I was just checking in to see if this "Empty Pool" problem has been solved, or not. After a few years of not using MemoryLifter, I am now looking at Flashcard programs to brush up on studying some foreign languages. MemoryLifter has been my first choice in the past, but I too ran into issues with this "Empty Pool" issue. So, in response to your request for our opinions, here is mine.
The last time I used MemoryLifter heavily was when I was in Nursing School. I had thousands of terms to memorize. When I think of what I needed then, is that MemoryLifter work just as described as if we were using a manual box of cards, promoting cards from the pool to box 1, then box 1 to box 2, box 2 to box 3, etc... In reality, I was learning, and adding, so many new medical words/terms per week, that I never got any cards promoted to box 10. When I had half an hour to sit down and study with MemoryLifter, I wanted the program to start with the Pool, then go on to Box 1, Box 2, etc.... These were always the newest cards and/or the cards that had been demoted. My time was limited, and those lowest cards were that ones that needed studying for the next test.
Unfortunately, like the original poster noted, when my Pool was empty, I discovered that MemoryLifter started asking cards all over the place. This was a problem for me because I really did not need to study cards in Box 5, for example, that may have been on a test 3 weeks ago. I really needed to concentrate and spend my limited study time on the lowest boxes with the newest terms that were coming up for the test this week. So I would manually go into MemoryLifter and tell it I wanted to study Box 1. I also manually changed the size of the boxes in an attempt to force MemoryLifter to work the way I needed it to work, asking the cards in the lowest boxes first. Yes, I could force the program to help me study which cards I really wanted to study, but it was always a bit frustrating that such a great program seemed to have a logic problem.
In summary, when I was in Nursing School and I had limited time to study, I would rather MemoryLifter continue to ask the cards in the lowest boxes, promoting/demoting the cards as required. I did not care about the "spaced repetition" concept because those older cards where not going to be on my next test.
Having said that, now that I am studying some foreign language vocabulary just for my own benefit, and I am not worried about the "next test," so the "spaced repetition" concept makes more sense to me for life long learning.
It would be great if we could chose which learning option we wanted MemoryLifter to use if the pool was empty - lowest boxes first, or oldest cards first. If that is not possible, my vote would be to have the program work its way from the lowest box up.
The last time I used MemoryLifter heavily was when I was in Nursing School. I had thousands of terms to memorize. When I think of what I needed then, is that MemoryLifter work just as described as if we were using a manual box of cards, promoting cards from the pool to box 1, then box 1 to box 2, box 2 to box 3, etc... In reality, I was learning, and adding, so many new medical words/terms per week, that I never got any cards promoted to box 10. When I had half an hour to sit down and study with MemoryLifter, I wanted the program to start with the Pool, then go on to Box 1, Box 2, etc.... These were always the newest cards and/or the cards that had been demoted. My time was limited, and those lowest cards were that ones that needed studying for the next test.
Unfortunately, like the original poster noted, when my Pool was empty, I discovered that MemoryLifter started asking cards all over the place. This was a problem for me because I really did not need to study cards in Box 5, for example, that may have been on a test 3 weeks ago. I really needed to concentrate and spend my limited study time on the lowest boxes with the newest terms that were coming up for the test this week. So I would manually go into MemoryLifter and tell it I wanted to study Box 1. I also manually changed the size of the boxes in an attempt to force MemoryLifter to work the way I needed it to work, asking the cards in the lowest boxes first. Yes, I could force the program to help me study which cards I really wanted to study, but it was always a bit frustrating that such a great program seemed to have a logic problem.
In summary, when I was in Nursing School and I had limited time to study, I would rather MemoryLifter continue to ask the cards in the lowest boxes, promoting/demoting the cards as required. I did not care about the "spaced repetition" concept because those older cards where not going to be on my next test.
Having said that, now that I am studying some foreign language vocabulary just for my own benefit, and I am not worried about the "next test," so the "spaced repetition" concept makes more sense to me for life long learning.
It would be great if we could chose which learning option we wanted MemoryLifter to use if the pool was empty - lowest boxes first, or oldest cards first. If that is not possible, my vote would be to have the program work its way from the lowest box up.