encourages exploring Anki's additional features and capabilities further.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the video?

The purpose of the video is to introduce and explain how to use Anki, a spaced repetition software, along with the provided flashcard decks for the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) course.

What is Anki?

Anki is an example of SRS (Spaced Repetition Software). It allows you to create flashcards and import pre-made flashcards. It schedules flashcard reviews for you each day to help information stay in your long-term memory.

How can you access the CCNA flashcards and Packet Tracer lab files?

You can access the flashcards and lab files by visiting the link jitl.jp/ccna-files or sendfox.com/jeremysitlab, entering your name and email address, and confirming your email. The files will be sent to your email address.

How are the flashcard decks organized in Anki?

The CCNA deck is set up as a parent deck, and the individual decks for each day of the course are imported as sub-decks under the CCNA deck. This allows you to review flashcards from all days or a specific day.

What are the recommended settings for the maximum number of new cards and reviews per day?

The video recommends increasing the maximum number of new cards per day to 999 and the maximum reviews per day to 9999, so Anki doesn't limit the number of cards you can learn or review.

How does the video suggest using the flashcard decks?

The video suggests adding each flashcard deck after you have studied the corresponding day's lecture video. It also recommends reviewing the scheduled cards every day by clicking on the parent 'CCNA' deck, rather than each individual sub-deck.

What are the different options when reviewing a flashcard in Anki?

The options are 'Again' (if you got the answer wrong), 'Hard' (if you got the right answer but it was difficult), 'Good' (if you answered correctly), and 'Easy' (if the card was easy). The video recommends using only the 'Again' and 'Good' buttons.

How does Anki's algorithm work for scheduling card reviews?

As you correctly answer each flashcard, the card's review interval increases to help that information stay in your long-term memory. For example, if you answer a card correctly today, it may show up again tomorrow, then in 3 days, then in 5 or 6 days, and so on.

What advice is given regarding adding too many new cards at once?

The video advises not to add more than one deck at a time, as adding too many new cards each day can cause the number of scheduled reviews to accumulate and take a lot of time to review.

Where else can you learn more about using Anki?

The video suggests checking out Google, YouTube, and Anki's documentation to learn more about Anki and how to use it effectively.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Introduction to Anki Flashcards for CCNA Course

This paragraph introduces Anki, a spaced repetition software (SRS) that allows creating and importing flashcards. It explains how the instructor provides Anki flashcard decks for each lecture video of the CCNA course to help students review and remember important information. The paragraph also provides an overview of Anki's features, such as scheduling flashcard reviews, importing pre-made decks, and its algorithm for improving long-term memory retention. It recommends trying out the provided Anki flashcards for the course and mentions the pricing model for the Anki app on different platforms.

05:01

⚙️ Setting Up Anki for CCNA Course

This paragraph gives a detailed walkthrough of how to set up Anki for the CCNA course. It explains how to download and install Anki, create a parent deck for the course, and import the individual flashcard decks for each day as sub-decks. It also covers how to retrieve the flashcard files from the instructor's website and recommends increasing the limits for new cards and reviews. The paragraph demonstrates how to review flashcards, use the different answer options (Again, Good, Hard, Easy), and understand Anki's 'New,' 'Learning,' and 'Review' categories. It advises adding and reviewing one deck at a time and doing daily reviews to prevent accumulation of cards.

10:04

📝 Final Thoughts and Recommendations for Anki

This final paragraph provides some closing advice and recommendations for using Anki effectively with the CCNA course. It suggests adding each day's flashcard deck after studying the corresponding lecture video, reviewing the cards regularly by clicking on the parent 'CCNA' deck, and exploring Anki's additional features and documentation. The paragraph emphasizes the benefits of using Anki for targeted memorization and information retention. It concludes by encouraging students to try the provided Anki flashcards as a helpful study tool and mentions that additional resources on using Anki are available online.

Keywords

💡CCNA

CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. It is a certification offered by Cisco Systems for entry-level network engineers. This video is a complete course focused on preparing learners for the CCNA certification exam. The course content, including lectures and supplemental resources like flashcards and lab files, is designed to help students understand and remember important networking concepts covered in the CCNA curriculum.

💡Flashcards

Flashcards are a study tool that presents information in a question-and-answer format on opposite sides of a card. In this video, the instructor provides pre-made flashcard decks for each lecture, which students can import into the Anki app. These flashcards aim to help learners review and remember crucial information from the CCNA course lectures. The instructor recommends using the provided flashcards as a supplemental resource to reinforce the concepts covered in the video lessons.

