Using Anki | Studying Effectively for GCSE's & A-level's
Summary
TLDRThis video tutorial guides viewers on integrating flashcards into Anki, a popular study tool, focusing on GCSE students. It covers creating decks, adding flashcards with tags for organized studying, and customizing study sessions. The host shares tips on efficient note-taking, leveraging Anki's features for effective learning, and managing 'leech' cards that frequently cause lapses in memory. The video also touches on the importance of active recall and the gradual improvement of memory retention through consistent Anki use.
Takeaways
- 📚 Start by creating a deck in Anki for organizing flashcards, such as a 'Chemistry' deck with sub-decks for specific topics like 'Organic'.
- 🔖 Add flashcards to Anki by copying and pasting content, ensuring to reformat if necessary, and using tags for specification sections to create custom study decks.
- ✂️ Use the snipping tool for copying tables or diagrams that don't copy well directly into Anki.
- 💡 The process of creating notes in Google Docs before turning them into flashcards is recommended for easier editing and combining of cards.
- 🚀 Establish a daily Anki routine, which can vary in duration based on the number of flashcards and personal study pace.
- 🔄 Understand that Anki limits new cards to 20 per deck per day to prevent information overload, but this limit can be adjusted in settings.
- 💪 Make an active effort to recall information during flashcard reviews to strengthen neural connections and improve future recall.
- 🔍 Use a scrap piece of paper or the Anki app's whiteboard feature to sketch and compare with flashcards involving diagrams or chemical reactions.
- 🎓 Utilize custom study decks created from tags to focus on specific topics for upcoming tests or exam preparation.
- 🔑 Recognize 'leech' cards that are consistently difficult to remember and address them by editing or re-understanding the topic to improve retention.
- ✏️ Edit and delete flashcards as you encounter better ways to phrase information or identify unnecessary details through practice and past papers.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is about adding flashcards made from previous notes into Anki, a flashcard application, and discussing features of Anki that are useful for GCSE students.
What is the first step in adding flashcards to Anki as described in the video?
-The first step is to create a deck by pressing the 'create deck' button and naming it, such as 'Chemistry'.
How can sub-decks be created within a main deck in Anki?
-Sub-decks can be created by making a new deck, such as an 'Organic' deck, and then dragging and dropping it into the main 'Chemistry' deck.
What is the purpose of adding tags to flashcards in Anki?
-Tags are added to flashcards to reference the specification and to create custom study decks based on these tags for upcoming topic tests.
Why does the video suggest copying and pasting flashcards from Google Docs to Anki instead of creating them directly in Anki?
-It is easier to make notes all in one document using various resources, then turn them into flashcards in the same document because it allows for better organization and editing before transferring to Anki.
What is the recommended way to copy and paste tables or maps into Anki if they do not copy well directly?
-The video suggests using the snipping tool to take a screenshot of the table or map and then paste it into Anki.
How often should a student review their Anki flashcards according to the video?
-The video suggests reviewing Anki flashcards daily, with the frequency and duration depending on the number of flashcards due for that day.
What is the maximum number of new flashcards per deck per day that Anki will show by default, and why is this limit set?
-Anki shows up to 20 new flashcards per deck per day by default to avoid overwhelming the user with too much new information at once.
What is a 'leech' card in Anki and how is it identified?
-A 'leech' card in Anki is a card that has been marked as difficult to remember, identified by the user pressing the 'again' button eight times for a card, causing it to lapse and be tagged as a leech.
How can custom study decks be created in Anki using tags?
-Custom study decks can be created by going to a deck, pressing 'custom study', choosing 'study by called state or tag', selecting the desired tags, and then pressing 'choose tags' to create a session with those flashcards.
What is the purpose of the 'mark' feature in Anki and how is it used?
-The 'mark' feature in Anki is used to flag flashcards that need attention, such as those with potential issues or those that need to be reviewed later. It is used by pressing 'mark' under the 'more' options.
How can a student tell if a flashcard is useful or not while reviewing for exams?
-A student can determine the usefulness of a flashcard by doing more practice questions and past papers, which will give them a sense of what information is commonly looked for by examiners and what is not.
Outlines
📚 Introducing Anki and Flashcard Integration
This paragraph introduces the process of integrating flashcards into Anki, a popular digital flashcard tool. The speaker explains how to create a deck for chemistry, including sub-decks for specific topics like organic chemistry. They discuss the method of adding flashcards, formatting issues that may arise, and the use of tags to categorize and organize flashcards. The speaker also shares a personal strategy for combining flashcards and emphasizes the benefits of creating flashcards from Google Docs before transferring them to Anki.
