Hello Reader,

If you’ve tried using Anki for your problem-based subjects, you’ve probably asked the following…

• Do I make a card for every problem I encounter?
• Should I just use practice problems as flashcards?
• Or should I only use flashcards to memorize formulas?

And I really appreciate it when you ask questions like this because it shows how you value understanding over just memorization. (both are good!)

But perhaps the most important question:

How do I make sure that I understand the question itself, and not just memorize the answer?

Well, that’s exactly what we’re gonna talk about in today’s email.

You’re going to learn:

• The “thinking mistake” that will effectively waste ALL of your study time when using Anki for problem-solving subjects
• The 2 kinds of knowledge, a.k.a. The ultimate foundation for using Anki effectively for skill/problem-based subjects
• Why “looking at solutions” isn’t necessarily bad
• When to make flashcards for these kinds of subjects

The “thinking mistake” most people make

As you may know, I’ve personally used Anki to help me finish at the top 5% of passers in my Engineer Board Exam.

We LITERALLY eat formulas for breakfast and word problems for dinner.

And I’m (kinda?) happy to tell you that I did this even though I’ve even failed Integral Calculus almost twice back in College, and barely passed the other Math subjects.

Here’s what I discovered…

Most people who can’t use Anki effectively for problem-solving subjects are just stuck in “tool-first thinking*” rather than thinking about the real GOAL in the first place.

(*See my write-up on Tool First Thinking)

Here’s what they’d say, for example:

• use Cloze Overlapper add-on to remember the steps to a problem! It’s probably useful
• LaTeX is the only way to make formula cards!
• Use Text-to-Speech add-on to “enhance memory”, I’m an ‘auditory learner’

Now let’s validate:

• Should you even remember the steps to a SINGLE problem?
• Is LaTeX the ONLY way to make formula cards?
• Do you honestly think that “hearing the question and answer” will make that much of a difference if you don’t practice alongside your Anki reviews?

It’s no wonder why they aren’t getting great results.

They’re focusing too much on “being able to regurgitate” rather than “being able to become a better problem solver.”

Instead of looking for band-aids like “using Anki to remember answers/solutions”...

Think of “using Anki to remember the KNOWLEDGE I need to train my PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS”.

Visually, here’s what that looks like:

In short:

• Anki is for the “know what”
• Deliberate practice is for the “know how”

Now let’s make a workflow for that.

Step 1. Plan

• Get a solution manual to get a fast feedback loop, instead of waiting for your professor to correct you when it’s already too late
• Or grab a “Solved Problems book” (usually Schaum’s Outlines)
• Try to look at past exams also to prepare for problem-solving exams with less stress — requiring less time (two birds w/ one stone!)

Step 2. Encode

Before I continue I want you to make a promise to yourself…

It’s fine to use them to learn the formulas but if you will do practice with them then that’s like reciting ABC’s all day long thinking you’re gonna get better at speaking a language.

ALWAYS practice with next-level problems.

But in this phase, the principles are:

• Deeply understanding formulas by learning EVERY VARIABLE instead of merely breaking them down into multiple cards (Here’s one of my posts to help you with that)
• focusing on solving multiple harder variations to make the “easier problems” a second nature thing
• Learn how to derive new formulas. Trust me, this is THE game changer for a LOT of these subjects.

It’s important to know that whenever you get stuck, it’s NOT BAD AT ALL to look at solutions…with a condition:

You must understand why they use a solution before moving forward. You gotta know the essence.

Step 3. Ankify (and creating problem sets)

You should know that simply understanding a solution once isn’t enough — you need to maintain knowledge, too.

There are two things you need to do here:

1. Create Interleaved Problem Sets. This will be your SECRET WEAPON for becoming better.
   1. As you study, filter what should go into your problem sets and what shouldn’t. Then arrange them in random order.
   2. You should end up with a completely random selection of hard problems. (To reap the learning benefits of interleaved practice)
2. Create Anki cards ONLY after you finish the Encoding Phase. Again, take a look at this post for reference.
   1. Create flashcards for fundamental formulas - those formulas that are usually the basis for other formulas. For example, kinetic energy formula is good because it’s the basis of a LOT of physics formulas.
   2. Situational cards are great. (Again, see the post above) If there’s a wildly different formula that requires a lot of thinking to derive, then you can simply remember them. Perhaps use a memory technique to easily remember them.
   3. Flashcards for points of confusion. I usually get confused with the constant k in Thermodynamics, especially when they use different units. So I made cards that test me with the difference so I could easily clear up my confusion.

Step 4. Spaced Repetition

Few tips for these:

• You can just combine everything (for a single subject) in a single deck because this kind of knowledge is actually cumulative — they "stack" on top of each other just like you gotta master Algebra to get good at Calculus
• You do NOT have to place problems in your Anki deck. But if you do, make sure they’re in a separate deck.
• You gotta practice your Interleaved Problem Sets at least once per week

Step 5. Improve

Improving here will not necessarily mean “improving your flashcards” but also improving the way you think.

I’ve shared a few bits here and there, but just to emphasize:

• You can look at your Solution Manuals when you get stuck, and perhaps that’s where you can spot weaknesses and correct them as well (good source of situational & points of confusion cards)
• NEVER practice with direct substitution flashcards

Again, if you want examples for the cards, just visit the blog post.

So how exactly do you move forward?

I know these sound pretty vague, but this is the best way I know of to share them in a single email with all the points covered.

The most important thing is to try to apply this workflow for yourself, and then work from there 🙂

Did you learn something new? Realized something?

If your answer is a big “YES,” then I have a question for you:

What is your biggest takeaway/realization from this lesson?

Just reply to this email if you want to let me know :)

To smarter studying,
Al Khan

P.S. Apologies for the delays! I also haven't replied to a lot of you yet, but I'll make time sooner or later to reconnect :)