Why Making Anki Cards Takes So Long (And How to Fix It)

Most people think the hard part of using Anki is the daily reviews. Showing up every day. Fighting through those "hard" cards.

But that's not where you're actually losing time.

The real bottleneck is creating the cards in the first place.

The hidden time sink

Think about what happens when you want to turn a lecture, textbook chapter, or study guide into Anki cards:

1. Open ChatGPT (or another AI tool)
2. Copy your notes
3. Write a prompt asking for flashcards
4. Wait for the response
5. Read through the output
6. Copy each card one by one
7. Open Anki
8. Create a new card
9. Paste the front
10. Paste the back
11. Repeat for every single card

For 100 cards, this takes over 2 hours. And that's if everything goes smoothly.

See it for yourself

Here's a real-time comparison of creating 100 cards the old way versus using Oboeru:

The gap isn't small. It's not a minor optimization. It's the difference between spending your evening making cards versus actually studying.

Why this matters more than you think

Every hour spent on card creation is an hour not spent on:

• Actually reviewing (the thing that builds retention)
• Understanding the material deeper
• Taking breaks (your brain needs them)
• Living your life

And here's the compounding problem: the more you need to learn, the worse it gets.

Medical students, law students, language learners—anyone with serious memorization needs—can easily spend 10+ hours per week just making cards. That's a part-time job dedicated to data entry.

The solution isn't "make fewer cards"

Some people try to solve this by making fewer, "higher quality" cards. But that's a false trade-off.

Research on spaced repetition shows that:

• More atomic cards = better retention
• Breaking concepts into small pieces = faster learning
• Comprehensive coverage = fewer gaps in knowledge

You shouldn't have to choose between thorough learning and having a life.

What actually works

The solution is to automate the tedious parts while keeping control over quality.

That's why we built Oboeru. You give it your content—notes, PDFs, code, whatever—and it generates atomic Anki cards in seconds. Not minutes. Seconds.

Then it syncs directly to your Anki, so there's no copying and pasting. No switching between apps. No friction.

You focus on learning. The tool handles the busywork.

Try it yourself

Stop losing hours to card creation. The time you save compounds—every card you make faster is time you can spend actually learning.