💡Anki

Anki is a popular spaced repetition software (SRS) application that helps users create and study flashcards effectively. The video introduces Anki as a recommended tool for reviewing the CCNA course flashcards. Anki uses an algorithm to schedule flashcard reviews at optimal intervals, helping learners retain information in their long-term memory. The instructor demonstrates how to download, install, and set up Anki for studying the provided CCNA flashcard decks.

💡Spaced Repetition Software (SRS)

Spaced Repetition Software (SRS) is a category of applications that use a specific learning technique called spaced repetition. This technique involves reviewing information at gradually increasing intervals to reinforce long-term memory retention. Anki is an example of SRS, as it schedules flashcard reviews at optimal intervals based on an algorithm. The video highlights SRS as an effective method for studying and retaining the CCNA course material.

💡Decks

In Anki, decks are collections of flashcards organized around a specific topic or subject. The video demonstrates creating a parent deck called 'CCNA' and importing the provided flashcard decks for each day of the course as sub-decks. This organizational structure allows learners to review flashcards from all course days together or focus on a specific day's content. The instructor advises managing deck additions and reviews to prevent overwhelming the learner with too many new cards at once.

💡Intervals

Intervals refer to the time periods between flashcard reviews in Anki. The SRS algorithm adjusts these intervals based on the learner's performance. If a card is answered correctly, the interval before the next review increases, reinforcing long-term retention. If a card is answered incorrectly, the interval decreases to provide more frequent reviews. The video explains how Anki starts with short intervals for new cards and gradually increases them as the learner demonstrates mastery.

💡Learning

In Anki, 'Learning' is a category that represents flashcards that have been introduced but not yet fully committed to memory. The video explains that new cards must be reviewed twice on the first day, with the first review categorized as 'New' and the second as 'Learning.' After these initial reviews, correctly answered cards move to the 'Review' category, where Anki schedules them for spaced repetition based on the established intervals.

💡Reviews

Reviews refer to the process of studying and answering flashcards in Anki. The video emphasizes the importance of completing the scheduled reviews every day to prevent an accumulation of overdue cards. Consistent reviewing is crucial for the SRS algorithm to work effectively and reinforce long-term memory retention. The instructor recommends adding new flashcard decks gradually and keeping up with daily reviews to avoid overwhelming the learner.

💡Long-term memory

Long-term memory is the persistent storage of information in the brain, allowing for recall over an extended period. The video positions Anki and spaced repetition as tools to aid in transferring knowledge from short-term to long-term memory. By reviewing flashcards at optimal intervals, learners can actively reinforce the retention of CCNA course concepts in their long-term memory, making the information more readily accessible for recall during certification exams or practical applications.

💡Retention

Retention refers to the ability to hold and recall information over time. The video highlights Anki's spaced repetition algorithm as an effective method for improving retention of the CCNA course material. By scheduling flashcard reviews at gradually increasing intervals, Anki helps reinforce the learner's retention of key networking concepts covered in the lectures. The instructor emphasizes the importance of consistent reviews and using Anki to actively choose what information is retained in long-term memory.

Highlights

Anki is an example of SRS, Spaced Repetition Software, which allows you to create flashcards and schedules reviews to help information stay in your long-term memory.

The developer uses the sales of the iPhone app to fund Anki's development, with the iPhone version costing $25 at the time of recording.

You can use the web browser version of Anki at ankiweb.net to review flashcards on an iPhone without buying the app, though it is limited.

The speaker recommends creating a parent deck for the course and importing the decks for each day as sub-decks.

The speaker provides a link to receive the flashcards and Packet Tracer lab files for the course.

The speaker demonstrates how to import the flashcards into Anki and increase the maximum number of daily new cards and reviews.

The speaker recommends making the flashcard decks for each day sub-decks of the parent deck for flexibility in learning and reviewing.

The speaker explains the Anki review process and the different options (Again, Hard, Good, Easy) for scheduling reviews based on understanding.

The speaker recommends using only the Again and Good buttons to keep the review process simple.

The speaker explains the concept of Anki's SRS algorithm, where correctly answering a card increases the review interval to help retain the information long-term.

The speaker advises against adding too many new decks at once, as it can lead to an accumulation of reviews that becomes difficult to manage.

The speaker recommends adding each flashcard deck after studying the corresponding day's lecture video.

The speaker suggests reviewing the flashcards by clicking on the parent 'CCNA' deck rather than each individual sub-deck.

The speaker acknowledges that the video only covers the basics of using Anki with the provided flashcards, and Anki has more advanced capabilities for creating custom flashcards.

The speaker highly recommends using the Anki flashcards with the course, as they can be very helpful for remembering what was studied.

Transcripts

Welcome to Jeremy’s IT Lab.

This is a complete course for the CCNA, Cisco Certified Network Associate.

In this video we will look at one of the supplemental resources I provide for this course, Anki

flashcards.

