Being tested more often on cards that you have difficulty with

Submitted by jgshaw on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 03:06.

Since I plan on using mental case to study languages, I think it would be very helpful to be able to mark notes/cards as "wrong". That way Mental Case can automatically determine how much difficulty you are having with a particular card and quiz you more often on it.

‹ Minor options that cut out time.... iPod Touch/iPhone phone and Mental Case ›

Automatic "times studied" update

Submitted by calimyrna on Mon, 07/14/2008 - 05:55.

It would be great to decrement or even reset the "times studied" pie whenever I get an answer wrong. This would reschedule the card to appear ever more frequently, when it's a card I originally got right and am now having trouble with...

Are there any plans for this in an upcoming version?

Re: Automatic 'times studied' update

Submitted by drewmccormack on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 13:38.

This is now an option in the preferences of version 1.3 of Mental Case. There are also other options, such as decrementing the count by one when you get an answer wrong.

Drew McCormack
Mental Case Developer

Done

Submitted by drewmccormack on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 14:36.

Yes, this is a popular request, and we have now added it to Mental Case. It will be in the next release, which should appear in a week or two.

Stay tuned...

Drew

This is great news. I've

Submitted by Matt M. on Sat, 02/23/2008 - 23:12.

This is great news. I've been looking for a Mac replacement for SuperMemo. SuperMemo's great strength is its ability to set the interval of repetition based on a grade you give yourself for each item. I used it with great success while studying for the CISSP.

I love the look and feel of Mental Case but a more SuperMemo-like method for deciding which items to show or not would make it a must have app for me.

In case you're unaware of the product: www.supermemo.com.

They have a lengthy page on the algorithm they use here: http://www.supermemo.com/english/algsm11.htm.

I don't know if it's proprietary or not.

Anyway, great job so far. I look forward to seeing the new version.

MC versus Supermemo

Submitted by drewmccormack on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 13:35.

SuperMemo is certainly a very well known product. We decided we wanted some of the benefits of spaced-repetition, without too much complexity. Supermemo is really an advanced program, and probably only appeals to those really into the methodology.

We wanted MC to be more general purpose, and yet still get some of the benefits of spaced repetition. At the moment, there is some support for 'feedback', in that you can indicate whether a note was 'right' or 'wrong'. We have also added a bunch of options for what should happen when you get a note wrong. You can find those in the preferences.

We think that this is the right compromise between complexity and getting benefit from the methodology. It's not our aim to make it a highly technical tool, which Supermemo is.

Regards,
Drew McCormack
Mental Case Developer