Creating Anki Cards Quickly

[man_men]

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Is there a way to make anki cards quickly?

When I tried making Anki cards for my first week of school, it took a long time. Is there a way to make it in a more time efficient manner? Thanks

 

[slowthai]

1. Avoid basic cards. Heavily utilize cloze and image occlusion.

2. Try to keep a 1:1 ratio of fact to card

3. Keep at it. Over time, you'll pick up little tricks that'll make you way faster than when you started

 

[Cornfed101]

Also, get AnKing or another pre-made deck and get really good at searching. I mostly utilize pre-made cards and supplement just a few of my own per lecture (5-10 maybe)

 

[libertyyne]

I made cards quickly, I would take a snapshot of the screen and just cover certain words in diagrams or in paragraphs with image occlusion.

 

[deleted1005514]

I made cards quickly, I would take a snapshot of the screen and just cover certain words in diagrams or in paragraphs with image occlusion.

I tried this on my last exam and ended up with 100-150 cards per lecture. They were quick to get through, but it seemed excessive multiplied times 30 lectures.

 

[libertyyne]

I tried this on my last exam and ended up with 100-150 cards per lecture. They were quick to get through, but it seemed excessive multiplied times 30 lectures.

i probably had 1500 cards per course.

Some out there are blessed with perfect memories. Mere mortals like myself have to exert excessive effort to have results where i wanted them to be. the act of making the card is also useful.

Pick your poison.

 

[man_men]

I tried this on my last exam and ended up with 100-150 cards per lecture. They were quick to get through, but it seemed excessive multiplied times 30 lectures.

I tried it this way too. Now, I only make cards for slides that require rote memorization.

 

[deleted859689]

I take screenshots of slides for the extra portion of cloze card types. Copy and paste sentences + cloze deletion. Lately I’ve been typing out sentences based on conceptual understanding for cloze deletion - active review while making cards.

for screenshots I use sharex which is a windows application and have hotkeys for selecting an area to screenshot. It automatically copies it to your clip board so just ctrl-v into the extra field.

 

[libertyyne]

I take screenshots of slides for the extra portion of cloze card types. Copy and paste sentences + cloze deletion. Lately I’ve been typing out sentences based on conceptual understanding for cloze deletion - active review while making cards.

for screenshots I use sharex which is a windows application and have hotkeys for selecting an area to screenshot. It automatically copies it to your clip board so just ctrl-v into the extra field.

you dont need a screenshot app, windows key+shift+s , allows you to copy only a certain area on your screen, and then just ctl+v

 

[deleted859689]

you dont need a screenshot app, windows key+shift+s , allows you to copy only a certain area on your screen, and then just ctl+v

But can it make gifs 🤔

gotta give that a try. i like sharex though

 

[Ryuzikyuhn]

1. Avoid basic cards. Heavily utilize cloze and image occlusion.

2. Try to keep a 1:1 ratio of fact to card

3. Keep at it. Over time, you'll pick up little tricks that'll make you way faster than when you started

Forgive my Anki-noob ignorance, but isn't a 1:1 ratio fact:card essentially basic? Or do you mean while they're the same info ratio-wise cloze is still faster as you basically type one sentence instead of two, multiplied across thousands of cards?

Do you have any other justifications for cloze over basic besides time? I've heard that basic is better for comprehension but I'm quickly realizing the physical boundaries of time with them haha

 

[slowthai]

Forgive my Anki-noob ignorance, but isn't a 1:1 ratio fact:card essentially basic? Or do you mean while they're the same info ratio-wise cloze is still faster as you basically type one sentence instead of two, multiplied across thousands of cards?

Do you have any other justifications for cloze over basic besides time? I've heard that basic is better for comprehension but I'm quickly realizing the physical boundaries of time with them haha

No, a 1:1 ratio just means you're testing yourself on 1 fact per card. The problem with a lot of basic cards is that they require you to remember too much information per card.

Example:

Front: What is the mechanism of action of lactulose?

Back: It traps NH3 in the intestines by decreasing the pH, causing it to be excreted as NH4+

That's just way too much to remember. You need to break it down into bite-sized pieces. This is where cloze shines.

Example:

{{c1::Lactulose}} traps {{c2::NH3}} in the intestines by decreasing the {{c3😛H}}, causing it to be excreted as {{c4::NH4+}}

That's four cards right there, each testing a different fact. First fact: what drug traps NH3 in the intestines? Second fact: what toxic metabolite does lactulose trap in the intestines? Third fact: what property of NH3 is decreased by lactulose? Fourth fact: Lactulose causes NH3 to be excreted as what non-toxic metabolite?

You want your answers to be short and punchy, so you can just pound through cards. You can even do this with basic cards too if you format them well. You could just make cards from the questions in the last paragraph and have one word answers on the back. Boom, done.

I've changed my stance on basic being inferior to cloze. I kind of like basic as well now, because it varies things up a little. As long as your cards are formatted in that short and sweet manner, it really doesn't matter which style you use.

As far as comprehension goes with those long-style basic cards, I really don't think it's worth taking 10 freaking minutes to remember a card, and if you miss one part, you get the whole thing wrong. That's ridiculous. The cards are supposed to serve you, not the other way around. I find that the explanations in the extra sections and the Amboss add on are plenty for helping with comprehension. I even put the explanations on the card itself if I need to. It really helps.

