A flashcard software Anki was developed by Damien Elmes in 2006. This software became famous because of Roger Craig, the winner of the American quiz show Jeopardy! In 2010, used the software.

Anki separates the learning phase from the review phase. The newly added question marked as “learned” after you correctly answered once and you correctly answered again after 10 minutes. If you make a wrong answer in one of the two tests, you are asked again in a minute. Cards that marked “learned” is reviewed one day later. And after that, the intervals of reviews increase with the easiness factor (default value is 2.5).

This mechanism works very well when studying in a gap time of shorter than 10 minutes. Suppose you are watching TV programs and studying during commercials. The Anki show correctly answered card after 10 minutes, so it does not appear until the next commercials. By reviewing after you forget it, you can train your memory more efficiently.


  • The name “Anki” was named after the Japanese word for memorization.
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