Hello Reader, Just last year I started to create my own arrangements on fingerstyle guitar. The reason is…I’m a Pokemon fan. And I wanted to play Pokemon town/city songs on guitar. Apparently it heals my inner child. At first, it was just “Learning by doing” (and observing) — I went on to synthesize some songs I loved: Littleroot town and Pallet town. New Bark town was kind of a pain in the ass because I didn’t have a good ear…yet! So I decided to learn other songs in the meantime… …and...
5 months ago • 8 min read
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...
6 months ago • 4 min read
Hello Reader, Back in 2017 I was a freakin’ teenager with dementia. Not literally, of course — I grasped new concepts quickly if there were visuals, but everything else, ESPECIALLY isolated facts, I found really hard to remember. So whenever we had “memorization” type of tests, I’d become a SOLID 5/10 student. This led me to my “a-ha moment”... If I had to choose one profession I’d learn from (for memorization), I’d choose MEDICINE. After all, they have a LOT to remember and have very little...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, Yes, it’s possible to use Anki to get better at “big picture questions” just like how it’s possible to use Anki to learn how to speak a new language or even, err…a programming language. (I mean, speaking a language is like making tons of freaking essays.) But again, to break the “bad news” for you… It’s not magic. Here’s the truth about using Anki for essays: (1) Essays require practicing both retrieval of individual ideas and composition of text. (2) Anki is good for practicing...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, If your school just makes you drink from a FIREHOSE of information in one week and get tested on them the next week… Then you’re probably thinking that you don’t have “that much time” to remember everything. Looks impossible, right? It’s either you study longer or maybe just hope that somehow the 100 out of 1000 lines you remember end up in the test. Good news for you… There is an efficient way to remember all of these. (Or most.) Quick disclaimer: it is efficient but I didn’t...
6 months ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, I’m finally back to writing…for a while. So I wanted to come back with a bang! This week’s installment: a LOT of Anki workflow emails. (Also: an implementation framework!) Before I share with you this framework, I gotta admit… I haven’t been in this space for a long time. And I’ve probably forgotten a few words in English (or two). And to give you a brief context, this is because I focused on creating a few wins in my life last year: Finally got traction on an e-commerce...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, If you're trying to learn a new language, learn programming for your big career shift, or just become better at problem-based subjects so you could get into your dream school... Anki could help. But it's not in the way you'd expect — most people would use it in this way: memorize an entire freaking dictionary and drown doing reviews with 9000 cards try to remember the entire python documentation cram a ton of math formulas into their head ...and then wonder why it's not working....
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
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...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, Yep, the programming deck you're looking for probably doesn't exist... (or should I say 404 not found???) But it's not the end of the world, because not only are programming cards easy to make — you also only need just a few of them. I'm saying there's no need to create cards for every damn function! If you're constantly forgetting how arrays work because you keep on jumping from language to language, why not create a card that asks you about it? Like this: Still confused?...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
