Flashcards earned themselves a brilliant reputation among students as one of the most productive and energy-saving methods for learning new information.
However, once you start creating your own flashcards and proceed to study them, it turns out that not all the cards you’ve made are as effective as you imagined. That might happen for various reasons, from disorganised decks to attempting to use flashcards where other study methods would have been more efficient.
The following guidelines will help you figure out how to create powerful flashcards that will boost your progress!
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Consider this rule every time you create a card, since the less information on a card you have, the easier it will be to memorize it. Remember:
Complex concepts → multiple flashcards. Once you have something to learn, you should turn it into the simplest card possible. If a concept requires an extended answer, create several questions for each fact. This is crucial, as you should keep your brain focused on one point at a time 💡Once and for all: 1 learning objective for 1 flashcard.
Restructure multi-point tasks If you have to remember several points for 1 question, you can still make multi-point cards. However, consider paraphrasing the main question: instead of writing “what does … consist of?”, ask yourself to name a specific number of characteristics.
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Following these simple rules will prevent you from falling into the trap of mistaking recognition for recall. When you flip the card and see many sentences with facts which you have read previously, you can’t be sure that you actually recalled it, because you recognise this information and start to think “oh, I knew it”. It’s a common mistake that doesn't lead to memorising information successfully, which can be avoided if you ask yourself the right questions and add only the necessary information to the cards.
When you make a topic overview and think "hmm, what information should I convert into flashcards?🧐", don't forget to include the basics! Of course, while you read the study material, some of the facts can be remembered easily and you might think “well, I got it, so there’s no need to add it to the deck”. But, as you already know, in order to truly remember something, we need to repeat it. Make a flashcard for the “future you” who will probably forget this piece of information.
💡No worries, you won't waste your time reviewing the card you seem to know again and again since AnkiPro’s algorithm will take care of spacing out the cards so that you don’t see them very often.