Edit: The smiley face is supposed to be p for pH, but I guess the code is colon-colon-p. Whatever, lol

Edit 2: I will also say that this is all in the context of premade cards. If you're making them from scratch, basic cards still take way longer regardless, because you still have to make four individual cards.

 

[stickgirl390]

I would caution taking screen shots of slides and image occluding the slide. For some people, they’ll answer because they subconsciously visually remember the slide, not the actual fact. Come test day, you have difficulty recalling facts because you were actually recalling slide layouts and colors while studying.

keep in mind, this isn’t true for everyone. For some people, image occluding slides works.

 

[Ryuzikyuhn]

You can even do this with basic cards too if you format them well.

Yeah these were the basic cards I was more so referring to, like for instance in your example I probably would have used the same 4 minimum info bits but made 4 separate, one-word answer basic cards out of them, which I think is why I end up struggling for time. I'm basically rewriting the same sentence, re-worded to test that one bit, which helps I guess get that short-term repetition down, but as you've, others, and myself have said it just takes so much longer compared to just highlight+ctrl+shift+c

While I like concise basic cards over cloze as I don't have to worry about formatting the cloze just right to avoid context clues as much (still a concern in basic too but not as much), I think the time saved from cloze is gonna have to be a higher priority, at least for me right now.

Nevertheless thanks for your quick response and input!

 

[Cornfed101]

I would caution taking screen shots of slides and image occluding the slide. For some people, they’ll answer because they subconsciously visually remember the slide, not the actual fact. Come test day, you have difficulty recalling facts because you were actually recalling slide layouts and colors while studying.

keep in mind, this isn’t true for everyone. For some people, image occluding slides works.

the main exception to this is anatomy or other image heavy stuff where recognizing the visual layout is what’s important

 

[stickgirl390]

the main exception to this is anatomy or other image heavy stuff where recognizing the visual layout is what’s important

Yes agreed, anatomy is perfect for slide image occluding

 

[deleted1082375]

No, a 1:1 ratio just means you're testing yourself on 1 fact per card. The problem with a lot of basic cards is that they require you to remember too much information per card.

Example:

Front: What is the mechanism of action of lactulose?

Back: It traps NH3 in the intestines by decreasing the pH, causing it to be excreted as NH4+

That's just way too much to remember. You need to break it down into bite-sized pieces. This is where cloze shines.

Example:

{{c1::Lactulose}} traps {{c2::NH3}} in the intestines by decreasing the {{c3😛H}}, causing it to be excreted as {{c4::NH4+}}

That's four cards right there, each testing a different fact. First fact: what drug traps NH3 in the intestines? Second fact: what toxic metabolite does lactulose trap in the intestines? Third fact: what property of NH3 is decreased by lactulose? Fourth fact: Lactulose causes NH3 to be excreted as what non-toxic metabolite?

You want your answers to be short and punchy, so you can just pound through cards. You can even do this with basic cards too if you format them well. You could just make cards from the questions in the last paragraph and have one word answers on the back. Boom, done.

I've changed my stance on basic being inferior to cloze. I kind of like basic as well now, because it varies things up a little. As long as your cards are formatted in that short and sweet manner, it really doesn't matter which style you use.

As far as comprehension goes with those long-style basic cards, I really don't think it's worth taking 10 freaking minutes to remember a card, and if you miss one part, you get the whole thing wrong. That's ridiculous. The cards are supposed to serve you, not the other way around. I find that the explanations in the extra sections and the Amboss add on are plenty for helping with comprehension. I even put the explanations on the card itself if I need to. It really helps.

Edit: The smiley face is supposed to be p for pH, but I guess the code is colon-colon-p. Whatever, lol

Edit 2: I will also say that this is all in the context of premade cards. If you're making them from scratch, basic cards still take way longer regardless, because you still have to make four individual cards.

This is great. Another thing I'd add is to use the god mode add on. Saves me a crap load of time making cards with multiple cloze deletions.

 

[esob]

If you don't want to use a premade deck, there are tons of people on fiverr that will turn your class ppt's, etc, into anki cards for a nominal fee. I just had someone make a bunch of image occlusion cards for me (like 500 cards) for $15. The time it saved was well worth the $$

 

[jimminyhalbert]

If you don't want to use a premade deck, there are tons of people on fiverr that will turn your class ppt's, etc, into anki cards for a nominal fee. I just had someone make a bunch of image occlusion cards for me (like 500 cards) for $15. The time it saved was well worth the $$

Mind if you share the freelancer info? Definitely interested

 

[esob]

Mind if you share the freelancer info? Definitely interested

I've used several and typically use whoever has the fewest orders in queue at any given time. I search "anki" and you will get a bunch of results, then sort by those with good ratings. Probably the fastest and best cards I've gotten have been from "tharinduband776"

 

[watchfulwaiting1957]

Is there a way to make anki cards quickly?

When I tried making Anki cards for my first week of school, it took a long time. Is there a way to make it in a more time efficient manner? Thanks

Hello! Great question. I am done with school but I still use Anki daily to help remember Bible verses. As someone that has been using Anki daily for more than ten years I can tell you the fastest way to make Anki cards is to create them in a spread sheet then exporting to a .csv file from MS excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet program. After exporting the .csv file you can import it into Anki quickly and boom there you have you 200+ card anki deck in seconds.

 

[popopopop]

Something that really helped me sped things up was using a mouse with macro buttons and assigning one a print screen button, a paste button, a cloze button, and a shortcut for the add button.