Flashcards

Also called Cue cards, Leitner system, Anki

Question on one side, answer on the other. Simple, well-evidenced, and easy to use wrongly.

What it is

A flashcard has a prompt on one side and the answer on the other, so you test yourself rather than read. The Leitner system sorts them into boxes by how well you know them and reviews the hard ones more often.

Where it applies

Any subject with facts, definitions, formulae, quotations or vocabulary.

How it works

Flashcards are retrieval practice with spacing built in. Their weakness is that they suit facts better than reasoning, so they are a component of revision rather than all of it.

How to use it in your work

Make them yourself. Making them is part of the learning, and a downloaded set is somebody else's understanding.

Keep the prompt short and the answer specific. "Osmosis?" is a bad card; "Define osmosis, including the direction of movement" is a good one.

Do not just flip through them. Say the answer out loud or write it before you turn the card — otherwise you are reading, not retrieving.

Put the ones you get wrong at the front, not the back.

Where to get help

Any spaced-repetition app, or index cards and a shoebox, which work just as well.