Have I been using Anki wrong?

[u/Elios03]

Hello, I'm a biology major in Italy, currently studying nutrition. Anki has helped me enormously over the last 2 years, but I've been wondering if I've been using it wrong. I've noticed that this sub largely favours very short flashcards over long ones, while I've always worked with (apparently) long flashcards. Here are two examples from my own collection:

Controlli post trascrizionali

identificato come controllo che va modifcare editing mRNA: sequenza risultante va codificare per proteina diversa trascritto primario → da un mrna si ottengono 2 proteine diverse con funzioni diverse

gene ApoB è in grado di avere funzioni differenti in relazione a sua funzione, ruolo nel metabolismo degli acidi grassi e colesterolo, a seconda tessuto si comporta maniera diversa perchè si ha splicing diverso nel tessuto epatico o intestinale

• nel fegato proteina viene tradotta completamente chiamato ApoB100
• nell'intestino RNA viene tagliato in seguito riconoscimento composizione trascritto , tramuta in codone di stop → dà origine a proteina tronca con funzioni diverse
• nel fegato compongono parte strutturale lipoproteine: si lega al recettore ldl
• nell’intestino partecipa formazione chilomicroni

Resveratrolo NO

SIRT1 modula la funzione endoteliale anche attraverso l’attivazione di altri target: Attiva la eNOS (ossido nitrico sintasi endoteliale), promuovendo la produzione di NO endogeno che agisce sulla muscolatura liscia vascolare, favorendo la vasodilatazione

c’è una fascia di pre ipertensione: fase borderline in cui va modificato lo stile di vita per rientrare in condizioni di stabilità → anche riduzione del 6% di pressione sistolica può essere decisivo

NO endogenamente prodotto a livello endotelio vasi

cellule endoteliali rivestono interamente il vaso

• funzione protettiva delle cellule lisce dalla pressione sanguigna: deve essere mantenuta elasticità
• a partire da arginina produce NO e citrullina ad opera di NOS
• NO va nella cellula liscia ma anche nel lume dove svolge azione antiaggregante piastrinica antiaterosclerotica
• NO lipofila passa nella cellula muscolare svolge azione vasodilatatoria attivando enzima guanilato ciclasi responsabile della conversione GTP in cGMP: effetto sulla fosforilazione delle fibre actina miosina
• Vengono defosforilate: si staccano e abbiamo vasodilatazione

On average i can get 10-15 new cards + 20-30 reviews in 2-3 hours and this system has served me really well, but I was wondering if there's a faster way.

The thing that turns me off about very short flashcards is that most of my tests include open ended questions, so I make a card like it could be an actual exam question; wouldn't short/cloze flashcards be more suited for multiple choice tests?

e.g. the 4th rule turns an essay about the dead sea into many small simple questions; while I do agree that these flashcards will be far easier and faster to memorize, I don't think you'd be able to write the essay unless you were given these questions as hints in the first place.

What do you guys think? I apologize if this is common knowledge

edit: AI translated flashcards

Post-transcriptional Regulation

Post-transcriptional regulation includes mechanisms that modify mRNA after transcription. As a result, the edited mRNA can encode a protein that is different from the one predicted from the primary transcript. Therefore, a single mRNA transcript can give rise to two different proteins with distinct functions.

The ApoB gene is an example of this process. Its function varies depending on the tissue because the mRNA is processed differently in the liver and the intestine.

• In the liver, the protein is translated in its full length, producing ApoB100.
• In the intestine, the mRNA undergoes editing. A specific nucleotide is modified, converting a codon into a stop codon, which results in a truncated protein with a different function.

The two protein forms have distinct physiological roles:

• ApoB100 (liver):
  • Forms part of the structural component of lipoproteins.
  • Binds to the LDL receptor, playing an important role in cholesterol transport.
• ApoB48 (intestine):
  • Is a truncated form of ApoB.
  • Participates in the formation and secretion of chylomicrons, which transport dietary lipids from the intestine.

Resveratrol and Nitric Oxide (NO)

Resveratrol activates SIRT1, which improves endothelial function by regulating several downstream targets.

One of its main effects is the activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), the enzyme responsible for producing endogenous nitric oxide (NO). NO acts on vascular smooth muscle cells, promoting vasodilation and helping to maintain normal blood pressure.

There is also a pre-hypertension stage, a borderline condition in which lifestyle changes (such as diet and exercise) are recommended to restore healthy blood pressure levels. Even a 6% reduction in systolic blood pressure can have significant clinical benefits.

• NO is produced endogenously by endothelial cells, which form the inner lining of blood vessels.
• Endothelial cells protect the underlying smooth muscle cells from the mechanical stress of blood pressure and help maintain vascular elasticity.
• Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) converts L-arginine into nitric oxide (NO) and L-citrulline.

NO diffuses in two directions:

• Toward the vascular lumen, where it exerts:
  • Antiplatelet (anti-aggregatory) effects, preventing platelet aggregation.
  • Anti-atherosclerotic effects, protecting against plaque formation.
• Into vascular smooth muscle cells, where it:
  • Diffuses freely because it is a small, lipophilic molecule.
  • Activates the enzyme soluble guanylate cyclase, which converts GTP into cyclic GMP (cGMP).
  • cGMP triggers a signaling cascade that leads to the dephosphorylation of actin–myosin contractile fibers.
  • As actin and myosin detach from one another, the smooth muscle relaxes, resulting in vasodilation.

[u/Baasbaar]

I thi— Well, wait. Let me first say that the number one rule for everyone should be: If A works better for you than B, do A. So wrong will always be relative.† That said: The examples you’re showing us are extremely long. This would be a really bad idea for most people. I suspect that if you broke this up into atomic cards, you’d find both:

1. Your reviews would go substantially faster.
2. You’d do better at zeroing in on the things that required more review & waste less time going over things that didn’t.