For most lecture videos of the course I will provide a deck of flashcards that you can

open in the Anki app.

These flashcards will help you review and remember important information covered in

each lecture.

Anki is an example of SRS, Spaced Repetition Software.

It allows you to create flashcards, as well as import pre-made flashcards such as the

ones I provide.

Anki’s algorithm schedules flashcard reviews for you each day to help information stay

in your long-term memory.

You don’t have to use the flashcards for this course, but I highly recommend that you

try them, at least.

So, this is the Anki homepage, apps.ankiweb.net.

If you want to really learn how to use Anki well you can click on the Docs link up here

to read their documentation.

But I’ll show you the basics in this video that you need to use my flashcards for this

course.

So, let’s click on Download, and it brings us down here where we can download Anki.

It’s available for Windows, Mac, Linux, as well as iPhone and Android.

I use Windows, so I’ve downloaded and installed the latest version available for Windows.

All versions of Anki except the iPhone version are free.

The developer uses the sales of the iPhone app to fund Anki’s development.

At the time I’m making this video the iPhone version is 25 dollars.

If you are using the Anki flashcards it’s very convenient to be able to review them

both on your desktop and on the go, so I purchased the iPhone app myself.

But if you have an iPhone and don’t want to spend the 25 dollars, there is a web browser

version of Anki available at ankiweb.net.

You can use this web app on an iPhone to review your Anki flashcards without having to buy

the Anki app.

It’s limited, but good enough for just reviewing flashcards.

Anyway, download the latest version of Anki available for your platform and install it

like any other app.

Once you install it and open the app, it will look like this.

We could spend a lot of time looking at the various functionalities of Anki, it’s quite

a flexible app.

But for this video let me just walk through what you need to know to use the flashcards

in this course.

And note that what I’m showing you in this video is just my recommendation for how to

set up Anki.

There are other ways you can set up your Anki decks for studying, so feel free to experiment

if you want to.

Anyway, when you first open the app, you will see this ‘Default’ deck here.

This deck will be here until you create or import another deck.

So, let’s create a deck by clicking the Create Deck button down here.

I’ll name it CCNA and click OK.

Notice the CCNA deck has now replaced the default deck.

We’re going to use this CCNA deck as a ‘parent’ deck, and import the decks for each day of

my CCNA course as sub-decks of this one.

Now, how can you get the flashcards for my course?

Let’s go to the first video of the course, Day 1 – Network Devices.

The link to get both the Anki flashcards and the Packet Tracer lab files is in the top

line of the description of the videos, where it says ‘Free CCNA flashcards and packet

tracer lab files for the course.

The link is jitl.jp/ccna-files.

If you click on that link, you will be redirected to this page.

If you want you can just type in this URL directly, sendfox.com/jeremysitlab.

To receive the files, enter your first name here, your email address, and then click on

Join.

What should happen after that is you will get an email to confirm your address, and

after you confirm your email address you will get the email with the links for the flashcards

and packet tracer labs.

As I’ve written above, if there are any issues send me an email at [email protected].

I check my emails at least once a day, so I’ll get back to you.

But, before sending an email please wait at least 10 minutes.

I often get emails from people saying they couldn’t receive the flashcards, and then

a few minutes later they send me another email saying nevermind, the email came.

So, please wait at least 10 minutes.

And note that, if you don’t want any further emails from me after receiving the link for

the flashcards and labs, feel free to unsubscribe from the mailing list.

The files are all in a Google Drive and labeled by the day of the course: Day 1 flashcards,

Day 1 lab, Day 2 flashcards, Day 2 lab, etc.

All of the files are in this one drive, no need to sign up multiple times.

And actually you won’t be able to sign up multiple times if you try.

The email system I use will only send each email to each address once.

I highly recommend bookmarking this Google Drive so you can access the files easily.

For this demonstration I’ve download the flashcards for Day 1 and Day 2, here they

are in the folder.

To import them into Anki you can simply click on the files.

I’ll import Day 1 by clicking on it, and click close on this notification.

And then do the same for Day 2.

Now both decks are imported into Anki.

Notice, next to each deck, there is a ‘20’ indicating that there are 20 new flashcards

in these decks to learn today.

Here’s my first recommendation: increase the maximum number of daily new cards and

reviews.

To do that, click the gear icon for either of the decks.

Notice that the default settings for new cards per day is 20, and maximum reviews per day

is 200.

I don’t want Anki limiting my new cards or reviews, so I’ll just increase these

to 999 and 9999 and click on Save.

Now notice that the Day 1 deck has 22 new cards and the Day 2 deck has 57, those are

the actual number of cards in each deck: before the number of new cards Anki would show was

limited by that setting.

