Flashcards: Uncomfortable and Hard, Distraction-Free, and Extremely Effective

“The flashcards put me at such an advantage during the Grammar section,” a student told me after her PSAT last week. 

“My friend sitting next to me just looked so stressed, and she’s been tutoring for four months. She was like ‘I just had no idea what was going on during the Grammar section."

“They put me at such an advantage. They really burned everything into my mind.“

My student had scored a 26 on her first ACT English Section. Eleven practice SAT and ACT grammar Sections and 80 memorized grammar flashcards later, she was scoring a perfect 36 on ACT English. From 17 questions wrong on her first Section to answering 521 of her last 535 practice SAT and ACT grammar questions correctly, she has come a long way.

Why is it, then, that we've seen a method as anachronistic and seldom-used as flashcards work so well? 

The books of two best-selling authors, Cal Newport and Daniel Coyle, shed light on answers...

Newport’s specialty is “Deep Work.” His book by that title is a life changer, and it shows why extended periods of focus on a single project produce not just career-changing work, but a deep sense of personal happiness and fulfillment, too.

Newport warns readers against multitasking, citing Sophie Leroy’s research that “when you switch from Task A to another Task B, your attention doesn’t immediately follow - a residue of your attention remains stuck thinking about the original task… Even if you finish Task A before moving on, your attention remains divided for a while.” 

One reason flashcards work so well is because they are distraction-free: no open tabs, buzzing alerts, or incoming messages distract the student from memorizing.

Daniel Coyle’s best-seller “The Talent Code,” meanwhile, sheds a different light on why flashcards work so well. 

Coyle traveled the world to study the greatest talent development hotbeds in the world, and he found that all of them approached learning almost identically.

A key ingredient to their success was exposing students to as much failure, followed by immediate feedback and correction, as possible. 

Brazilians became so good with a ball at their feet because in early childhood, they played futsal rather than soccer: a version of soccer played on small indoor courts, on slick surfaces, with defenders rarely more than a few feet away. Futsal players touch the ball at least six times as often as do a player on a traditional soccer field, massively enhancing their foot skills and poise on the ball.

Flashcards provide students with the same type of incessant, immediate right/wrong feedback.

While the work is uncomfortable and mentally tiring, that’s exactly why they're so effective. They're the hardest and most efficient mental workout that a learner can undergo. 

Reading about grammar or taking practice tests, by contrast - the approach taken by most students - is considerably lower-intensity than having to plow through a pile of flashcards while memorizing them 100%.

Fortunately, high intensity means less time required to be spent on them. While my student’s friend has spent four months studying grammar without progressing significantly, my student has mastered grammar (and subsequently Reading) and progressed to ACT Science.

Her final Section Math - and our new box of SAT-ACT Math flashcards - await.