Feature Request: Wrong Answers at 50%

I love the addition of “Easy, Normal, Hard” buttons as a way to increase the intervals. However, learning 15 to 20 new words per day using the typing option, I find that my reviews are starting to get very large. This is inevitable, I know. And I don’t mind it that much. I only bring it up so I can suggest a feature that might make mine and everyone else’s learning more efficient and that is setting 100% mastered cards at a 50% interval when a user gets them wrong. The brain doesn’t completely forget words that easily. Therefore, I don’t need words that I learned already to be set back at 0 days when I get them wrong. I just need them at a smaller interval.

By the way, I only suggest using this feature for mastered cards because my initial review intervals are fairly close to each other in days. I also assume it’s easier to implement with mastered cards, but if you want to do this with all cards, that would probably be even better.

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There was a feature request by @morbrorper last year that is related. That request was for a gentler reset on those items that were being learned, rather than the main thrust of this proposal from @nassman which is around mastered items, however I think they could be put together here as they are both about not “punishing” someone for getting something wrong.

For reference, here is the post from @morbrorper -

Personally, I would be very supportive of an option to select @morbrorper’s suggestion (I would suggest that this be a customisable option as suggested by @cazort in the original discussion).

In that case, since getting a 100% mastered cloze sentence wrong would set it back to 75% mastered (and hence due for review in a short while), then I would be quite content with that option alone. I would be interested to know from @nassman whether that would also solve the issue raised here.

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Hey @zzcguns. Thank you for bringing up @morbrorper’s post. While I don’t think it’s a bad suggestion, it doesn’t really address the problem I or others like myself maybe facing.

I read somewhere on the forum recently from @mike that only 6% of users use the “Easy, Normal, Hard” buttons in their reviews. I am part of this 6%. I use active recall as my main source of studying meaning I type all my answers out. My initial intervals, “1 day-25%, 3 days-50%, 6 days-75%, 10 days-100%” have to be very close to each other to really learn the words which is why the “Easy, Normal, Hard” buttons are so useful to me.

I am learning Spanish. Sometimes my brain isn’t able to remember one letter in a word. Or maybe I’m thinking of a synonym and can’t remember the specific word for that sentence. Or maybe I mixed up a few letters, but for the most part, I was correct. If the current interval for a word is at 60 days, and I can’t guess the correct answer, then by @morbrorper’s suggestion, the interval would be reset to 6 days-75%. To me, the system is still “punishing” me for not being perfect.

Hi @nassman, that explanation makes perfect sense.

Since you mention your intervals are set to 1,1,3,6,10 days, but then you might have an interval of 60 days for a 100% mastered answer, does this mean that you are using the “ever increasing intervals” option? If that’s the case, then I can certainly see how that would be much more of a “punishment” (I’m using the option with 0.5,1,2x of the 100% mastered interval).

Incidentally, since you mention potentially having this problem with only one letter in a word, do you use the option for Spelling Hints: (lets you know if your answer is incorrect by up to 2 letters) which was originally brought in to avoid punishment?

I confess to using a variety of the help options (Spelling Hints, Typing Color Hint, Text Box Size) as I don’t want to get progress slowed down by things that aren’t obvious from context (e.g. not knowing which form of “you” is expected). Some people might think that is “cheating”, but I’m here to learn, not compete with anyone.

If I still struggle after using all of those hints, then for 100% Mastered sentences only, I drop back to multiple-choice (using Alt-P when I’m on my PC) to see what the answer is, rather than having a reset inflicted on me. If I was almost correct, then I put it into favourites (alt-F on my PC) and then it will get daily practice until I have it fully re-learned, and if I actually didn’t know it as well as I thought, then I get … PUNISHMENT !!! :scream: - This means resetting it to 0% learned and putting it into favourites.

So, as you can see, I try to avoid punishment unless I deserve it !

Yes @zzcguns , I am using the “ever increasing intervals” option. I don’t know what algorithm is being used, but I checked for just the 10 days. “Normal” = 15 days. “Easy” = 17 days. “Hard” = (I forgot, but it’s definitely a little over 10). I imagine the different buttons make a greater difference the further the card is in the review cycle.

As for the spelling hints, I think I do have them turned on, but usually it doesn’t matter because I can’t remember what that last or two last letters are.

It’s not cheating, by the way, to use extra tools if they get you closer to your goal of learning a language. In my opinion, SRS systems only exist to make your immersion easier. So that hopefully, you don’t have to stop every 10 seconds when reading a book to look up a word’s definition. I only use active recall because I think it creates a stronger memory link. I used to do recognition cards only, but it got frustrating after awhile because I couldn’t recognize most of them in my reading. Since I started using Clozemaster Typing, the moments of non-recognition have been much less.

Your right that there are possibly several ways you can avoid the 0%, but it sounds like a lot of extra steps I am not willing to do. Again, I’m not too hung up on it. I’m going to continue using the program because I think the good outweighs the bad. I was just coming from more of a “User Experience” perspective. It’s just something I would like to see implemented eventually in the future.

Hello, @nassman ! I think your proposal of a 50% decrease at the IT - interval time - is perfect. From my experience from Anki, a 2x multiplier for correct answers and 0.5x for wrong ones is the best, putting my assertiveness between 85 - 90%, without pushing over to the edge of overfeeding cards.
I wonder if some of this was already implemented by Mr. Mike, once that this topic is about to have its second birthday.