How to flashcard/FAQ
Dürer’s Saint Jerome in His Study
Concepts
Guides
A short frequently-asked questions section meant to accompany How to flashcard. Actionable responses to common questions.
This page is under construction.
Forgive the mess.
How should I card <thing>?
Your mileage may vary but here are some reasonable approaches for various common things that one might want to card.
This topic is also discussed in the following section(s):
| Topic | Example | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|
| VFA |
Example 2:
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Art has an obvious visual component, which you should take advantage of. Besides the obvious benefit of providing direct interaction with the subject matter, using an image can improve retention. Despite this, it is often useful to include cards of other types for efficiency's sake to ensure that you have good coverage of the facts you wish to retain.
Ex. 1 is a front-back style card which uses an image as its front. This has many of the disadvantages of other cards of this type; namely, it primarily tests on a single atomic connection. In this example this is fine, as the set of relevant information is the compact set of <the name of the work, the artist, some basic context>. The year, the state it took place in, and some of the specifics are likely never to be asked about. Nevertheless, it is still useful to provide these other bits of information, as the simple act of exposing yourself to this extra information will give more for your brain to hold onto and will make this card more useful as a reference outside of reviews. If you wanted to test on any of these (perhaps you become convinced of its importance), you could simply create a new card. Ex. 2 is a cloze style card which excludes any images. In this particular case, there could be an image included (of Alice Prin, of Violin d'Ingres, or of one of the other works inspired by Prin) but it would make it difficult to properly test on certain pieces of knowledge - it would likely be easier to simply create a second front-back card with the image (for more details on the trade-offs, see: Should I use an image in a cloze-type card?). As is, this card is taking advantage of the major advantage of a cloze-type card: you can test yourself on multiple pieces of information related to the primary fact. |
| WIP | ||
Should I use an image in a cloze-type card?
Having an image in a card can help you remember it, because it gives you something extra to think about. In general, it is good to include them. However,
| What is the image? | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| The image is the primary subject of the card | A front-back card may be better suited for your purposes.
It is technically possible to embed an image into your card and then have a list of clozed facts beneath it - when there is a single fact (or set of facts) and a single cloze, this is equivalent to a front-back card. However, having more information available can make each individual card easier or even trivial. |
| The image is does not directly help answer the card | This would likely be fine in a cloze card.
Some examples:
Avoid using images of things you already have associations with (e.g. don't put an image of Saoirse Ronan in your card on Little Women if you've seen the film, as you may not bother reading the actual facts you've included). |
I keep failing a card, how can I remember it better?
The platonic ideal of a flashcard contains a single fact on the front which you are able to perfectly associate with the corresponding answer on the back. If you are unable to successfully recall the back, it is time to move away from this template.
This topic is also discussed in the following section(s):
Some options - try one (or multiple of these):
| Summary | Details | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Add additional information to the front | There may not be enough information on the front of the card for your mind to latch onto - alternatively, you may not have provided enough information for the fact to obviously point towards the answer (or at all). This is particularly common for basic cards like front-back "work-author".
Specific things you might want to add:
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This card is actually not unique, as the novella by Leskov was (quite significantly) adapted to an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. This can be pretty straightforwardly resolved by saying that this card is referring to the novella.
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| Add additional information to the back | Adding information to the back of a card will not help you the next time you see it, but it may improve your odds every subsequent time. This is, in some sense, an alternative to writing a second card on the same subject - it may make more sense to add information if you are either okay with repeating yourself or if you truly do not believe that you will be tested on that additional fact.
As a side note, cards created through cloze deletion only sort-of have a back - the closest they get is the contents of any individual cloze. |
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| Add a new card on the topic | ||
| Abandon the card entirely | Listen - sometimes you wrote a card and it's not good. I would personally advocate for trying to make it better, but sometimes it's better to replace it with something brand new or just ditch it wholesale. | You don't need an demo - just throw it away! |
