Studying takes a lot of energy and effort. So, no wonder we feel rather disheartened when we have to spend time preparing for studying like making flashcards.
In fact, creating a whole semester’s worth of online flashcards can require a lot of work. Luckily, you don't have to do it all on your own. You can get your classmates to make flashcards for you instead.
How, you ask? And who are we to say so?
We're the team behind Brainscape, the best web and mobile flashcard app out there. Brainscape allows you to design and share your own adaptive flashcard sets with others in your class.
Flashcards are the perfect way of preparing study materials together, especially using an app that allows easy co-creation and editing. It's basically like having a study group, but you don't actually have to physically be together—you can do it from home.
Many of the top students use Brainscape to collaboratively create flashcards because it has a ton of advantages:
- Reduces the time it takes to make flashcards
- Improves the card clarity and accuracy
- Makes studying collaborative
- Allows feedback from others to improve study materials
- Helps you AND others learn more efficiently
Brainscape makes it easy to invite others to your class using flexible editing permissions. And you can track your own study progress, which will definitely make your peers more motivated to study!
So, without further ado, let's learn how you can decrease your workload for preparing flashcards so you can get straight to studying.
Get classmates to make flashcards with you
1. Create a Brainscape class
If you haven’t already, visit the main dashboard screen on Brainscape (either on our website or in our iOS or Android app) and choose to Create Class. You should name the class in such a way that the other students in your class will recognize it. (e.g. Biology 101.)
2. Create a “deck outline” to make flashcards
Inside your Brainscape class, create an empty deck for each chapter or lecture in the semester. You can first create your own flashcards for the first one or two decks, so that your kickstart your group with the right momentum.
3. Share the class with your classmates
Once you’ve set up the shell of your class, click the “Share” button and choose the method that makes the most sense for you. You can share the class via email or text, or just copy the custom invitation link and share it on your class website or other social media. Your classmates will be able to easily join the class in just a few easy clicks.
4. Divide and conquer
Meet with your study group and determine which students will be responsible for creating which decks. Be sure to set the respective editors’ “Edit” access permissions as needed, and set a deadline by which students need to create each deck.
Try to create them as your semester progresses—and well before any unit exams or midterms! Here's our comprehensive guide for how to make flashcards that'll get you that "A+".
5. Refine and improve your flashcards
As the students in your group study the flashcards throughout the semester, they should be encouraged to use the “suggest an edit” button to alert the class administrator(s) whenever there are improvements to be made. The more eyeballs are involved in making your flashcards, the more comprehensive and accurate that they will be!
6. Do a final content audit before the final exam
As you approach the final exam, assign each person in your study group to review at least one deck that was not one of the ones that they initially created themselves. Each reviewer should go through their own class notes and relevant textbook chapters to ensure that no key concepts were missed while making flashcards.
If you follow the steps above, you should end up with a comprehensive, accurate, student-generated set of online flashcards in time for your final exam — with just a fraction of the amount of work you would have had to spend creating the flashcards yourself. And what’s better than personalized learning in less time!
Use Brainscape to double your learning speed
We don't only want to save time preparing to study but also to actually learn and retain content for exams.
A well-organized set of flashcards helps you learn faster (as proven by cognitive science research) AND remember the information for longer. Moreover, having a flashcard app on your phone makes it easy to study your material anywhere, at any time, easily doubling your learning opportunities.
See our complete guide to making & studying flashcards online to learn how to best use flashcards to study efficiently!
Here are some frequently asked questions from Brainscape users to help guide you through your flashcard-making process: