How many new flashcards a day? Work it out from your study time

New cards create future reviews

Every new card brings several reviews over the following weeks. The Anki manual gives a rough guide: adding 20 new cards a day eventually leads to about 200 reviews a day. That is why the review count, not the new-card count, decides whether a routine is sustainable.

Start from the time you can give every day, including busy days. A limit you keep for three months beats a high limit you abandon after two weeks with a pile of overdue cards.

Work out a sustainable limit

Measure your speed: if you spend about 12 seconds per review, 40 minutes gives 40 × 60 ÷ 12 = 200 reviews. Using the manual’s ratio, 200 reviews supports roughly 20 new cards a day. If you take 9 seconds per review, 30 minutes also gives 30 × 60 ÷ 9 = 200 reviews.

Treat the ratio as a starting estimate rather than a rule. Hard material, a higher desired retention or many lapses push reviews up. Watch your actual review count for two weeks and adjust.

Plan backwards from an exam date

Count the cards you need and the days left, then reserve the final stretch for reviews only. With 1,000 cards and 50 days, keeping the last 10 days free of new cards leaves 40 days, so you need 1,000 ÷ 40 = 25 new cards a day.

If that number is more than your review time supports, reduce the deck to what the exam actually tests, or start earlier. Cramming many new cards in the last week gives them too little spacing to stick.

Set the limits in your app

In Anki, set New cards per day and Maximum reviews per day in deck options. Ronri starts with 20 new cards and 200 reviews a day, and you can change both for each deck preset.

Avoid setting the review limit far below what is due, because overdue cards pile up. If you fall behind, pause new cards for a few days and clear reviews first.

Try it yourself

You have 600 cards to learn in 30 days and want the last 6 days for reviews only. How many new cards a day do you need?

References

• Anki Manual: deck options, daily limits and FSRS
• Kornell (2009), Optimising learning using flashcards: spacing is more effective than cramming