Exam preparation: a structured path to your exam with flashcards

Why testing and spacing work

A widely cited review (Dunlosky et al., 2013, “Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques”) rated practice testing and distributed practice as the most useful of ten learning techniques studied; re-reading and highlighting scored much lower. Flashcards are a simple way to put both into practice.

A plan for the last few weeks

1. 1Collect the material: have the slides and scripts for each lecture ready as PDFs.
2. 2Create cards as soon as a topic is covered – not everything in the final week.
3. 3Review briefly every day: spaced repetition shows you only the cards that are due.
4. 4Spot weak topics: cards you often rate “again” show you where the gaps are.
5. 5Simulate the exam: in KO mode (Plus, Pro, Tutor) you only have limited time per card – if it runs out, the card counts as not known.
6. 6Practise speaking: for oral exams the voice teacher (Pro, Tutor) quizzes you out loud.

Turning lecture slides into cards quickly

With Aynora you upload the slides as a PDF, let it suggest key passages or highlight them yourself – graphics included. The AI writes cards from them, you review them and save the deck. That leaves more time for the actual studying.

Common mistakes

• Cards that are too big: one card, one fact.
• Cramming everything at the end: spaced reviews need a few days’ head start.
• Recognising instead of recalling: answer first, then flip.
• Never revising cards: rephrase unclear cards or delete them.