Hello Reader,

Yes, it’s possible to use Anki to get better at “big picture questions” just like how it’s possible to use Anki to learn how to speak a new language or even, err…a programming language.

(I mean, speaking a language is like making tons of freaking essays.)

But again, to break the “bad news” for you…

It’s not magic. Here’s the truth about using Anki for essays:

(1) Essays require practicing both retrieval of individual ideas and composition of text.

(2) Anki is good for practicing only the retrieval of individual ideas.

Therefore, you have to practice composition separately. This email will talk about how you can achieve (2).

Think of an essay/big picture questions as a "dish."

So long as you have the ingredients ready to use, then all you need to do is cook the thing.

So you can use Anki for remembering parts of your long answer, but there has to be a separate practice for actually doing the essays.

Step 1. Plan

Again, beginning with what we need first and then working our way backwards.

• What are the possible questions that I need to answer?
• What concepts do I need to know to have good answers for these questions?
• What materials do I need to study so that I can learn these concepts with enough depth?

Notice how I’m always starting with the things I need before I even start studying. And that’s what I’d recommend you do as well — ace the essay before it’s even written.

Step 2. Encode

For this, I recommend studying this material:

​How to Learn Complex Information with Anki Without Making a Mountain of Flashcards (+ card examples)​

Most essays/big picture questions usually don’t require you to regurgitate just a mere collection of facts, but rather relationships between ideas.

So it’s best to learn relationally rather than individually/factually.

In other words, ALWAYS think in terms of how something relates to:

1. the big picture/main topic
2. a past concept that you already know about;
3. An analogy (this is a good habit to have. You can call it a “Feynman Habit”)

Step 3. Ankify

This may seem a bit odd, but instead of telling you my recommendations on what to do, I’m going to tell you what not to do first.

Do NOT add essay questions directly into your Anki deck.

Instead, just use the same tactic that I shared in the past email: just tag the cards you think you’re gonna be using for your next essay.

DO separate essay questions orally. Unless you REALLY REALLY need it to be written.

My best tip here? Use the objectives section of textbooks if you’re studying from there. It’s ALWAYS about starting with the OUTCOME first. (Ask Toyota employees and they’ll tell you it’s the most efficient thing in the world)

Example:

Perfect practice questions, aren’t they? But again, don’t put them into cards directly.

Well, actually, what you can do instead is to break them down into smaller questions so that you can have the ingredients ready. In SSS we call this the Goalpost Technique:

Step 4. Spaced Repetition

Same as with short-term exams.

1. I recommend using my settings: https://leananki.com/best-settings/​
2. Only press “Good” or “Again”

The beautiful part is that once you’re doing the practice questions for your essay, you immediately have GREATER retention than if you did active recall or spaced repetition alone.

Study schedule as follows:

1. Your daily review habit
2. Custom study everything tagged “Essay” (or so) 1 day before essay/interview/long exam
3. Then Custom study again 1 hour before the exam

Just to add to that, it’s also the perfect time for group testing.

I seriously recommend to AVOID group studying because it’s total bullsh*t. You’re completely distracted and it’s really just a 50/50 version of studying and bonding. Just do them separately.

Step 5. Improve

Honest opinion, if you can use an idea in your cards into an extremely long answer or even a coherent essay, there’s almost nothing to improve.

Maybe mnemonics could help, but in my experience there’s really nothing here.

Retention is so good you won’t believe you’d even need your cards again.

(But you will -— as this is the stability bias trap).

Quick check-in: Need your feedback here…

From 1-10, how valuable do you think these kinds of emails are?

What do you think is working/what do you think could work better?

You can choose to send me a reply here if you want to contribute 🙂

To smarter studying,
Al Khan

P.S. I can't reply at the moment because my email here can't be linked to my gmail. Will fix it ASAP so we can talk :)