I am using it to study for the MCAT and am using a premade deck by AnKing. There are plenty of problems I am running into.
My card totals don’t match up. For example, when I select the deck in the Browse section, it says 5310 cards. But on the home page of Anki, it says 5271 cards. And once I actually click on the deck itself from the home page, it says 2876 cards.
Difficulty levels vary depending on what subdeck I am in. For example, when I am studying a biochemistry card, the difficulty levels say “Again - 25m Hard - 1d Good - 1d Easy 6d”. Meanwhile, if I am studying a general chemistry card, the difficulty levels say “Again - 25m Hard - 1d Good - 1d Easy 3d”.
Settings I am using (adjusted max interval to 60 and new cards to 9999):
The difference between 5271 cards and 2876 is probably referring to notes versus clozes
1 note can have 3, 4, 5, etc. clozes, so 5271 is the amount of “cards” and 2876 is the amount of “notes”, so don’t worry this is normal
The discrepancy in number can be fixed by resetting local changes
To do this:
Go to browse in your Anki → at the top click on ankihub addon tab → press reset all local changes
This will restore everything to what AnkiHub has unless you have specifically protected those fields
After that you should have all the cards, if there is a slight discrepancy, that is normal.
For your second question, this is related to the Anki algorithm, it is very complex and as long as you are using the same settings for the entire deck, you don’t have to worry. This changes based on if you did the card before, the ease levels, etc.
You can learn more about the algorithm here (keep in mind changes have been made to the algorithm since the publishing of this video so there are slight differences)
The key is to stay consistent and everything will play out!
Card Totals: Anki’s card totals can be a bit confusing because they are influenced by various factors, including subdecks, filtered decks, and card settings. Here’s an explanation for each number you’re seeing:
5310 cards (in the Browse section): This number represents the total number of cards across all decks, including subdecks, and any filtered decks you might have created. It includes all cards in your collection.
5271 cards (on the home page): This number likely represents the total number of cards in your main deck(s) without considering subdecks. It might not include cards in filtered decks.
2876 cards (when you click on a specific subdeck): This number represents the total number of cards in the specific subdeck you clicked on. It doesn’t include cards from other subdecks or the main deck.
To make the numbers match or get a clearer picture, try consolidating your subdecks into one main deck (if that’s feasible) or use specific filtered decks for your study sessions.
Difficulty Levels: The difficulty levels you’re seeing (“Again - 25m Hard - 1d Good - 1d Easy 6d” and “Again - 25m Hard - 1d Good - 1d Easy 3d”) are influenced by your card’s scheduling and intervals. Anki uses a spaced repetition algorithm to determine when you should review cards based on how well you recall them.
The first set of difficulty levels suggests that you should review the card again in 25 minutes, then in 1 day, 1 day, and finally 6 days if you consistently remember it.
The second set of difficulty levels indicates shorter intervals after you mark it as “Easy.” The intervals will vary depending on how well you remember the card during the review.
These intervals are dynamic and adjust based on your performance, so you might see different intervals for different cards.
Settings: Adjusting the maximum interval and new cards settings is a good practice to customize Anki according to your study needs. Setting the max interval to 60 means that cards can be scheduled up to 60 days in the future. Setting new cards to 9999 essentially means that Anki will show you as many new cards as are available in your deck without any limit.
Thanks so much for getting back to me!! [quote=“beshowageh19, post:3, topic:7007”]
2876 cards (when you click on a specific subdeck): This number represents the total number of cards in the specific subdeck you clicked on. It doesn’t include cards from other subdecks or the main deck.
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I specifically clicked on “AnKing - MCAT” on the home page. Shouldn’t that include every card in every sub deck?
In reference to the difficulty levels - I am familiar with what the buttons themselves mean, but I am still unsure about why cards from different sub decks are giving different times for each button pressed. Shouldn’t they be consistent across all sub decks (since I applied the settings to all sub decks)? How do I get “Normal” numbers? It doesn’t make sense that hard and good are both at 1 day
In reference to the scheduling interval - I am studying for the MCAT for four months. Since I want to see a card no less often than once every 60 days, is this the right setting? I didn’t put 9999 because I was afraid that would mean that after selecting “easy” on a card too many times, I would essentially not see it until past my MCAT exam date.