Of course, you don’t have to increase the limits, that’s just what I do.

My next recommendation is to make the flashcard decks for each day of the course sub-decks

of this CCNA deck we made earlier.

To do that, click on the deck name and drag and drop it on to the CCNA deck.

I’ll do it for both decks.

Now the CCNA deck has 79 new cards ready for us to learn, but if I click the plus icon

next to the deck name I can see the individual sub-decks.

So, this gives more flexibility in learning and reviewing cards.

If you want to review flashcards from all days of the course at once, you can click

on the CCNA deck.

But if you just want to review cards from a particular day of the course, you can click

on that particular deck.

For this demonstration I’ll just show the Day 1 cards.

To review cards in a deck, click on the deck’s name.

And then click on Study Now.

So, here’s the first flashcard we are shown.

The ellipses in square brackets is the information you have to remember.

That’s the format I use for my flashcards.

So, think of the answer, and then to check if you’re correct click on Show Answer down

here.

Now there are a few options.

If you got the answer wrong, you can click Again.

And note that it says ‘less than 1 minute’ above.

That means Anki will show you the card again within 1 minute, so you can try again to get

the right answer.

If you got the right answer but it was hard, it took some time to remember, you can click

on hard.

In that case it will show the card again within 6 minutes.

‘Good’ is the normal option, it will show the card again within 10 minutes.

And if the card is easy you can click on that and it will show the card again in 4 days.

Personally, I recommend using only the Again and Good buttons.

If you answered correctly, click Good.

If you didn’t, click Again.

Nice and simple.

I’ll click on good, and now that’s our first card done for now.

Notice above the Show Answer button, the blue number is now 21, those are the new cards,

and now there is a red 1.

That card has just moved from ‘New’ to ‘Learning’.

In Anki, new cards must be reviewed twice in the first day.

The first time they will be included in the blue number, meaning ‘New’.

The second time, they will be included in the red number, meaning ‘Learning’.

After that, when Anki shows us that card in the future, it will be in the green category,

meaning ‘Review’.

Let me demonstrate.

I’ll just use the space bar to go through these new cards.

If you hit space bar the option in blue will be selected, which is ‘Good’ in this case.

And each time I select ‘Good’ on one of the new cards it is moved over to the ‘Learning’

category.

After we get back to the first card and hit Show Answer again, notice that this time if

I select ‘Good’ the interval is increased to 1 day.

That means tomorrow Anki will show me the card again.

If I answer correctly again tomorrow, that interval will increase, maybe to 3 days.

If I answer correctly that time it’ll increase again, for example maybe to 5 or 6 days after

that.

That’s the power of SRS apps like Anki.

As you correctly answer each flashcard, that flashcard’s interval increases to help that

information stay in your long term memory.

I’ll just use the space bar again to go through these cards, and then this deck will

be done for today.

Tomorrow, Anki will show me all of these cards again, because they all have a review interval

of 1 day currently.

I’ll click on Decks to return to the menu again.

So, now next to the Day 1 deck there are 0 new cards.

Tomorrow Anki will show me those cards again for review, they will appear under the ‘Due’

column.

Before wrapping up, let me give a bit of advice.

First is to not add more than one deck at a time.

For this demonstration I added both Day 1 and Day 2, but I’m only learning the Day

1 cards.

If you add too many new cards each day, the number of reviews Anki will give you every

day will accumulate and take a lot of time to review.

And make sure to do the reviews Anki schedules for you every day, because if you miss a day

or two that will also cause the scheduled reviews to accumulate and it will be hard

to catch up.

My personal recommendation is to add each flashcard deck after you have studied that

particular day’s lecture video.

After you’ve studied Day 1, add the Day 1 deck.

After you’ve studied Day 2, add the Day 2 deck, etc.

Then do the scheduled reviews every day by just clicking on the parent ‘CCNA’ deck,

rather than each individual sub-deck.

But as I said before, these are just my recommendations, you are free to use Anki as you wish.

In this video I only showed the basics you need to review my flashcards, but you can

do a lot more in Anki such as creating your own flashcards.

I recommend spending some time getting familiar with Anki and its capabilities.

It’s a great study tool, not just for the CCNA but for anything.

By making and reviewing effective flashcards you can choose exactly what information you

will remember, rather than leaving it up to chance what information your brain will remember

and what information it will forget.

Okay, that was a quick introduction to Anki.

You don’t have to use the Anki flashcards with this course, but I highly recommend that

you try them.

I think you’ll find that they are very helpful for remembering what you studied.

Anki is quite popular on the Internet these days, so if you want to learn more about Anki

and how to use it, check out Google, YouTube, and Anki’s documentation.

That’s all for this video.

Thanks for watching.