Yeah, I know we live in an age where there is an app for everything. Quizlet exists. and may even have a cult following. But here I am, a wanna be doc student, sitting at my laptop with a stack of index cards and a pen that is running out of ink.
And honestly? It works better than anything else I have tried.
and I've been doing it successfully for years.
The Method Behind the Madness
There is something about physically writing information on a flashcard that burns it into my brain. I am not just copying words. I am taking a photograph of it in my brain. When I sit down for an exam and need to recall a concept, I do not just remember the answer. I see the card. I see my handwriting. I see the coffee stain in the corner, or that specific scribble from the mistake I made.
This is not just me being nostalgic for analog tools. There is actual science that backs my luddite ways. Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) found that students who take handwritten notes process information more deeply than those who type. The physical act of writing forces you to synthesize and summarize because you simply cannot write as fast as you can type. Your brain has to engage with the material differently.
How I Actually Use Them
I do not use flashcards in isolation. That would be a waste of good index cards. Here is my process:
First, I go through the study guide. I identify what I need to know versus what I already know. No point making a flashcard for something I learned three semesters ago.
Second, I cross reference with the textbook. The study guide tells me what to learn. The textbook tells me how to understand it. Big difference.
Third, I write the cards. Question on the front, answer on the back. Nothing fancy. But here is the key: I write them by hand. Every single one. No printing from a template. No copying and pasting into some flashcard generator.
Why? Because the writing is half the learning. By the time I finish making a deck of fifty cards, I have already reviewed that material fifty times. The actual flashcard review becomes reinforcement, not first exposure.
The Visual Memory Thing
Here is what most people do not talk about when they discuss flashcards. Your brain remembers more than just the words you wrote. It remembers context. Location on the card. The color of ink you used. Whether you underlined something or put it in quotes.
When I take an exam and hit a question I am not immediately sure about, I close my eyes for half a second. And there it is. The card. I can see the answer sitting on the right side of the card, written in blue or black ink, with a little asterisk next to it because I knew it was important.
The Catch
I am not going to pretend this method is fast. It takes time to write out cards by hand. It takes discipline to actually review them instead of letting them sit in a pile on your desk, not judging you.
But for me, the investment pays off. I retain more. I recall faster. And I walk into exams feeling like I actually know the material instead of hoping I crammed enough the night before.
So yes, I still use flashcards. The paper kind. With my own terrible handwriting. And I have no plans to stop.
References
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
-Photos edited using MS Paint and/or iPhone SE.
-Page Dividers from The Terminal Discord.
