History · Subjects

The problem

Everything seems obvious until you have to write the date down.

Historical narrative is pleasant to read, and that is its trap: the coherence of the story passes itself off as knowledge. On exam day nobody asks for impressions, they ask for precise landmarks and argued sequences.

The gap in the middle of the sentence

The sentence you know by heart becomes a test the moment the figure is removed. It is the most economical shape for anchoring an entire chronology.

Causes and consequences kept apart

One card asks for the cause, another for the consequence. Mixing them in one block means revising a paragraph rather than an idea.

Landmarks return before they fade

A treaty, a congress, a turning point: such landmarks fade fast if they are never used. The recall schedule brings them back just before they go.

From your notes to cards

One paragraph of notes, three cards.

The same passage yields a gap to fill, a definition to state and a choice to settle.

Uploaded excerpt · Europe after 1945

The Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957 and established the European Economic Community. The Marshall Plan refers to American economic aid to Europe. European integration rested first on coal and steel.

gives

Fill in the blank

The Treaty of Rome was signed in …, establishing the European Economic Community.

1957

Two-sided

What is meant by the Marshall Plan?

American economic aid to post-war Europe.

Multiple choice

Which sector did European integration rest on first?

Coal and steel

Agriculture

Currency

Transport

The right shapes

The shapes that hold a chronology

Three shapes, from the raw landmark to the reasoning.

Fill in the blank

The best shape for a date or a proper noun: it demands the exact value, inside its sentence context.

Two-sided

For notions and definitions, where a formulation is expected rather than a single word.

Multiple choice

Handy when several answers are plausible and you must learn to rule out the false trails.

Your sources

What you upload

The textbook chapter, your class notes, a photographed timeline, an online documentary: all of it converts.

PDF

A chapter, a handout, a past paper with answers.

Word

Your own notes, in .doc as well as .docx.

PowerPoint

The lecture deck, exactly as you were given it.

Photo of your notes

The whiteboard or your notebook, as JPG or PNG.

YouTube video

An online lecture, straight from its address.

Pasted text

Three paragraphs are enough to make a deck.

Anki import

Your old deck finds its place again, in its own window.

On exam day

Before the written paper

With the date in memory, the least secure chapters rise in the plan and the others space out. School holidays are not filled with recalls. The method, in detail →

Frequently asked questions

How do I retain a long chronology?

By cutting it into isolated landmarks, each on its own card, rather than keeping the whole timeline. A timeline is recognised at a glance; a date is not — and it is the date that must be questioned.

Can cards carry quotations?

Yes, and fill-in-the-blank suits them especially: the decisive word of a known quotation is masked, which forces you to restore it word for word rather than keep its general idea.

Can I start from a video?

Yes, from the address of an online video. A documentary or a filmed lecture yields usable cards, worth reading over before you revise them.

What about preparing an essay?

Cards hold the landmarks — dates, actors, notions — that feed the argument. The structure and the question itself are worked out elsewhere: a card will not write the paper for you.