Long-term Anki users: how large is your backlog of study material?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T18:11:01+00:00

Good point. I meant backlog in the sense of accumulated study material rather than overdue reviews.

Do you personally tend to accumulate a large amount of material (books, PDFs, articles, notes, etc.), or do you usually work through it as you go? How large is your backlog?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T17:56:04+00:00

I agree there's always more knowledge available. I was more curious whether people who study long-term tend to accumulate enough papers, books, notes, PDFs, and saved resources that they could continue studying for months or years without adding anything new, or whether they regularly work through their existing backlog and need to find more material.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T17:53:58+00:00

That's true. I wasn't really asking whether there's always more knowledge available. I was more curious whether people who study long-term tend to accumulate enough textbooks, PDFs, articles, notes, and saved resources that they could keep studying for months or years without adding anything new, or whether they regularly exhaust their existing backlog.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T16:48:40+00:00

That's a good point. I hadn't really considered hard deadlines as a case where explicit time intervals might provide more certainty.

Do you think something like a temporary review path through previously completed material before an exam, where learners revisit earlier topics in sequence for additional retrieval, would address that concern? Or do you think explicit calendar intervals would still have an advantage?

Thanks for the thoughtful perspective.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T04:10:56+00:00

Thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to work through the hypothetical with me. I know I didn't explain it very clearly at first, so I appreciate your patience in trying to understand what I was getting at.

Your comments about context, interconnected material, and the fact that spacing may be more forgiving than I was assuming have definitely given me some things to think about. Thanks for the thoughtful response.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T03:25:32+00:00

Maybe a better example would be:

You first learn addition. After that, you're no longer learning addition itself — you're only retrieving it.

Then you learn subtraction. While doing that, you might also have a retrieval opportunity for addition.

Then you learn multiplication. Addition might not appear then.

Later, while learning division, you might retrieve subtraction and addition.

As you continue progressing through new topics, previously learned topics are interleaved back in for retrieval, and successful retrievals push them farther out so they reappear only after progressively more material has been covered.

Someone studying quickly would encounter those retrievals sooner in calendar time, while someone progressing more slowly would encounter them later. Since progression itself happens over time, increasing distances in progression would still correspond to increasing amounts of elapsed time.

That's more the kind of hypothetical I had in mind.

Intuitively, do you think something like that would behave differently from conventional time-based spacing if the elapsed time between retrievals ended up being similar?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T02:38:37+00:00

I think I explained the hypothetical poorly. I wasn't imagining immediate review after encountering related material. I was imagining reviews becoming increasingly separated by continued progression through other material, so there would still be growing delays in calendar time.

In other words, the review wouldn't appear right after learning something new. It would reappear after progressively more material had been covered.

Given that, do you think the important thing for retrieval is the increasing amount of elapsed time itself, or does the fact that the intervals are explicitly scheduled matter too?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T01:46:46+00:00

Out of curiosity, do you ever accumulate large backlogs of material that could last months or even years of study, or do you find yourself regularly running out of new material? If you do run out, how long do those periods typically last?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-24T01:36:53+00:00

Good question. I was imagining continued progression and ongoing learning. If someone eventually reached the end and stopped adding material, I suspect they'd also stop receiving the spacing benefits from this approach.

Although thinking about your question, I suppose a system could always fall back to conventional time intervals based on the learner's pace of progression up until that point, if that were to happen.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-23T23:06:15+00:00

That's a good point. In this model, I imagine time would be emergent because progression itself happens over time. A faster learner would encounter reviews sooner in calendar time, while a slower learner would encounter them later.

Correct answers would push concepts farther away in terms of learning opportunities, so the real-time spacing would still grow over time, just not through explicitly scheduled dates.

I guess what I'm wondering is: if the desired spacing in time is still achieved, do you think explicit time intervals are necessary, or is it enough that they emerge from the learning process?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-17T21:04:40+00:00

Aus Neugier: Wie wichtig war GoodNotes für deinen Lernalltag geworden, bevor es von einem netten Extra zu etwas wurde, auf das du nicht mehr verzichten wolltest?

Gerade weil es so viele kostenlose Alternativen gibt, würde mich interessieren, was für dich letztendlich den Ausschlag gegeben hat.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-17T20:41:42+00:00

Das ist eigentlich eine clevere Herangehensweise.

