Hello Reader,

When I was staying in Manila to prepare for my Board Exam, I often missed the food at home.

I always craved for the homemade filipino Adobo or Sinigang made by my grandma — instead of the regular, mass-produced fried chicken & tortang talong (eggplant omelette, I think) at nearby carenderia. (eatery)

But there was a problem...

Commutes were such a hassle!

I mean, how am I supposed to go home and bring back my sanity if I couldn't afford to lose 2-3 hours of otherwise studying just riding a freaking bus?

The answer was literally in front of me every day I wake up — Anki.

I thought it was the perfect time to do my cards so I could focus on just adding new cards at home.

And it worked!

By the time I finished my cards, it was almost time to get off the bus. I was never bored, and I was totally productive.

So if you're new to Anki and you have 2-3 hour long commutes every single day as well...

Let me tell you that Anki is the perfect study tool for that.

The reason: Reviews don't need a lot of focus!

It's not like you're holding a LOT of information in your working memory all at once, but rather retrieving ideas one at a time.

Now, just to give you some perspective, the usual study time if you have plenty of atomic flashcards would equate to around 8-11 seconds per card when you're focused enough.

This isn't a fixed number — just based on my experience.

Now, just to be generous, let's say you're taking around 12-15 seconds on average to answer each card because you're less focused.

This means that, in a span of 2 hours, you could answer at least 500 cards.

And in case you don't know what that means...

You could perfectly remember 500 different ideas WITHOUT adding extra time to your schedule for studying.

Now you tell me...

Is it good, or is it great? 😉

And even if you take even 30 seconds per card (...which is kinda awkward, by the way), you're STILL productive.

Relative to wasting those long hours staring at nothing, even answering 240 cards during a period that's supposedly "dead time" makes a huge difference already.

So if you're even remotely concerned about your study efficiency, you just can't let this window of opportunity go to waste, because here's something you may not like to hear...

NO AMOUNT of ChatGPT-ing or installing add-ons will make you more efficient than simply eliminating wastes.

And I repeat:

Even if you're not completely focused, you're ALL GOOD just as long as you finish your due reviews today — the lack of focus will NOT take away your effectiveness in doing Anki.

Think of it this way...

It's the act of "watering the plants" that matter...NOT the focus you exert when you're doing it, so to speak.

Learning things the first time around is another story, though, and that does require a large amount of focus.

Bottom line: Anki is the review tool for long commutes.

To smarter studying,
Al Khan