Hello, I am about a week into studying for the MCAT and think I may have messed up my FSRS settings. I clicked optimize for them and am getting these intervals. Should I reset the FSRS settings back to default and go from there or should I keep them as I have them?
ANKI STATS.pdf (1.3 MB)
I’ll help you understand whether your FSRS settings might need adjustment. Let me search for some relevant information first.
Found 1 result for 'tags:official FSRS optimize parameters status:public'
Found 1 result for 'tags:official FSRS parameters reset status:public'
Hi there! Let me help with your FSRS parameters concerns.
Based on your screenshots and the timing of your study (only a week into MCAT prep), the issue is likely that you’ve optimized FSRS parameters too early. According to Anki’s documentation on FSRS:
If you have less than 1,000 reviews, you can use the default parameters that are already entered into the “FSRS parameters” field. Even with the default parameters, FSRS should work well for most users.
Once you’ve done 1000+ reviews in Anki, you can use the
Optimizebutton to analyze your review history…
Your parameters appear to have been optimized with insufficient review data (one week is typically not enough to gather the 1000+ reviews recommended), which can lead to suboptimal scheduling.
Reset to default FSRS parameters: This is the safest approach when starting out, especially for high-stakes exam prep like the MCAT.
Wait to optimize: Continue using the default parameters until you’ve accumulated at least 1000+ reviews over a few months of consistent studying.
Check your learning steps: Make sure your (re)learning steps are less than a day, as recommended for FSRS: “By keeping your learning steps under a day, you will allow FSRS to schedule cards at times it has calculated are optimum for your material and memory.”
The default FSRS parameters are designed to work well for most users, and premature optimization with limited data can lead to unusual scheduling patterns like what you’re seeing.
Would you like more specific guidance on how to reset your FSRS parameters to default?
I am doing reviews multiple times a day now with these current settings so I already technically have 1000 reviews. If I reset to default FSRS will it mess with my retention. I also did try resetting it and am getting 1 day for again and 1 day for good options
I’ll help you understand what’s happening with your FSRS settings and reviews.
Even though you’ve completed many reviews in your short study period, there’s an important distinction to make about FSRS optimization:
The 1000+ reviews recommendation isn’t just about quantity but about having a diverse range of review intervals over time. One week of intensive studying, even with multiple daily reviews, doesn’t provide the algorithm with enough temporal data about your long-term memory patterns.
Found 1 result for 'tags:official FSRS default parameters status:public'
I understand your concern about having already accumulated many reviews and seeing unusual intervals after resetting to default parameters.
While you’ve done many reviews in a short time, FSRS optimization works best with reviews spread over time rather than concentrated in a short period. The system needs to see how your memory behaves over different intervals to properly calibrate. Multiple reviews of the same cards in the same day don’t provide as much useful data for optimization as reviews spread across weeks or months.
If you’re seeing 1-day intervals for both “Again” and “Good” after resetting, this suggests there might be an issue with your learning steps configuration or another setting. This is not typical behavior for default FSRS parameters.
Here’s what to check:
Resetting to default FSRS parameters should not negatively impact your long-term retention, especially if your current parameters are causing unusual scheduling. The default parameters are designed to work well for most users.
If you’re concerned about specific cards getting pushed too far out, you can:
This way, future scheduling will use the default algorithm without immediately changing your current due dates.
Would you like me to provide more specific steps for troubleshooting the 1-day interval issue you’re experiencing?
If I leave the learning steps blank, will that also mess with it or should I set it to an hour ten minutes.
I need to search for more information about learning steps with FSRS to provide you with accurate advice.
Found 5 results for 'tags:official FSRS learning steps status:public'
You should definitely not leave the learning steps blank, as this would significantly impact how FSRS works. Learning steps are an essential part of the spaced repetition system.
For FSRS to work effectively, you should set learning steps that are:
A standard and effective configuration would be:
With FSRS, having proper learning steps is important because:
If you’re seeing 1-day intervals for both “Again” and “Good”, it likely means there’s an issue with how your deck is configured for FSRS, and setting proper learning steps should help resolve this.
Would you like additional guidance on other FSRS settings that might help optimize your MCAT study experience?
what about lapse settings
Lapse settings are just as important as learning steps when using FSRS. Here’s what you should know about configuring your lapse settings:
Similar to learning steps, your lapse steps (relearning steps) should be:
A good configuration would be:
From Anki’s documentation on FSRS:
(Re)learning steps of 1+ days are not recommended when using FSRS. The main reason they were popular with the old SM-2 scheduler is because repeatedly failing a card after it has graduated from the learning phase could reduce its ease a lot, leading to what some people called “ease hell”. This is not a problem that FSRS suffers from.
Setting appropriate lapse steps will help ensure your MCAT studying is more efficient and that cards you’ve forgotten are properly rescheduled by the FSRS algorithm.
Hello,
I don’t see anything wrong with your intervals. You have good retention, and your average interval is currently 5 days.
Have you noticed anything unusual?
I recommend keeping your current settings and optimizing them at most once per month. Your retention is very high, so future optimizations will likely help you reduce your daily reviews even further! 
Sorry, I forgot to show the intervals of time that I had on the cards.
Can you please send a screenshot of the deck settings? (Not only the FSRS)
It seems a little bit off. You might be reviewing too much without needing to.
For now, it’s recommended to keep something in the Learning steps. FSRS recently added the ability to handle learning steps on its own, but it’s not quite accurate yet.
You can tinker with these steps to see what works best for you — just avoid setting them to 1 day or more. Try using 10m or 15m in the Learning steps and see how it goes.
You can also set 15m in the Relearning steps.
If the intervals still seem off, try resetting the FSRS settings by clicking the round arrow. Make sure to save before closing the settings screen.
In theory, if you’re getting the cards correct and click to optimize, FSRS should decrease the number of reviews — not increase it, which seems to be happening in your case.
These cards I were having trouble with are learning cards does that change anything or should I still follow your advice. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.
It does not change anything. You can also adjust the learning steps later based on your preferences. These changes aren’t final, you can modify them at any time, and the new settings will take effect immediately.