🔄 Daily Anki Review Routine and Custom Study Decks
The speaker outlines a daily Anki review routine, suggesting that the time spent reviewing flashcards can vary depending on the number of new cards and the individual's familiarity with the content. They explain Anki's limit of showing up to 20 new cards per deck per day to prevent information overload and how this limit can be adjusted. The paragraph also covers the importance of active recall and the benefits of saying answers out loud. Additionally, the speaker introduces the concept of custom study decks created using tags and demonstrates how to use them for focused review sessions.
🔄 Addressing Forgetfulness with Anki's Leech Card Feature
This section delves into Anki's leech card feature, which helps users identify and address cards that are frequently forgotten. The speaker explains how a card becomes a leech card after eight lapses and how these cards can be suspended or simply tagged. They provide guidance on how to view, edit, and unsuspend leech cards, as well as how to adjust the settings for what constitutes a leech card. The importance of regularly checking for leech cards and making necessary adjustments to flashcards is emphasized.
✏️ Editing and Marking Flashcards for Effective Revision
The final paragraph discusses the process of editing and deleting flashcards in Anki based on the user's evolving understanding of the material and their experience with practice questions. The speaker shares insights on refining flashcards to include only the most relevant information and deleting those that are deemed unnecessary. They also introduce the 'marked' feature in Anki for flagging cards that require further attention or changes. The paragraph concludes with advice on balancing the level of detail in flashcards and the importance of adapting them based on real exam experiences.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Anki
💡Flashcards
💡Spaced Repetition
💡Deck
💡Tags
💡Custom Study Decks
💡Leech Cards
💡Lapses
💡Cramming
💡Marked Cards
💡Bury
Highlights
Introduction to adding flashcards made in a previous video into Anki, a digital flashcard tool.
Creating a deck in Anki and organizing sub-decks for specific topics like 'Organic Chemistry'.
Method of copying and pasting flashcards into Anki and adjusting formatting as needed.
Utilizing tags in Anki to reference specific sections of the specification for organized studying.
Explanation of the benefits of creating flashcards in Google Docs before transferring to Anki.
The process of daily Anki reviews and adjusting the number of new cards shown per day if necessary.
Importance of active recall when using flashcards and the benefits of effortful learning.
Techniques for dealing with complex flashcards involving proofs, maps, or chemical reactions.
Creating custom study decks in Anki using tags for focused review sessions.
Managing the review process by understanding how Anki schedules cards for review based on performance.
Identifying and handling 'leech' cards in Anki that are frequently forgotten.
Advice on editing flashcards based on practice exam questions and past papers.
The use of the 'Mark' feature in Anki for noting cards that need further review or editing.
Strategies for refining flashcards by removing unnecessary information and focusing on essential details.
Discussion on the importance of not over-relying on resources and the value of encountering information through practice.
Final thoughts on the process of creating and managing Anki flashcards for effective studying.
Transcripts
hey friends and welcome back to cyber
series and something effectively for
jesus these nail arlors
in the previous video we learned about
the basics of anki in 15 minutes
and in the one before that we learned
about how we can uh learn new content
for the first time
and made flashcards on that content in
this video we will be adding the
flashcards we made
onto anki and discuss a few features of
anki that are useful for gcse's nailers
as always timestamps will be in the
description down below so do check those
out during the video so now we can start
adding the flashcards that we made in
the previous video ontanki so the first
thing we do is create a deck by pressing
the create deck button
and writing the deck name which is
chemistry and we can create a deck
inside this deck
such as an organic deck by creating that
and then dragging and dropping it
into the chemistry deck so we can start
adding flashcards to it by pressing add
and then on the deck section we choose
chemistry organic
and for now we choose basic and we can
just start copying and pasting these
flashcards over into an keys so the
front of the flashcard
is uh how can female reactions be
grouped
and then paste this onto the back of the
flashcards and i like to make this
unbolt
and now for the tags section what i do
is i reference the specification
so this part of the specification is
6.1.1 aromatic compounds
so what i write in the tags section is
6.1.1
aromatic compounds and then i press add
and you can see the tag stays the same
here so i can start adding the
laser flash cards as well and the nice
thing about having the tag
that you'll see later in the video is
that we can create custom study decks
based on these tags for any upcoming
topic tests we may have
so now if i just add the rest of these
flashcards
so now i finish adding these flashcards
on tanki and you can see that in some
cases i had to reformat the flashcart
for example if i copy and paste these
two bullet points in tanki
and you can see that one of the bullet
points ends up here and the one doesn't
so i press the delete button on the end
of this row
and then press enter again and both of
the bullet points end up
together also if you want to copy and
paste any maps or chemistry equations on
tanki
and have them come out nicely then i
have a video on how to do that which is
linked above right now and for other
