> Luise. _An Opinionated Guide to Using Anki Correctly_. July 2025. _www.lesswrong.com_, [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7Q7DPSk4iGFJd8DRk/an-opinionated-guide-to-using-anki-correctly](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7Q7DPSk4iGFJd8DRk/an-opinionated-guide-to-using-anki-correctly). # An Opinionated Guide to Using Anki Correctly > 1. **==20 cards a day==** so you stick with Anki long-term. > 2. **==Atomic cards==**: make them as short as humanly possible (1-5 words). > 3. **==No to-be-learned information in the prompt==**. Put that on the back. > 4. **==Bland prompts==**: make them as non-descript and standardized as possible. ## Anki Day 1 - The two main reasons why people don't stick with Anki are: 1. Too many cards; 2. Too long cards. - ==**Limit your daily reviews to 20, and new cards to 2**==. If you feel like it, you can always raise today's limit. - ==**Make cards short**==. A typical card should **have no more than 9 words** (maybe more if you write in sentences). - This requires breaking information down into multiple cards. - **Use handles to refer to another card** (Luise uses the ">" symbol). Examples:  - **Use levels to split cards into increasing levels of detail**.  ## Anki Day 3 - Think twice before ankifying; putting cards into Anki costs time, both for writing the card and reviewing it. - **==Start by ankifying what you need to know.==** - ==**Make your prompt closely model the real situation**== where you will want to notice that you have a related Anki card. - **Make multiple cards if you have multiple prompt formulations** (redundancy is good). - **Make cards reversible** if that makes sense; - Or **put all to-be-learned information on the back**; - Or make several similar cards; - Or make to-be-learned information in the prompt into a >handle; - Or **do all**; redundancy is good. - **==Make prompts as bland as possible==**: - Don't use words in the prompt if they are in the answer; - Standardize recurring types of prompts; - Keep paying attention to whether you recall cards in real life. Examples:  ## Anki Week 3 - If you can split short cards into cards with 1 word on the back, do it. - Try changing two-bullet cards into cards with one long bullet. - Try adding whitespace to long 3-bullet cards so you can recall them bullet by bullet. - Find a tree shape in information thickets to break them down into short cards. - Memorize parent-to-child links using handles. - Memorize nonlinear links to other parts of the tree using handles too. - Break information into levels of abstraction instead of sequential parts. - Make a context card if needed. - If two real-life prompts suggest two different breakdowns of information, do both. ## Anki Week 5 - Create a keyboard shortcut to save information for ankification instantly. - You can adjust your desired retention rate per deck. - Make cards for thoughts you'll want to remember that don't have a specific prompt. - Create specific note types if needed.