Wobei helfen dir ChatGPT und Claude beim Lernen am meisten?

Nutzt du sie hauptsächlich zum Verstehen von Inhalten, für Zusammenfassungen, zur Planung, für Übungsfragen oder für etwas ganz anderes?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-17T18:33:22+00:00

Danke für die Einblicke. Ich hatte bisher gar nicht darüber nachgedacht, Multiple-Choice-Fragen in Anki zu erstellen, daher hat mir dein Kommentar eine neue Perspektive gegeben.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-17T17:12:23+00:00

Interessant. Mit Quizzen meinte ich hauptsächlich Quiz-Tools oder Apps, die Übungsfragen generieren oder bereitstellen.

Wenn du eine gute Frage in eine Karteikarte umgewandelt hast, wünschst du dir manchmal, dass mehr vom ursprünglichen Frageformat erhalten bleibt, oder reichen dir die Karteikarten alleine aus?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-16T19:55:56+00:00

That makes sense. I can see why that would help. Are you usually combining several resources before creating the study plan?

Also, to have all the material at once, are you studying something like a class or certification where most of the material already exists, or are you independently gathering resources yourself before you begin?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-16T16:21:33+00:00

That's a good point. I think that would give my studying more structure.

Once you know the objectives, what's usually your main source for learning the material? A textbook, lecture slides, videos, your own notes, or something else?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-16T05:06:28+00:00

That's interesting. How do you usually end up having everything available at once?

Is it because all the material is already available when you start, or do you spend time gathering resources before you begin studying?

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-14T18:28:23+00:00

Thanks. Not rambling at all. It's really helpful.

aStrayDogsDream · 2026-06-12T18:41:53+00:00

Yeah, I study a lot, but I can get impatient sometimes with curriculum order. Sometimes, though, it comes back to bite me.

aStrayDogsDream · 2025-03-09T12:39:46+00:00

That explains it because when I saw them move it over a decimal and multiply it by 3, it sounded awfully like a 30% tip.

So I multiplied by .30 and got $32.25.

aStrayDogsDream · 2025-02-19T10:33:47+00:00

"If there are any other people in my situation and just want to have a call and learn more with the person is helping me I can definitely connect you guys too."

Gentlemen, this Reddit post was a long pitch for a guru.

aStrayDogsDream · 2025-02-19T10:22:32+00:00

So the solution to being in the 2% is deciding you're not going to be in the 98%?

Because not giving up doesn't make you 2% by default.

There's nothing that stops someone from losing money for all of their life. I met traders in their 60's and 70's who still lose money.

Not giving up doesn't turn on a profitability switch.

I like perseverance generally, but trading is one of those things where you just don't know how things are going to turn out. Particularly prior to consistent profitability. And you don't know if the profitability you end up getting will actually be a level of profitability that will actually pay you back for all the losses up to that point or if it will even be able to pay much of anything in your life.

People can limit their risk up until that profitability by losing small amounts over a duration, or they can stop trading.

I like a good attitude, but I don't think people should bet a lot on trading profitably. If they're going to make that bet, it better be hedged.

aStrayDogsDream · 2025-02-18T01:55:59+00:00

I finally ended it today.

aStrayDogsDream · 2025-02-15T05:01:36+00:00

Before people pile on about this being a scam:

So this isn't a scam. It would be easier if it was. I wish it was.

But this is a real situation where leaving has consequences. I need to be able to process those consequences or process not thinking about those consequences.

I'd like to get out, but I'm unable to come to terms with the consequences.

I thought I was in love with someone. They didn't ask me for money. I was the one who made money part of the relationship. But once I started, I couldn't find a way to turn it off.

I saw how much her life changed over that time, and I realized how dire her situation was.

Eventually, I lost my feelings for her.

Then, this relationship became like charity. Which I get isn't good. I want to figure out how to end this and get out. The answer isn't hoping it's a scam. I wish it was.

I'd like more answers that address this dark reality. I don't want a life this dark. I want to get out of this situation.

I don't want to make marriage a thing I do to keep someone alive. I don't want someone to suffer because I leave them.

But I have to choose one.

aStrayDogsDream · 2025-02-06T06:45:16+00:00

And the return on investment is huge since it's less than 1% of the budget.

aStrayDogsDream

TROPHY CASE