cases when there's a table or something
which you can't exactly copy on tanki
i usually just press windows shift ns to
copy open up the snipping tool and then
select some area i want
and then pressing paste so whilst it's
easy to copy this image
uh it's quite difficult to copy your
table um which we may have
included in our flashcards so i just use
that now you're probably thinking to
yourself
okay so we made notes on google docs
turn them into flashcards
and now we have to spend time copying
and pasting them into an key
what's the point couldn't we have just
written the flashcards directly into key
to begin with and whilst we could have
it in my experience it's much easier to
make
the notes all in one document using the
various resources that we mentioned
before
and then turn them into flashcards in
the same document that's because it's
often the case that when we make a
flashcard from a bullet point on google
docs
then we realize after making five more
flashcards that we can combine two
flashcards together
or add some information onto an existing
flashcard i find the process of
combining flashcards together and adding
any extra information
as i'm making them from bullet points to
be much easier to do on google docs than
it is on anki
that's because i prefer to easily see
all the flashcards i have
in one document when making them because
on anki after you add a flashcard the
only way to go back to it is to press
the history button over here
and then look through all the flashcards
before and if i were to click on one now
then it would show that flashcard in
isolation and if i go back
and then click on another one then they
would show that as well
now whilst i can go down and select the
tag
i just made which is as 6.1.1 aromatic
compounds i can see all of them right
now
i can't see the contents of the
flashcard and
the images and everything side by side
so whilst you can add them directly on
tanki
it just means that you may have to go
back more often
and maybe add something to a flashcard
you've just made because you didn't
realize at the time
or combine flashcards together and
whatnot now i must admit the process of
copying flashcards over on tanki
it does get quite repetitive so i often
do it late at night before bed when my
brain doesn't have to do any heavy
thinking
and i can play some music or listen to a
podcast episode whilst doing it or
something
right so now that we've added our
flashcards on tanki it's a good idea to
set out some time to go free anki every
day
usually i went through anki every day on
the commute to and from school
which was about an hour in total on my
phone but how long you spend really
depends on how many flash cards you have
to do that day
some days you may have to do around 80
which may take 10 to 30 minutes
depending on how
confident you are with them and how
content heavy they are and on other days
you may have to do only 25.
the variation between days will be
especially noticeable for the first
week or two after using anki but slowly
the flashcards will balance themselves
out
as you get uh some writing offers wrong
and whilst this may seem like a large
time investment
it really isn't doing 10 minutes in the
morning when having your breakfast
and maybe 10 more in the toilet on your
phone or maybe and over five minutes or
when you're waiting for dinner
all these times can add up throughout
the day and you can easily manage to do
all your flashcards during the day it is
worth pointing out if we add a lot of
flashcards in on one day
then anki will only show up to at most
20 new flashcards per deck per day the
idea they have is to not present you
with too much information on one day
because they think they may overwhelm
you and there's only so much new
information you can remember each day
but if you find 20 to be too low then
you can override this default setting
by clicking on the cogs of any deck
and then going to options and then
choosing
options group default and then where it
says
new cards per day you can set that to
maybe like 30 or something and do
remember that learning is a gradual
process
it's not black and white in that one
moment you don't know it and the next
you do
when you see a flashcard it may be
difficult to recall the answer
but don't give up too easily because if
you manage to recall the answer
then your brain will strengthen those
synapse connections
for that piece of information making it
easier to recall the next time
and the next time the following time and
you'll get faster and faster recalling
it in general the more we're using our
brains when learning this information
free flashcards
the better it is in other words the more
effort you put into recalling something
the easier will be the next time
so try not to give up and look at the
answer too soon try making an
active effort to recall the information
and maybe if you can't recall it for
about 30 minutes seconds to a minute
then you should look onto the other side
if you can't recall information and you
make no effort to recall information
and you just keep looking on the answer
after maybe five or ten seconds
then you won't learn as much i also find
it helpful to say the answer out loud or
under my breath with my lips moving
because it also helps you to avoid you
tricking yourself then you go down to
rights also as you gradually do more
flashcards you will find yourself
becoming more confident with the
material
and being able to recall the things to
do with the topic quickly in class
and in exam questions you may slowly
find yourself building a mental model
on the whole topic and how all the
flashcards fit together and occasionally
because the order is randomized you may
have two flashcards shown close together
and discover links between them also for
flashcards involving proofs and maps
or drawing chemical reactions or
molecules
i usually find it helpful to use a scrap
piece of paper and a pen
when i'm going through the flashcards on
a computer or using the whiteboard
