Going too slow

AnkiMaster cards are meant to be studied quite fast. You shouldn’t spend more than 5-10 seconds with one card.  To avoid wasting time, make sure you are following the instructions for each card and focusing your attention on the right things. See The AnkiMaster System – How to study your cards.

Forgetting

Don’t worry if you forget a lot. Don’t feel bad or stupid. You might want to change the pictures or the sentence. Keep working on the flashcard until you find a way to remember.

Sometimes you just can’t remember certain words.  Maybe you are not ready to remember it. That’s ok.

Be honest when you grade yourself

Each AnkiMaster card is a “test.”  The only person taking this test is you because it’s a test designed just for you.  Be completely honest when you grade yourself.  These grades are not like grades in school.  You can’t fail.  You get to retry as many times as you need!  These grades help Anki read your memory and teach you the new information. Don’t lie to Anki! Anki is your friend.

It’s ok if you forget one card 15 times. Anki doesn’t care how many times you forget. Keep pressing AGAIN until you have remembered the sentence. It’s ok!

Anki review takes too long

Your Anki review should not take more than 1 hour, unless you’re crazy and you want to learn English SUPER fast. The default settings give you 100 reviews and 20 new cards in 1 day. You can adjust these settings in the Deck options by clicking the gear icon.

Set the daily number of new cards.

Set the daily number of reviews.

Slowing down

Sometimes you can’t study.  Sometimes you need to travel, you get sick, or you just get tired.  That’s ok. Before taking a break, consider slowing down. Maybe you’re trying to do too much in one day. SRS (spaced repetition software) works best when you use it every day.  Instead of quitting completely, just do 10 minutes of Anki review. Reduce or cut out your input time (reading/listening to English).  Don’t add any new words to Anki.  This will make your study time much shorter.

If you need to take a break

Continue reading and listening to English

If you have to go on a trip, bring a book with you and read it during your downtime.  You don’t need to take notes or collect sentences. Just enjoy reading.

#1 RULE

It’s always better to study for short periods of time frequently rather than long periods of time infrequently.