How do you use Anki?
Install Anki, create a deck, add cards with a question on the front and the answer on the back, then press Study. Anki shows each card and asks you to rate your recall: Again, Hard, Good or Easy. It uses your rating to schedule the next review, so cards you know come back later and cards you miss come back sooner.
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In more detail
Anki is a free flashcard program built on spaced repetition. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, on Android as AnkiDroid, on iPhone and iPad as AnkiMobile (a paid app, so check the current price), and in the browser through AnkiWeb, which syncs your decks between devices.
The slow part is making the cards. You pick a note type, such as Basic for a plain question and answer or Cloze for a sentence with a hidden word, and you type every card yourself. A good rule is one fact per card, written as a question you can answer from memory.
Two habits decide whether Anki works. Do your reviews every day, even if it is only ten minutes, because skipped days pile up into a wall of due cards. And rate yourself honestly. By default Anki adds up to 20 new cards a day, which is plenty.
The four answer buttons
| Button | Press it when | What Anki does |
|---|---|---|
| Again | You forgot it or got it wrong | Shows the card again soon |
| Hard | You got it, but it took effort | Adds a short gap |
| Good | You got it without trouble | Adds the normal gap |
| Easy | You knew it instantly | Adds a longer gap |
Step by step
- 1
Download Anki for your computer from the official site and open it. Make a free AnkiWeb account if you want to sync to your phone.
- 2
Click Create Deck and name it after the course or the exam.
- 3
Click Add, pick the note type (Basic is fine to start) and the deck, then type the question in Front and the answer in Back. Repeat for each fact.
- 4
Open the deck and click Study Now. Read the front, say the answer out loud or in your head, then show the answer.
- 5
Rate the card: Again, Hard, Good or Easy. The schedule is only as good as your honesty.
- 6
Come back every day and clear the cards that are due. Add a few new cards in the same sitting, not a hundred.
- 7
Sync with AnkiWeb so the same deck is on your phone.
How StudyPDF helps
The slow step in Anki is typing the cards. On Pro, StudyPDF can build the deck for you: upload your lecture PDF, press New material, pick flashcards, and download the result as an .apkg file. In Anki, choose File, then Import. Free accounts export flashcards as a print sheet, and StudyPDF's own flashcards use the same Again to Easy rating if you want to start there.
See also
- AnswerHow do you make good flashcards?
- AnswerHow do you make flashcards in Word?
- AnswerHow do you make flashcards in Google Docs?
- AnswerHow do you make flashcards on Quizlet?
- AlternativesThe best Anki alternatives in 2026
- ComparisonQuizlet vs Anki: which one is better for you?
- ComparisonAnki vs Brainscape: which flashcard app is better?
- ComparisonAnki vs RemNote: which is better for flashcards and notes?
- Use casePDF to Anki Deck
- ComparisonStudyPDF vs Anki
- StudyPDFAI Flashcard Maker
More questions
Is Anki free?
Anki on Windows, Mac and Linux, AnkiDroid on Android and AnkiWeb are free. AnkiMobile for iPhone and iPad is a paid app, so check the current price in the App Store.
Why do med students use Anki?
Medicine means thousands of facts that must last for years, and spaced repetition is built for that. Many students download shared decks or build their own from lecture slides, then review a little every day through the whole course.
How many new cards should I add per day?
Start with 10 to 20. Every new card comes back for review many times, so a day with 100 new cards means a very heavy week. Anki's default is 20 new cards a day.
Do it on your own course
Upload your lectures and ask Bo. Cited answers, plus flashcards, exams, and more built from your material.