- 09 Dec, 2025 *
1. Misplaced completionism.
For example, deciding you want to learn about geography, then adding flashcards for every world capital. You’re pretty likely to burn out, deciding that you’re not that concerned about the capital of Vanuatu. Even if you don’t burn out, you might well do better learning about cities in an order that doesn’t put all the capitals first.
2. Directly porting previous test questions, glossary items, or similar.
This shares some problems with (1)–you’re likely to be mixing in lower-priority items–and will likely introduce…
- 09 Dec, 2025 *
1. Misplaced completionism.
For example, deciding you want to learn about geography, then adding flashcards for every world capital. You’re pretty likely to burn out, deciding that you’re not that concerned about the capital of Vanuatu. Even if you don’t burn out, you might well do better learning about cities in an order that doesn’t put all the capitals first.
2. Directly porting previous test questions, glossary items, or similar.
This shares some problems with (1)–you’re likely to be mixing in lower-priority items–and will likely introduce problems at the individual card level, because it’s unlikely that the material is phrased in a way that is best for drilling.
3. Too much breadth and too little depth
For most subjects and most learners, flashcarding works best when facts are covered from many angles. (A simple example of this is doing both directions of a binary association, as in "Paris is the capital of what country?" and "What is the capital of France?".) Many new flashcarders cover too much material in too little depth. Even if you’re studying for a test on short notice, you’re likely to get a better score by knowing the most important things thoroughly than by trying to make a card for everything.