How to Design Flashcards

Principles

Asking “why” question is more valuable than “what” question (related: elaborative interrogation)

Ask atomic questions and split large questions (same idea as atomic note)

Anti-patterns

Generic Questions with long Answer

Q: Give a description of the Python programming language. A: Python is a high-level, interpreted, multi-paradigm programming language written by Guido von Rossum and maintained by the Python Foundation. It is often used for system administration, data analysis, and rapid prototyping, and has been consistently named among the five most popular languages in recent years. 1

Questions that Allow More than One Answers

Vague questions that can have a lot of correct answer or have multiple interpretations.

The Articles of Confederation had no power to regulate {commerce}. 1

APUSH: Americans moving to Texas [when it was under Mexican control] {did not adopt the ways of the region and remained Americans at heart}. 1

“Give An Example Of”

A special case but is very prevalent. It requires you to remember that the card want me to use this particular example 1

Unordered Set

Hard to memorize and are usually useless to remember 1

Yes-and-no Questions

Too easy to answer by cues 1

Questions without Context

hard to know which subject is which. We need to state the subject.

Organizing Cards by Source

Opposite of the last one. Different sources often talks about the same thing with different interpretation or opinions. For more opinionated questions, it is also useful to ask questions like “according to book A, what …” 1

This is also one of the main reason I maintain a Zettelkasten notes.

Footnotes

  1. Rules for Designing Precise Anki Cards (note) 2 3 4 5 6 7