Thank you again for your help. I truly appreciate you a ton!
I have the same card settings applied to all sub decks, though. So why am I having different numbers for different sub decks? Shouldn’t it be consistent? How do I get “Normal” numbers? It doesn’t make sense that hard and good are both at 1 day
I understand your concerns better now. Let’s address your specific questions:
“AnKing - MCAT” Deck: Clicking on “AnKing - MCAT” on the home page should indeed include all the cards from every subdeck within that “AnKing - MCAT” deck. If it’s showing a different card count from what you expected, there may be some cards that are not included in subdecks, or there might be cards in filtered decks that are not part of the main deck. You may want to review your deck organization and check if any cards are not properly categorized.
Inconsistent Difficulty Levels: The inconsistent difficulty levels across subdecks might be due to different initial settings for cards in those subdecks. When you apply settings to subdecks, it should influence new cards added to those subdecks from that point onward. However, it might not automatically adjust settings for existing cards in the subdeck. You might need to manually adjust the settings for cards in each subdeck to ensure consistency. To do this, you can:
Select the subdeck from the deck list.
Go to the “Options” for that subdeck.
Adjust the “New Cards” settings to match your desired intervals.
It might be time-consuming if you have many subdecks, but this should help you achieve consistent difficulty levels.
Scheduling Interval: If you want to see a card no less often than once every 60 days, setting the maximum interval to 60 is appropriate for your four-month MCAT study period. This means that Anki will ensure you review a card at least once every 60 days during that period.
Setting “New Cards” to 9999 is okay as long as you don’t mark cards as “Easy” too frequently, as you mentioned. If you mark a card as “Easy” repeatedly, its interval will increase significantly. If you’re concerned about losing track of important cards, you can always use the “Custom Study” feature to review specific cards or subdecks periodically to prevent them from getting too spaced out.
Remember, Anki’s flexibility allows you to customize your study experience, but it also requires some manual management and adjustment to ensure your study goals are met. It’s a good practice to regularly review and fine-tune your settings and card organization to suit your needs.
BTW, I suggest that you try the Anking palace course it will help you immensely to understand Anki.
Good luck!
@Ahmed7 (another helpful person in these comments) said that it’s probably because of the notes versus clozes. Do you think that’s it? I didn’t change any filters on the deck - all I did was suspend most of the cards.
In addition to saving to all sub-decks after clicking on the AnKing-MCAT text on the home page, I also went into the settings of every sub-deck. They all have the same settings, so I still don’t understand why their difficulty levels are all different. Do you know what I should do to make it consistent?
sorry - not sure I understand. Is it normal for there to be different times for each sub deck or its normal for “hard” and “good” to have the same difficulty level? For both of these situations, isn’t it bad for studying purposes?
Don’t worry too much about it, once your card goes from learning → graduated then it will change and be better. Hard will be something like 7 days and good will be 20 days, its just when you start its like this but not a big deal.
The time changes because of the V3 scheduler (from what I understand)
For example, if 100 new cards I pressed easy on. V2 scheduler (old one) would set ALL the cards to 5 days. So in 5 days i will have 100 cards to do.
V3 scheduler makes it so if i do 100 cards (this is just guessing, it is much more complicated) it will make the easy button 3, 4, 5 days. So now if I press easy on 100 new cards, I will see 33% on the 3rd day, 33% on the 4th, and 33% on the 5th day.
The major benefit is that now I don’t have a huge amount to do on one day, but a moderate amount for 3 days. This prevents huge spikes of cards where one day you have 300 due, but the next day its 1000 due.
This is a oversimplification but these settings are tried and tested and they will workout great for you.
Wow, I had no idea that which buttons I pushed would affect what the future buttons would say. That helps a lot. Thank you! are you using the same settings that I am?
Also, do you know why I am having a discrepancy between difficulty level if I am on mobile. After clicking the sync button on my laptop, and then clicking the synchronize button on mobile, everything should be synced up. But the difficulty levels on the mobile app are different from the ones on my laptop:(
