Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Anki: A flash card revision tool

Anki is a small but useful tool that can help you remember vocabulary words, facts, formulas, just about anything while you're revising!

Format: Free downloadable program, Mobile app, Online

Platform Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, most Web-Equipped phones via online app

General Rating:

Website: http://ankisrs.net/
Main Features:
  • Create digital flash cards (with front, back and tags) and decks
  • Hundreds of pre-made decks on various subjects
  • Rate words or facts by how well you know them
  • Automatic scheduling of cards reappearing based on rating
  • Supports Chinese, Japanese text, accents, images, formulas (LaTeX)
  • Review anytime, anywhere
  • Simple user interface

Why or how could I use it?
We all know how difficult it is to memorize vocabulary words for French or Chinese (or Spanish or Japanese). Or having to cram in seemingly pointless facts for Science that you're sure you'll never use in you life. But we all have to learn and memorize such things, whether it's for that small vocab test next Monday, or for the GCSEs in Year 11, or for the IB exams. So while you're revising, instead of making flash cards on paper (save the trees!), create cards in Anki, or find ones already made, and test yourself, sticking to a schedule. Find out more info on the website (above).

Known Problems
Functionality fairly limited by default. Can be extended with plugins, but may be rather complicated for many people. Some more advanced functions, e.g. custom card layouts, is not intuitive to use at first. Please report any other bugs to haihao.liu@online.island.edu.hk.

By: Haihao Liu 10W

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