Anki - your magic studying tool

While looking for the best app to make flashcards with, we ran into Anki and quickly dismissed it due to it's clunky looks. And after trying a few other apps and then tuning into the Learn anything with Anki course by Ali Abdall, we figured that this is by far (really by far) the best app out there for your studying needs.

We use the PC version which is completely free, and the iOS version which costs around 25 dollars. It may seem expensive at first glance, but in our opinion it is the single best purchase you can make when it comes to learning.

Anki uses both spaced repetition and active recall and can have as many pictures as you'd like on both the front and back side of your flashcard (yes, apparently this is definitely NOT a given in many such apps).

Anki uses an algorithm that determines which cards you need to revise on a given day, based on the forgetting curve. It tries to predict when you’re about to forget a fact and gives you the appropriate card just before that happens, refreshing your knowledge. By doing so it also flattens the forgetting curve, which means the information will be remembered for a longer period of time.

If you build a habit of doing your flashcards everyday, you will retain all the things you put into Anki in your memory. So everytime you add a card you have basically uploaded it to your brain.

Using an app like Anki reduces the stressful question of: “What will I revise today?” since all you have to do is just follow the algorithm. No "wasted" repetitions, since you only revise cards at the maximum spaced intervals that still allow you to retain the knowledge.

So why not give it a try today? Our study routine consists of revising at least one flashcard (although most days we end up completing them all) and making at least one new flashcard a day. That's how we're creating our habit of studying. The app is completely free (except iOS) and offers so much long-term stress relief, clarity and ease of use that it's a simply must have in our studying habit.