DecksAgain, Hard, Good, Easy: What Each Flashcard Rating Does
Each rating changes two things: when the card comes back (its interval) and how fast that interval grows in future (its ease). Again means you forgot it; Hard means you got it, with real effort; Good means you got it normally; Easy means it was effortless. The numbers below use Anki's standard SM-2 settings, which are also what Decks uses.
The four ratings, with numbers
Take a card you've already learned, due every 10 days, with the standard starting ease of 2.5:
| Rating | Next review | Ease afterwards | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Again | 10 minutes, then 1 day | 2.30 | Relearn; interval restarts |
| Hard | 12 days | 2.35 | Interval × 1.2 |
| Good | 25 days | 2.50 | Interval × ease |
| Easy | 34 days | 2.65 | Interval × ease × 1.3 |
Ease never goes below 1.3.
When to press each one
- Again: you didn't remember, or you remembered something wrong. Don't round up. A card you rate Good when you missed it comes back too late and you miss it again.
- Hard: you got it, but it took a real struggle. Not "I was a bit slow".
- Good: you remembered it. This should be your most common rating by far.
- Easy: instant and certain, and you'd be happy not to see it for a while.
Two common mistakes
Pressing Hard for "correct but slow". Hard lowers the card's ease every time. Use it habitually and your intervals stop growing; this is the main cause of what Anki users call ease hell.
Never pressing Easy. Good leaves ease unchanged, so the only way back up from a low ease is Easy. If a card has become genuinely easy, say so.
New cards are different
A brand-new card goes through short learning steps first. In Decks those are 1 minute and 10 minutes, then the card graduates to a 1-day interval; Easy on a new card skips the steps. The full detail is in how spaced repetition works in Decks.
Published 2026-10-07.