feature on the anki
app on your phone this helps me to
sketch out the molecule or reaction or
something
and then compare with the actual flash
card see how much i got right so here i
have all the actual flash cards which i
used during my a levels
you can see that i have a lot of cards
due because i'm no longer doing a levels
and don't need to go over these
flashcards anymore although if you want
to use them then there is a link to
download them in the description down
below so another thing we can do is
create custom study decks by
uh using the tags that we add onto
flashcards early in the video
so you can see all my uh physics
flashcards are in a single deck
so if i go to the physics deck and press
custom study
and then press study by called state or
tag and then choose
all review cards in a random order and
press choose tags
and now select require one or more of
these tags so let's say i have a topic
test coming up on capacitance and
electric fields
so if i scroll down and then select
capacitance
and hold the control button down and
select electric fields
then it selects both of them and i can
press ok
so now it's created a custom study
session and if i go back to dex and you
can see it appears over here
so i can press study now and start going
through these uh
decks and once i finish going through
the flashcards it says you finish a deck
for now
so i go back to dex and i can see that
and nothing is true from this deck
so i can then press uh the delete button
and then
the flashcards in that custom study deck
will go back to the original physics
deck and this process is known as
cramming flashcards because you
essentially repeat flashcards in the
short term
using specific tags and i did something
quite similar before my actual exams
so for my physics exam if i press custom
study
study again all cards in random order
i know that um these topics uh
these topics over here they all appear
on a single paper
so if i just select all these topics
they all appear in paper one
and then unselect these topics and press
ok
now i have a 180 flashcards study for my
paper one exam
and usually by this point i've studied
the flashcards enough
um such that when i actually go through
the answers then i can go through them
very quickly
because i've studied them enough
throughout the year this is just a
chance for me to review the material
once more and keep it fresh in my mind
for the exam which may be happening
tomorrow the day after so now and
everything to point out in an key i'll
call
each cards so when you're reviewing
flashcards and getting them right
then the interval between reviews slowly
increases
but for some cards you may get it right
and then have it show up a day later
only to then forget it and choose the
gain option every time you choose a gain
option after
getting a flashcard and the flashcard is
said to have elapsed this means that the
spacing between reviews of the card
has been sent back to zero now this
isn't a bad thing this is what you want
because it means that you're reviewing
the material
and you're getting wrong more often
which makes revision more effective but
it becomes concerning when you keep
forgetting the same card over and over
because it means a card ends up taking
too much of your time so and key cards
these cards
leech cards and it helps you to identify
the leech cards
so by default if you press a gain button
eight times for a card
then it will be marked as a leech in
other words if a card lapses eight times
then it will be tagged as a leech and it
will be suspended which means that it
won't appear again during your review
sessions anymore so if you want to see
which of your cards of leach cards
you can go to browse and then scroll
down and on the left hand side
you should see a tag which says
leech and now you can see all these
cards here are leach cards
and then leech cards because i kept
getting them wrong so often
uh by pressing the gain button so since
you're getting these cards wrong so
often
it means that either something is wrong
with the card such as it's not well
worded
or you keep from getting it which means
you may have to go back and
re-understand the topic using your notes
videos help from your teacher and
whatnot and then edit the flash card to
improve it and after you've done that
for example if i've edited this then all
i do is go over here
and remove the leech tag and remember
that the tags are separated by space so
if i remove the leech tag then it only
has one tag now and then if i just press
enter and then if i reload this leech
tag
and you can see that card at the top has
gone back to being normal and now if you
don't want the card to be suspended
and only wanted to be tagged as leech
meaning it was still up in your decks
but we'll have that tag or you want to
change how many lapses
it takes for the card to be marked as
leech then you can do this by clicking
on any of the cogs
and then pressing options uh choosing
the default options group
and then going to lapses and then where
it says leech
threshold you can change this to say 10
lapses 12 lapses
and you can choose a niche action to be
either suspend card
or tag only so i usually keep here 8
lapses and choose tag only and then
press ok
and now i would recommend checking every
week for any new leech cards
and do you know that ankit doesn't
magically make the card a leech card
without telling you
if you're on your a flaps with a card
then it will give you a warning that the
card has been marked as a leech in the
bottom
corner and that you may not see it again
until you do something about it
which is by removing the leech tag
by going to the leech tag here
and then just removing any of these
leech tags after making your
improvements to god and do bear in mind
that if you have changed your setting
from suspend
to tag only then you may have some niche
cards which have been suspended from
uh before when you didn't know about
leach cards
so if you scroll down then you should be
