flashcards
that work

flashcards have a poor reputation among people who have only used bad ones. done properly they are the most time-efficient retention tool available; done badly they are an elaborate way to feel busy.

one fact per card

a card holding four things gets graded on whichever one you remembered. split it. "what are the four causes" becomes four cards, each asking for one. the deck gets longer and the sessions get shorter, because you stop re-reviewing the parts you already had.

write a question,
not a topic

"krebs cycle" is a label. "what enters the krebs cycle, and what comes out" is a question with an answer you can be right or wrong about. if the front does not force a specific retrieval, the card teaches recognition, and recognition is what fails in exams.

making them is
most of the value

a downloaded deck skips the part where you decide what matters and phrase it precisely — which was the learning. shared decks are useful as a check on your own, not as a replacement for making one.

never card something
you do not understand

this is the big one. flashcards are for retaining things you already understand. memorising a formula you cannot derive gives you a fact with no handles, and it falls apart the moment a question asks you to apply it sideways. understand first, card second.

grade honestly

"almost" is wrong. if you needed three seconds and a hint, mark it wrong and see it again sooner. generous grading is the most common way a deck quietly stops working while still taking up an hour a day.

space them out

reviewing a card just as you are about to forget it is what builds durability. any scheduling that spreads reviews out beats cramming the whole deck the night before. there are flashcards and quizzes in the app if you would rather not run the schedule yourself.

related

why re-reading does not work · study tools