How to Make Good Anki Cards

Anki is a very effective method of learning as it is based on the two pillars of effective learning; Active Recall and Spaced Repetition. With that being said, making your own Anki cards can be a bit of a challenge at times.

Bad Anki cards can frustrate you over the long run, and make it harder for you to remember the context of the information.

Here are some ways to make better Anki cards.

• Avoid making cards at first: try using pre-made cards, so that you get a feel of what a good card would look like.
• When making cards, remember this one rule: K.I.S.S : Keep it Simple Stupid!
• Don’t make cards for all information. Try doing high yield cards first, then add on. This is why I recommend using pre-made cards first, as they are very high yield, then from there, you can add on by yourself after mastering the basics well.
• If you want to make a card for a specific piece for info, ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. Is it an examinable fact?
2. Do you need to memorise it?
3. Can I rely on understanding alone to remember this?

• Avoid lists, wherever possible.
• When making cloze for lists, you should make sure that if you put everything as different clozes, each cloze doesn’t give a clue to the answer. Sometimes it’s better for you to memorise the whole thing.
• Just start doing Anki. You’ll get better at using it as you go along.
• Don’t be afraid to delete or edit a card if you feel that it is a bad card.
• Use images to provide context, add lecture slides, memes, whatever resource you can use to make the cards personalised and more fun to review, and more context

You can also read more here.