I want to study one section a time at the moment. (I want to be able to deal with a manageable number of words at a time for specific uses.) How do I do this?
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The beta version…
The new Skritter workflow:
- Learn (the new word once, then add to SRS-queue)
- Test (the new word once)
- Review (all the cards ever studied in SRS-queue)
Somebody messed up and forgot to add the “2. Study” step before testing and reviewing.
You could argue that one studies the cards by reviewing the cards just added, but that’s only the case if you have no items in your review queue. If not, how can you remember the new words by looking at it once before adding it to the queue.
That’s all because you aren’t able to select subsets of decks or lists in the Review mode.
But anyways it’s not very intuitive to have no “study” mode?!
Here is the explanation video for the beta 3.2:
https://forum.skritter.com/t/skritter-mobile-beta-3-2-updates-current-version-3-2-2-300252/3286/38
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In the old app you can create custom “remix” decks and remove the sections you don’t want to study. The progress on the words is valid for the main list as well…
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The study isn’t missing–learning, testing, and reviewing are all part of the study process. It is a combination of short-term and long-term memory goals.
Each activity gives you exposure to the item(s) in question, but with a different focus. Learning mode provides some guidance and we’re exposed to a new item six times (if you have all card types turned on) before being asked to recall the writing from memory. The Test activity is unlimited, and items get jumbled each time you restart a test. The idea behind the Test activity is to allow us to learn a few items and then immediately see how well we can recall what we’ve just learned. Hitting that 100% grade on a Deck section test is a great sign that the stuff we’re learning is “memorized,” and then we start the process of long-term retention (Review).
We’ve still got more features coming to the app that should provide even more focus on incorrect cards, and also extra levels of customization for single section study, and we’ll keep working on making the app better and better!
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I know the Learning mode shows the item six times, but everyone with descent short-term memory goes through very easily. There’s very little “memorization” going on at this point.
If I do the test immediately after the learning session I may be able to remember some of the items I just learned, but that’s not studying for me. Studying Chinese or Japanese doesn’t really work by just exposing you to the words…
Especially for long lists/sections I have to review while learning, because short-term is sometimes very short!
Also the learning guide is pretty annoying if you already know how to write the characters.
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This should work roughly the same way reviews would pop up when over studying before-- the modes to review are the same but the difference is manually launching a test session version an item popping up before it’s 100% due (which also skews scheduling). Hopefully with repeated test sessions, you find it’s more efficient than before! (Hopefully!)
You could mark the item as learned from the initial screen of the test mode, which will schedule the item and make it available for review without going through the learn screen activities.
Haha, so I am back to square one then. I will have to add items without learning and go through them in the “Review” or “Test” later…
When is an option for decks and sections coming to the Review mode? I am going back to the old app for now…
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I agree with Minolino!
“Review”, “test”, “learning” without any guidance is very confusing. When should I choose which option?
One study button is all I need. With the old app I was happy that I could study without thinking about all the different steps.
I think you should do your magic in the background without me having to think about it now.
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Learning mode is used to add new items to your review queue, the Review mode is to make sure you remember the items and schedule them (review only), and the Test mode can be used as many times as you like to study something-- you can endlessly study by using the Test mode on a deck.
We’re working on a mode for this!
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Thank you Jeremy. That would be great.
In general, the new app looks very nice and well-arranged. I like that the app is not full of bells and whistles, but just comes across quietly.
Well done!
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What I have found, as a very long-time subscriber (over 5years) using the new app, is that the old app works great as a learning app, allowing one to jump into study mode without hassle, trusting the algorithm to introduce new words and review old words “just before they are forgotten”, wasting no time on practicing words one essentially already knows.
I had hoped for additional features on the new app.
Instead, the Skritter folk seem to have broken the best features of the old app and turned the new app into a word-list test that rivals pen and paper.
I never thought that I would ever cancel my Skritter subscription, but that seems to be very likely in future given how the new app is going, and how insistent the powers-that-be currently at Skritter are about the disastrous new directions.
Update: I have heard from Jeremy since posting this, and these capabilities will be available in future versions of the new app. That is hugely reassuring.
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Ha ha. I’ve been asking for “bells and whistles” for years. Intending on continuing to use this app on a daily minimum half-hour regime for many more years to come. Thus would love an “eccentric” mode that provides visual (not aural) rewards for getting things right, to keep daily study from getting tedious by providing quiet delights and satisfactions.
Things such as the way the OG app goes electric blue when you’re on a winning streak. Or how the “eccentric” mode voice encourages/provokes at various study time intervals. I also like the OG frustration effect that results from furiously scribbling out a written character (it explodes, in case you’ve never tried this.) It could be optional.
After over five years of this, I understand that daily practice is a lifetime commitment. Thus anything to lighten the tedium much appreciated. So I suggest visual rewards for achievements, like Easter eggs: for getting a tough word correct after many previous failed attempts, for different levels of winning streaks, for different percentages in testing mode, and so on. This language requires discipline; a fun way of rewarding and acknowledging that discipline within the app would be great.
I wouldn’t be opposed to an optional game mode. It would be great, for instance, to find a Chinese crossword puzzle out in app world; I never have seen one that satisfies. Imagine for a moment Skritter being able to construct crossword puzzles out of subsections of individual word lists!
I don’t have a great number of ideas to suggest, but am hoping to inspire the folks at Skritter to design an “eccentric rewards mode” with delightful Easter eggs that we can opt into to lighten the daily grind.
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