Study new Heisig hanzi before or during reviewing in Anki?

[MirroRobin]

Currently I am working on Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi book in combination with Anki. I have some doubts about the method I am using and would like to hear your opinions.

I have Anki set up to give me 3 sessions of 10 minutes max to learn 10 new characters per day. New cards are presented to me in random order and spread throughout the reviews. I'm studying the cards as I come across them during my reviews and then tell Anki to show them again 'soon' so that I'll see them again during the same review session. I never really open up my physical copy of Heisig's book at all.

Is studying during a review session a correct way or should I be using the book to first study the 10 new characters of that day prior and then later, after I feel quite confident I know most of them, review them in Anki where they are spread among the previous days' cards?

[c6ray]

I don't think it matters if you see new characters before, during, or at the end of your Anki session. But it is easier to study them in book order because Heisig has arranged them so that later characters use earlier ones as components.

[Guest realmayo]

One thing I'd say about Anki, or any SRS, is that you need to decide if you are using it to learn and remember information, or just to remember information. What I mean is, Anki is great at getting stuff that you already know into your long-term memory. But you've got to get it into your short-term memory first! Some people find that they can learn new vocab just by putting it straight into their regular Anki deck and then doing the day's repetitions. What I found is that I had to learn the vocab 'outside' Anki first -- and I do mean learn it, well enough that I could expect to mostly remember it a day or two later. Once learned, I then put it into Anki and let the algorithm do its job of making sure I didn't forget it in the future.

[MirroRobin]

Thanks for your responses. You've confirmed my doubts and I'll start studying from the book before I review in Anki from now on. This way I'll get a lot more reviews done in 30 minutes when I eventually have lots and lots of hanzi to review anyway.