As part of the “debunking the idea that Anki is just for learning facts” part of this project, and also to advocate for learning how to learn as a crucial skill, I wanted to collect some testimonials here.

Coachee testimonials:

“I used to think that flashcards were just about mindless rote learning and did not lead to ‘true understanding.’ I thought that the way to ‘properly learn’ was to think deeply about a topic, and make connections between different ideas, rather than simply memorising facts. However, I have completely changed my mind about this after reading Alex’s blog and trying Anki for myself. I now think that flashcards (assuming they are utilised wisely) are a crucial part of the learning process. They are hugely helpful for thinking deeply and making connections because the different pieces of information must be clearly cemented in my mind before I can fit them together. I have also found that I can engage in much deeper conversations with people because I can easily recall the details of what I have read. I am now using Anki for several different learning-based projects/hobbies and I am excited to incorporate it into my studies and experience the long term benefits.”

“The coaching was really helpful and engaging, the live examples were super useful and you had great answers for all the questions I had. Thanks so much for inspiring me and being so generous with your time.”

General “utility of learning how to learn” testimonials:

From an Anki power-user who has made his own card types!

“I used to just use Anki for vocab, but near the end of my undergrad I transitioned to using it for maths as well, and now I use it for pretty much everything! I think there’s a common misconception that spaced repetition is somehow limited / inflexible, but the main thing I’ve learned since starting to use it more frequently is that spaced repetition in general (and Anki in particular) is incredibly flexible, and can be used for basically any type of knowledge! I now have cards for mathematical theorems, quotes from famous people and from fiction, chess puzzles with solutions, and programming knowledge (complete with interactive input fields), among others.”