In normal use, Anki introduces cards via the new card queue, and review card queue. New cards are only shown if you have new cards left for the day, and reviews are only shown when Anki has determined it’s time to review the card.
Cram mode is an alternative scheduler that shows all matching cards, regardless of if they were due for review or not. It’s useful for drilling material or cramming for tests.
Answering cards while cramming influences the scheduling of your regular reviews. Answering cards in cram mode that were almost ready for review will give them an interval close to that they would have received if you’d waited for the cards to become ready. Likewise, answering cards that weren’t due for a long time will not alter the due date by much.
If you would like to end a cramming session before it’s finished, go to Settings>Study Options and Anki will return to normal scheduling.
Tag Cramming
When cram mode is activated via Tools>Cram, the top of the window allows you to enter one or more tags, separated by spaces. Cards with any of the tags will be displayed.
Selection Cramming
Select the cards you want to study in the browser, then use Actions>Cram.
Review Mode
While cramming, cards can be ordered in one of three ways.
- Oldest modified first
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Cards that were reviewed/edited earliest are shown first. This will cause material that you haven’t ever seen, or haven’t seen in a long time to be shown before more recent reviews. Because answering cards also causes them to be modified, it means that if you interrupt a cramming session, you can start cramming again later and cards will pick up where you left off.
- In order added
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Cards are shown in the order they were added to the deck.
- In random order
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Cards are shown in random order.