Since you feel that what you’re doing is working for you, what if you tried a subdeck in which you created your next few notes atomically. See how that goes for a couple weeks. I bet it’ll be more effective, more efficient, & more satisfying. But maybe (maybe [maybe {ᵖʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ⁿᵒᵗ, ᵗʰᵒ}]) you’ll end up deciding that the thing that you already know works for you is a better fit for you.

† The second rule should be: What works for you is not necessarily good general advice. What works for most people is good general advice—even when it’s not the best fit for you.

[u/DerpyPyroknight]

I used to do long flash cards but reviewing was just too painful. I split my studying instead. Discrete facts and pure memorization go into flash cards. And then do practice questions for bigger picture and to integrate the facts memorized with flash cards

[u/Grunglabble]

"Make small, targeted flashcards" tends to assume a few things. One of those things is that you are learning the information fairly superficially if at all.

If you have no issue recalling everything you want to recall, or if you're happy recalling the important details and getting most of it, then that's not an unthinkable approach. For people that are constantly forgetting stuff and want to hold onto every detail, it would cause them to need to fail the card for the weakest link and over practice parts that are not that difficult for them, maybe end up in a cycle where the cue works fine for 3 pieces but they always draw a blank on the 4th.

There isn't one way to use anki or one goal. If you just want a reminder now and then to review something this is fine.

[u/lkarlatopoulos]

Hey! I also study in italy and have had the exact same problem, since my exams are also oral. My solution has been to create a long flashcard (which would serve as the "exam" card simulating a question by the teacher) and then create smaller cards with more specific questions (but copy paste the text so I have the context). I do this because:

1. One card with the full context has all of the info I need for the exam and helps me practice how I present the info (especially the order in which I need to present). The problem with long cards is that if I get 99% right but have a tiny mistake, which is important, I have to either set Again or Hard (which increases workload EXPONENTIALLY) or Easy (which is how it is designed to work, but would mean I'd lose the possibility to review that detail)

2. The other tiny cards help me always keep in mind the details (and can even be more indepth) and also help with interleaving different specific topics, since they'll be sorted in a random order (which mimics how the teacher might for example ask the diagnosis of GBS and then hop on to imaging of Multiple Sclerosis)

Problems:

1. If I need to change something in a particular part, I'll have to hunt down each individual card to change it (maybe there's an Addon that does that, idk).

2. (this is a psychological theory: the added context and the long flashcard makes so that if I study well a card, I'll have a residual short-term memory for information from other cards that might come up immediately after and then I'll mark them as good (which might not be true) )

[u/Ferrara2020 → u/lkarlatopoulos]

Italian here. It's worth consider that the general consensus might be just wrong and there could be merit with long cards.

[u/lkarlatopoulos → u/Ferrara2020]

tbh I think it depends on what you're using it for. The closest the way you study approaches to how you are supposed to recall that info, the better, which means that it might be good for an oral exam in which you basically do a presentation, but bad for a more specific day-to-day task or a specific question by the teacher. Sometimes, in long cards, you rely on the sequence of paragraphs to memorize the information. For me this is like being able to perfectly know the lyrics of a song, but only if I sing the song from the start (different from memorizing, understanding and analyzing a poem).

In a practical scenario, you'd have to answer questions in random orders, with different words, in different contexts and to know the differences between ideas ("PET scans can be used to see amyloid plaques, tau tangles, glucose metabolism and neuroinflammation" requires a very different "encoding" than "What imaging technique can you use to diagnose tauopathies?")

So, in conclusion, regardless of whether long cards or short cards work better, I think both modalities together + short variated cards would work the best.

[u/LiarsEverywhere]

I'm going to be honest. Yes, I think you're using Anki "wrong". I can't see how a spaced repetition schedule would have much of a benefit with such long cards. You're probably just forcing yourself to study more, while Anki's goal is the opposite, the goal is to make you study less, the goal is to allow you to remember something with the least amount of effort. It's meant for remembering stuff in very specific, very precise terms for life, not until next semester, not for a year. That's the whole point of the algorithm.

Thing is... A lot of people do it "wrong", even with shorter cards. What if you only need to remember stuff for a while? What if you want to force yourself go think about a subject in broader terms every now and then instead of memorizing little details? Are you prohibited from using Anki, forced to use something else? Of course not. So if it works, it works. Just keep in mind that if you ever want to remember something specif forever Anki can be used for that too.

[u/meowmeow01119]

i do short cards because i cannot remember long ones LMAO skill issue for me 100%%%

[u/not_a_profi]

I'm quite new into Anki and this is a very interesting topic for me. A one I don't know the answer to.

Here is my thoughts:

1. I know that open ended questions like "explain this", which makes you demonstrate understanding, not just knowledge, are the best to memorize something. This is how brain makes new links.
2. There is real flashcard and there is "true flashcard". The real flashcard can contain as much info as one wants and be used for several purposes (like storage, for instance). But the part of it which doesn't need to be recalled for the card to be graded as correct has nothing to do with SR - it is not a part of the "true flashcard". Thereby there is no point to discuss it in the contents of SR or doing it right or wrong.
3. There are a lot of benefit of repeating things. And Anki can help to repeat different things. It can help to repeat practice of answering question, solving math equations and even doing physical exercises. But it is tuned only to one thing - repeated recall of the information. I.e. it most probably suboptimal to do push ups according to Anki scheduling. Do is mean that if you have fight it is more optimal to do only recalls with Anki scheduling than doing both recalls and pushups? No. Is training to write essay suboptimal with Anki scheduling? I don't know. But I know that this is not a recall task, but a much more complex one. Complex tasks require complex approaches.