able to see some codes in yellow which
have been suspended
so to unsuspend them you just select
them all
by holding shift and then right clicking
and press toggle suspend
and now you can see the yellow around it
disappears
and by the way the purple also means
that it's mocked
so then we can just go back to removing
the leech tags
for each of these and then reload the
leech tag from here and they'll
disappear
and another useful thing to do is to
edit or delete your flashcards
whilst going through them you may
occasionally spot a mistake or want to
change your wording of something
and on both your phone and your computer
you can simply press the edit button
which is in the bottom left on the
computer and then just make the changes
here
so if i were to i don't know remove this
airflow stop
press close then you can see that
that's now gone now the mean time i
edited my flashcards was as i did
uh practice exam questions and past
papers on the side
whenever i do an exam question and mark
it now write down some of the keywords
from the mock scheme on a separate piece
of paper
and then find out where my flashcard on
that information
is and by going to browse and then
filtering through tags and stuff
or by going to google doc which i
mentioned before because that's easy to
find there
and then after finding the code i uh
reword it and i make certain things bold
and underline them
to remind me that that's what i'm going
to have to mention
to mark the flash card as rights when
i'm going over it and if i don't mention
those keywords and i can't market as
right for myself
now it doesn't mean that you will get
the existing question wrong the next
time you review that material
but it also means that you will be using
the words the mock scheme likes to use
and the examiner pretty much has to give
you the mark in that case
and do remember that often mock schemes
are similar for similar questions year
by year
they may put a new spin on the question
or put some new context on it
but if the question is similar to one
you've already done then you will know
what keywords a mock steam is looking
for because
it still looks for the same keywords
also if you do more and more
past papers and exam questions you will
begin to get a sense of what information
is useful and what isn't
when reviewing the flashcards then i
would often realize that there's too
much unnecessary information here
and edit it to remove it and in some
cases when i'm convinced that there's no
way they'll have asked a question
on that flash card and then i would just
delete the flash card by going to more
and then pressing delete note but in
this case
i've seen this question come up so i'm
not going to delete this obviously it's
quite difficult to describe but doing
more exam questions and past papers
gives you a feeling for what is useful
and what isn't so like i said
in an earlier video try not to get too
worried about getting the level of
detail just right you can always trim
down on any excess information
and for any information you may be
missing as
uh you will find out before you're doing
practice questions
uh you can just make a new flashcard on
that piece of information this also
means that you shouldn't use tons of
resources when making your flashcards
and worrying about getting
every single small piece of information
on them if that if that information is
important
then it will come up on a previous exam
question or something
and by doing enough questions then you
will encounter that piece of information
if it doesn't come up on any of them but
it does on your real exam
then most of the people won't get that
question right either so it doesn't
really make see much of a difference in
grade boundaries
and after editing and deleting
flashcards you can always go back to
google doc
and edit and delete it here but i didn't
really bother because i knew my
anki flashcards the ones i had on here
were going to be the latest version
and this didn't really matter too much
in there and now another nice feature
i'd like to use is marking flashcards
the only time i tended to use this was
when there was an issue with the
flashcard
for example if i think that the picture
wasn't very good and i wanted to change
it
but didn't have time to do it now or was
using my phone
and then i would make that into a marked
flashcard
by going to more and then pressing mark
note so now you can see the see a little
star appears in top right and usually i
find it helpful to also edit the card
and write a note to myself such as
mark colon check
the equation is correct so if i don't
have time to fully check the equation
then i
will go do that later and then press
bury note
and this means that you won't see it
again for the rest of today and you'll
see it again tomorrow
and then go to browse and then if i go
to
the marked tag here then you can see all
the cards that i've marked over here and
if i go to one that i just mocked
um wherever it is i think it was
combustion
and you can see it's over here and then
i can just edit
the card and check the equation it's all
right
and then remove the tag for marked so
it's no longer marked
so i also use this feature when
reviewing a flashcard and noticing it
was a very similar to another flashcard
i had previously encountered and i
wanted to combine the two flashcards
together
or even when i felt there was some
tension between two flashcards because
something in one flashcard would
contradict it was something else i knew
i would mark it write a sentence uh by
editing it
and then make some time to resolve the
complex light in the day
and that's just by going through uh
going to browse and then pressing marked
and these are the flashcards i've marked
and probably need to go free at some
points and
make some changes too and then just
removing the marked tag but yeah that's
basically for this video and i'll see
you next one in the series
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