Author Topic: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?  (Read 10278 times)

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rene

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How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« on: August 11, 2008, 07:59:34 PM »
I just bought the Stack program (windows and pocketpc). It is very handy and nice to learn.
Unfortunately it is cannot be handled like flashcards I used to know.

  • As far as I know you got a pile of let's say 10 cards to learn. After you think you might have learnt it you just put it in the box 1. Then you take the the next 10 cards and learn it the same way. Now box 1 could have a capacity of 20 cards. With this full box 1 you continue to learn all the cards from box 1. The correct words now go to box 2 (capacity of 40 cards). In this case the after 20 wrong 'guessed' cards you are forced to learn them in order to empty box 1 again.

With Stackz I started to learn with 'Learn' but all I got was cards taken away from the middle pile. Like this I end up with hundreds of cards which don't repeat until (probably) I end up with all the cards in box 1. As next question I would like to know how big box 1 is. How is it possible to learn with Stackz? I am open for any input that can explain the logic of Stackz.

In advance thank you very much for your answer.

Best regards

Rene

tarix

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2008, 04:33:11 AM »
I use the classic Letiner system where all the cards start at the far left stack and move to the right.  If I fail a card it gets set back to box 1.  (Far left.)

My intervals are:
Box 1: 0
Box 2: 3
Box 3: 7
Box 4: 14
Box 5: 30

I will also be using the new feature that doubles the time for cards in box 5.

This is a pretty classic SRS style.

(I have no idea why lots of the example decks start out with cards in the middle.  I can't think of a valid learning system that is useful for.)

rene

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2008, 09:34:12 AM »
Thank you for the response. Indeed I would rather use the cards with the Leitner-system  instead of using [learn] and [test] together.
I was thinking the cards wouldn't start in the box. New cards should rather be introduced to the boxes. As you say I also wonder why the cards are already in the middle box.

Can the size of the boxes be choosen?
Can I also introduce new cards which wouldn't be put immediately into the middle box?

Does anybody know the logic of the Stackz-system?

Chris

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2008, 06:00:15 PM »
Stackz classic: you start to review a list with cards you are supposed to know. All cards start in the middle, the neutral position, and move to the left/right to deviate from this neutral positon. Stackz leitner: all cards start on the left and move to the right, any error sends the card back to the leftmost column. Leitner is preferred for new cards, classic is better to maintain large collections of words.

More is in this thread.

rene

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2008, 12:01:33 PM »
I consulted the thread you mentioned before. Unfortunately I couldn't find the answer to my questions.
According Sebastian Leitner you start learning with an empty box. You take the first (e.g.) 10 cards and put them in box 1.

Can I do the same with StackZ?

Chris

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2008, 11:54:26 PM »
You can do that by adding 10 new cards to box 1. You can add them either manually, or import them from a list (e.g. excel), or by copy/pasting from a different lesson.

Or you put all your cards there in the beginning, and ignore the not yet used ones.

rene

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2008, 06:07:43 AM »
Isn't there a stack of unused cards?

So, according the Leitner system new cars shall be introduced as soon as the minimum amount of cards in box 1 would be reached.

If I would put all my cards into the box at the beginning, what is the capacity of box 1?

Chris

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2008, 06:28:05 AM »
There is no stack of unused cards, just as there are no words you decide not to use in your conversations (well if you are very systematic, you might do that!  ;))

The never-known cards appear in grey hatched color so they are easy to localize, and the very well known cards remain in the rightmost column, with an increasing refresh interval (in ColorMode RepeatAdvisor).

Of course you can move the cards around as you wish. Stackz lets you do those things easily, it rather tries to visualize the status than automatically doing decisions for you.

The capacity of the stacks is only limited by your system memory, which is a lot. But generally it does not make sense to add more than "a mentally manageable" amount of cards to one lesson.


« Last Edit: August 25, 2008, 06:32:35 AM by Chris »

rene

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Re: How can I use Stackz? Is it really a flashcard system?
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2008, 07:43:34 AM »
Let's say if I would fail with 20 cards (one after the other) according Leitner it should go straight to box1.
Before continuing, the program should move (me :) ) to box1 in order to work on those very hard.
So far I quite often get new cards (at least 50-100) and never end up repeating those still not managed cards.

 

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