Score calculation

Nbusser

Member
Hi,

I take chinese lessons and create flashcards on volley during class. I've got a few number of cards (40 for the moment), and I'm looking for a convenient and adapted config.

However, I'm not used to SRS and I don't understand something in score calculation:

I created a test card, put it's score to 100.
My settings are:
Quality 4: 50 pts
Quality 5: 200 pts
Quality 6: 400 pts
Increase score % 4: 90
Increase score % 5: 100
Increase score % 6: 110

If I give 5 to my test flashcard. Its score is now 250 (instead of 300)

If I give 6, its score is now 400 (instead of 500)

If I give 4, it's score is now 200 (instead of 140)

I'm really confused about this score system. Can you please help me to understand ?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I think the issue here is that you're ignoring 'easiness'; on a correct answer, we multiply the card's score by its easiness factor, which is its easiness score (default 100) divided by the 'easiness divisor' configured in scoring settings, and then after that we apply the 'increase %'. So you can think of that % as more of a 'bonus' than the main point of the scoring system.

The other numbers you've set - 50/200/400 - are minimum scores that apply the first time you answer a card correctly with a particular score; if the card's score is already above that, they do nothing.
 

Nbusser

Member
Thank you, now I understood.

I think you should really work on your documentation to clarify some reamly confusing points. I red it for one hour and half and didn't seized the point...

Can you please propose me a nice configuration regarding my utilization of Pleco ?
(Above 5 and 10 new cards per week ; 40 for the moment)
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
To be honest, the intent with those settings they'd generally work well for most workloads; the reason we don't document them in too much detail is because we don't really expect most people will need to change them and don't even have good advice for how to do so unless you encounter a specific problem with the defaults. So I wouldn't encourage you to change them at all unless you find that it's taking too long to show you cards again (or showing them again too soon).

In our long-awaited 4.0 update we're burying most of this functionality in an 'expert mode' and defaulting to a more laid-back SRS algorithm that has far fewer options (essentially by treating all of the cards that you've already learned as a big contiguous pool and not trying to review them on a set schedule), so once that's out things should get much less confusing.
 

Nbusser

Member
Hi. Thank you for your fast reply.
So, your advice is to reset parameters to default to wrok with my work in progress deck ?
 

daal

探花
To be honest, the intent with those settings they'd generally work well for most workloads; the reason we don't document them in too much detail is because we don't really expect most people will need to change them and don't even have good advice for how to do so unless you encounter a specific problem with the defaults.

I must say that I agree with the sentiment that the documentation does not make it easy to figure out how to achieve a particular result.

As you may recall, I've been struggling for a long time with controlling the number of cards that Pleco's SRS system shows me. As you pointed out a long time ago, it is possible to adjust the amount by lowering the "points per day" parameter. Now this makes sense if you understand that the way Pleco determines the intervals that one sees a card is by dividing the card's score by this points per day number. This is all well and good, but if my objective is to be shown fewer cards, I have no idea that I should be looking up "points per day" in the User's manual. If I do happen to find it, it says:

"Points per day lets you customize the number of points for every day of waiting; the default is 100, meaning a card with a score of 200 wouldn’t be reviewed again for at least 2 days, 500 for at least 5 days, etc. "

This still doesn't directly tell me what I am looking for, which is not that the points per day can be customized, but rather that points per day is the tool I am looking for, the tool that controls the waiting time, and that by lowering the value, the waiting time is increased. Sure this is implied in the user manual's text, but the relevant information is not easily accessible. I do appreciate that concepts such as points per day are defined, but a "how to" approach in which the relevant mechanics are explained would make it easier for a user to get a handle on Pleco's powerful flashcard system.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
That's fair - TBH we've been in this state of limbo for years working on 4.0 and it's very hard to justify delaying that further in order to take time to do a better job of documenting 3.0's flashcards, particularly when most of the concepts from them are going to be thrown away anyway. (or at least buried in 'expert' settings screens and thus less in need of clear documentation)
 
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