>>12957575I used Anki for a period of 3 months. It doesn't work.
I used it for learning maths and CS textbooks. My hypothesis was that if I used it, my unconscious would somehow internalize the knowledge. Unfortunately, all you learn is to associate a particular prompt with a particular response. I realized that one day when, trying to remember a concept, I could not, and when I looked through my Anki deck for the related card, as soon as I saw the prompt the answer flashed in my mind's eye.
You have to remember that the theory behind "forgetting curves" was done by making subjects memorize random symbols, not "real" information. That is a very different setting from learning actual knowledge - perhaps you've already had this experience of reading a proof and immediately having it "click" and become unforgettable. The human brain works in mysterious ways. Also it's extremely time consuming. By the end I was spending 2-3 hours a day reviewing my cards.
That being said, it might be fine for learning stuff such as vocabulary of a foreign language. But do not use if you want to remember "semantically charged" content. Also, I still do "approximate" spaced repetition, by occasionally going back to reread stuff I read a few months ago and do a few practice problems, and I do feel it helps me remember stuff longer.
