My Flashcard System

To enlarge my vocabulary, I carry approximately 5 flashcards (at least 3, at most 7) in my pocket. I have a very regimented system based upon spaced repetition. (See How to Remember Anything Forever-ish.) It sounds onerous, but for me it’s like doing a crossword puzzle or sudoku.

Decades ago, I bought a box of 1,000 printed cards (1½ by 3½ inches) and 2 more boxes of 1,000 blank cards. After many years, I have written on all 3,000 cards and now I have begun cutting new blank cards from cardstock. The original printed cards included a primary single word and often one or more closely related words like gestern, gestrig, and vorgestern. Over the course of several decades I have added sentences to many of my cards. Prepositions, for example, are much easier to learn in context. I have also added common idioms.

My German flashcard filing system has the following 6 sections:

Flashcards
in my
Pocket

They are
in a
business
card
holder. I
review
them at
odd
moments
throughout
the day.

Review in
1 Week

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Review in
18 Days

1^st – 5^th

6^th – 10^th

11^th – 15^th

16^th – 20^th

21^st – 25^th

26^th – End

Review in 1⅓ Months

Odd Month, 1 – 10

Odd Month, 11 – 20

Odd Month, 21 – End

Even Month, 1 – 10

Even Month, 11 – 20

Even Month, 21 – End

Flashcards I Know

This is about 3,500
cards sorted
alphabetically
in German. Every
once in a while I
I realize that I have
forgotten a flashcard
and promptly move
it back to my pocket.

New Flashcards

As I read in German,
watch German videos, or
listen to German audio,
I constantly encounter
unfamiliar words. I write
some of them on blank
cards. I try to be judicious.
I can’t write every German
word on a flashcard!

My morning flashcard routine:

First, I quiz myself with the flashcards I carried in my pocket yesterday. If I know a flashcard well, I file it to “Review in 1 Week”. If I hesitate, I leave it in my pocket for one more day.

Next, I quiz myself with flashcards I carried in my pocket a week ago. If I know a flashcard well, I file it to “Review in 18 Days”. If I hesitate, but answer correctly, I file it to “Review in 1 Week”. If I really don’t know the card, I put it in my pocket.

If I need another card or two, I quiz myself with flashcards I carried in my pocket 18 days ago. If I know a flashcard well, I file it to “Review in 1⅓ Months”. If I hesitate, but answer correctly, I file it to “Review in 18 Days”. If I really don’t know the card, I put it in my pocket.

If I still need another card or two, I quiz myself with flashcards I carried in my pocket 1⅓ months ago. If I know a flashcard well, I file it to “Flashcards I Know”. If I hesitate, but answer correctly, I file it to “Review in 1⅓ Months”. If I really don’t know the card, I put it in my pocket.

Finally, in order to always carry at least 3 flashcards in my pocket, I find it necessary to either intentionally create new flashcards or browse “Flashcards I Know” to find any I have forgotten.