I recently finished the Core 10k deck which has both J -> E and E -> J cards for every word. I have no issues with J -> E cards and a high retention rate (first image) while E -> J is an absolute nightmare because at this point there are up to 10 possible answers for every single card.
For example, a card with a word like “decision” on the front could be 決断, 決定, 決議, 議決, 裁決, 確定, 判定, 断定, 取り決め and probably more I’m forgetting right now. And I’m of course aware that there are differing nuances between these but it’s quite difficult to capture them with English translations.
So whenever a card like this comes up I have to go through every possible synonym or similar word I can think of which takes forever (my average answer time is above 10 seconds), results in a much lower retention rate (second image) and can be extremely frustrating.
Also, since I mainly fail E -> J cards, they make up a large majority of due cards because all the J -> E cards have way longer intervals, making Anki reps something akin a daily torture session. How do you guys deal with this issue? I already tried just doing J -> E cards for a while but I noticed a significant drop in retention so I went back to doing both.
by MrSputum