How to “Reset” Your Anki Deck (I Don’t Recommend It)

by Alec Palmerton, MD in Uncategorized

4 comments

I don’t recommend resetting your cards. However, it is possible to “reset” your Anki cards. This would make an “old” review one that is a “new” card. To do so, you need to “Reschedule” the cards.

Why I Recommend NOT Resetting Your Cards

The whole purpose of using Anki is that harnesses the immense power of spaced repetition. Resetting your cards causes you to lose all of that information.

What If You’re Very Far Behind Your Reviews?

Even if you are very behind on your reviews, I still don’t advocate resetting your Anki cards. Instead, I recommend simply reducing the number of old reviews you do per day until you catch up.

You could do, say, 100 old reviews/day and no new cards. You’ll have forgotten a lot of them, meaning you’ll get a lot of cards wrong. Cards you get wrong and hit “Again” on will have their intervals be reset. In other words, if I get 50% of the cards wrong, I will have essentially made them “New” cards. Why? Because “New” cards, and cards I get wrong will have their intervals reset.

However, if you reset all of your cards, the intervals for ALL of them will be reset.

Over-reviewing Anki card information is a waste of time.

(Want to learn how to make Boards-crushing med school Anki cards? Read Med School Anki: Make (or Find) USMLE-Crushing Flashcards.)

(Other questions on how to use Anki in med school? Read Med School Anki: FAQ for the USMLE Steps, Shelf Exams, and Clerkships, click here.)

Still Want to Reset Your Anki Cards?

I won’t stop you. Here is how to reset your old Anki reviews so they are “New” cards.

First, go to the “Browse” window.

First, click “Browse”

Next, highlight the cards you want to “reset” and hit “Forget”

Next, highlight the cards you want to reset. Then hit “Forget.”

In the Browser window, the new cards will no longer show a due date.

The reset cards should no longer have an actual due date

The reset cards will also show up as “New” for that deck’s page.

You will see these cards as “New” on the main Anki deck window