How to Make Better Flashcards From Your Notes
Write flashcards that test understanding instead of creating a huge deck of copied sentences.
Bad flashcards are easy to make: copy a sentence, blank out a word, and hope it works later.
Good flashcards are small, specific, and connected to the idea you need to remember.
Test one idea at a time
A flashcard should have one clear target. If a card asks for a list of eight things, it will be slow to review and hard to grade.
Break large ideas into smaller prompts, then add a separate card for how the pieces relate.
Prefer questions over cloze copying
Cloze deletions are useful, but they can become sentence-recognition exercises.
When possible, write a direct question that forces you to explain, compare, or apply the idea.
Make failed cards better
When you miss a card, do not only mark it wrong. Ask why it failed.
Maybe the prompt was vague, the answer was too long, or the card was missing context. Fixing cards is part of studying.