How to Use Flashcards to Maximise Your Recall of Medical Concepts
April 26th, 2023
On this page:Flashcards: The BasicsTypes of FlashcardsCreating Effective FlashcardsStrategies for Using FlashcardsFlashcard PlatformsConclusion
Overview
The amount that you’ll learn in your years of medical school is staggering. Anatomy, physiology, histology, pathology, pharmacology - and that’s before even starting on clinical medicine! You are likely under pressure to master complex concepts in a short amount of time, and it can be challenging to retain everything you’ve learned. Luckily, there are a variety of study tools available to help you remember everything. A key tool for medical students is the humble flashcard.
Flashcards have been used for a very long time to study, and there is a good reason for this. Flashcards offer a simple and effective way to review information multiple times, consolidating your knowledge and strengthening your retention. Flashcards are a flexible learning tool, and can be adapted to suit your personal study style.
In this article, we’ll discuss the basics of how flashcards work, the different types of flashcards you can use, and effective strategies for getting the most out of your flashcards. Let’s get into it!
Flashcards: The Basics
Flashcards consist of two sides: a cue on the front, and an answer on the back.
The Cue
- The text on the front of the card can take many forms, such as a questions, concept, trigger word or phrase. This cue is designed to prompt active recall, which strengthens connections in your brain to improve your retention.
The Answer
- The back of the flashcard contains the answer to the cue, in your own words. Comparing your response to the cue and the answer on the back of the card allows you to reinforce that you were correct, or adjust your understanding if not. This process is known as meta-cognition, which can aid in understanding your own thought process.
Flashcards are separated into decks, which may be grouped in different ways - for example, body systems or specialties - to help you focus your study efforts.
Types of Flashcards
- Flashcards way be written in many different ways. Here are some of the most common types of flashcards for you to try out:
- Definition cards - These cards present a term or concept and ask for its definition. This type of card can be useful for memorizing specific terms and their meanings.
- Recall cards - These cards present a question or prompt that requires you to recall information from memory. This type of card can help you to reinforce your understanding of key concepts and improve your ability to recall information.
- Fill-in-the-blank cards - These cards present a sentence or phrase with a missing word or words, which you must fill in. This type of card can help you to focus on specific details and improve your understanding of how concepts fit together, or your memory of anatomical landmarks.
- List cards - These cards present a series of items that you must list or identify. This type of card can be useful for memorizing specific details or sequences, such as the steps involved in a particular procedure or the names of the bones of the hand.
By using different types of flashcards, you can create a well-rounded study routine that engages different aspects of your memory and comprehension. Experiment with different types of flashcards to find the ones that work best for you and your learning style.
Creating Effective Flashcards
One of the benefits of flashcards as a study tool is the ability to tailor them to your individual learning needs. Here are some tips for creating flashcards that are effective and maximise retention.
One Question Per Card
- Keeping each card focused on a single concept or piece of information can help you to stay organized and improve your retention of the material. For example, “Definition of thrombocytopaenia” on the front of the card, and “Platelet count <150 x 10⁹/L” on the back.
Ask Specific Questions
- Avoid being vague in what type of answer you expect. Asking specific questions makes it more likely that the answer you provide is the answer to the question. If the cue is too general, you risk answering it in a way that is completely different to the expected answer - this can slow down your learning. As an example, consider asking “Five groups of causes of pulmonary hypertension” instead of “Pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension”.
Break Down Big Ideas
- If a single concept is too large or complex to fit on a single flashcard, break it down into several smaller cards. It’s best to avoid large lists or tables on the back of flashcards. For example, instead of listing all of the causes of systolic murmurs, ask about only causes of ejection systolic murmurs.
Use Words and Pictures
- Incorporating both words and pictures can help you to reinforce your understanding of the material, particularly if you learn well from visual cues. This technique can be particularly effective for learning anatomy and other visual subjects.
Strategies for Using Flashcards
Now that you’ve created effective flashcards, it’s time to start putting them to use. There are several strategies you can use to optimise your study time and improve your recall of information using flashcards.
Use Spaced Repetition
- Spaced repetition is a technique that involves rechallenging yourself to recall a concept at specific intervals. By reviewing information multiple times at spaced intervals (as opposed to multiple times in the same session) you will strengthen your overall recall. This is based on the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, which illustrates that we retain less and less information as time goes by; we can increase the amount of information retained by repeatedly challenging ourselves with the same material at times when we are about to forget it.
Test Yourself in Both Directions
- To solidify your understanding, try testing yourself using flashcards in both directions. This means using the back of the card as the cue, and attempting to remember the cue based on the answer. By approaching the same information from a different angle, you can improve your overall comprehension of the concept and identify areas where you may need further review.
Say Your Answers Out Loud
- Reading the answers to yourself out loud can help you to stay focused while studying flashcards. Reading aloud can also help with recall: a study from the University of Waterloo demonstrated that participants recalled approximately 36% of words that they read aloud, compared to 13% of words that they read silently.
Use Flashcards with Other Study Tools
- While flashcards are an effective learning tool, they should not be relied on alone. Use flashcards along with other tools such as lectures, reading materials, videos and practice questions to achieve a multimodal understanding of medical topics.
Flashcard Platforms
We have moved on from needing to write our own flashcards on index cards. There is now a wide variety of digital flashcard platforms that you can use for your study. Such platforms offer a range of features such as customizable flashcards, pre-made decks on medical topics, and spaced repetition algorithsm to help with memorisation. Here are five popular flashcard platforms that are particularly useful for medical students:
ANKI
- ANKI is a popular open-source flashcard app that uses spaced repetition to help users remember information over the long term.
ANKI is available on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, and users can create custom flashcards with text, images, and audio. ANKI is free to use on the web and Android, while the iOS app has an upfront cost.
Brainscape
- Brainscape is a flashcard platform that uses spaced repetition and is great for learning large amounts of information.
Brainscape is available on the web, iOS and Android, and users can create their own flashcards or access curated and user-generated flashcard decks, including certified ones for MCAT and USMLE. Brainscape also includes learning analytics to track progress and identify areas of weakness. Brainscape is free to download, with a premium version available on a monthly or yearly subscription.
Quizlet
- Quizlet is a flashcard platform that allows users to create their own flashcards and access millions of pre-made flashcard decks created by others, including those for MCAT, USMLE, and medical school generally.
Quizlet is available on the web, iOS, and Android, and users can create custom flashcards with text, images, and audio. Quizlet is free to download and use, with a premium version available on a monthly or yearly subscription.
Flashcard Hero
- Flashcard Hero is a simple an affordable flashcard app that allows users to create flashcards and organise them into decks.
Flashcard hero is available on Mac, iOS and Windows 10. The app is available for a one-off purchase.
Conclusion
Flashcards are a versatile and effective tool for working through the vast swathes of information that you’ll need to learn and remember as a medical students. While creating your own flashcards is the best way to learn, pre-made medical flashcards are available through various flashcard platforms.
Ultimately, the key to success with flashcards is consistent use over time, and incorporating flashcards into your normal study routine that includes other study tools and techniques. Remember to use spaced repetition to get the most out of each flashcard review. Good luck in your studies!
Next Page
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want more info like this?
MedSchool
- Your electronic clinical medicine handbook
- Guides to help pass your exams
- Tools every medical student needs
- Quick diagrams to have the answers, fast
- Quizzes to test your knowledge
References
Karpicke JD, Bauernschmidt A. Spaced retrieval: absolute spacing enhances learning regardless of relative spacing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 2011 Sep;37(5):1250.
MacLeod CM. I said, you said: The production effect gets personal. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2011 Dec;18:1197-202.