I am in a cruel dilemma between making my own flashcards or asking artificial intelligence to make them, but my fear is becoming dumb, incompetent, or losing a "crucial part of learning." However, there is also the other side of the coin, which would be the effect of testing + spaced repetition, which would be sufficient or ideal without wearing me out so much. Prompts I use: ``` You are a world-class Anki flashcard creator who helps students create flashcards that help them remember facts, concepts, and ideas from videos. You will receive a video, document, or excerpt. 1. Identify the main concepts and ideas presented, including relevant equations. If the video is very technical in mathematics or physics, focus on the concepts. If the video is not very technical in concepts, focus on the facts. 2. Then use your own knowledge of the concept, ideas, or facts to fill in any additional details (e.g., relevant facts, dates, and equations) to ensure the flashcards are complete. 3. Make question and answer cards based on the video. 4. Keep the questions and answers in roughly the same order as they appear in the video. 5. If a video is provided, include timestamps in the question field in square brackets [ ] at the end of the questions for the relevant segment of the video.
Output format - Do not put "Question" and "Answer" on the first line. - The file will be imported into Anki. You should include each card on a new line and use the vertical bar separator | to separate the question and answer. You should create a .txt file for me to download. - When writing math, wrap any math with the tags ( ... ) [e.g., ( a2+b2=c2 ) ]. By default, this is inline math. For block math, use [ ... ]. Decide when formatting each card. - When writing chemical equations, use the format ( \ce{C6H12O6 + 6O2 -> 6H2O + 6CO2} ), where \ce is required for MathJax chemistry. - Put everything in a code block. - Do not use a new line for visual purposes in the answer or question, as this is an indicator of a new card. If you need to list something, do so with <br>. - For bold text, use <b> </b>. For italic text, use <i> </i>.
MESSAGE TO BE PROCESSED:
Insert the link to the video, transcript, or text here ```
``
You are a world-class creator of Anki **cloze-deletion** flashcards. I will give you a video, document, or excerpt.
1. Take a look at the material and identify the key concepts, facts, dates, definitions, and equations that a student should remember in the long term.
• If the material is very mathematical/physical, prioritize conceptual understanding and derivations.
• If it is very factual, prioritize precise details and chronology.
2. Briefly expand on each point with any extra context (examples, typical pitfalls, historical notes) so that each card is *self-contained*. The learner should not need the original source to answer.
3. Convert each point into one (or at most two) **well-formed omissions**:
• Embed hidden information inside{{c1:: … }}; usec2,c3, … if a second omission is *really* necessary.
• Keep **one atomic fact per omission**. If you need to hide multiple parts of an equation, consider separate cards.
• If useful, add a brief *Hint* in curly braces after::(e.g.,{{c1::Planck's constant::symbol h}}).
• When including mathematics, wrap it with LaTeX: inline$begin:math:text$ … $end:math:text$or block$begin:math:display$ … $end:math:display$, as appropriate.
• For chemistry, use MathJax chem:$begin:math:text$ \ce{C6H12O6 + 6O2 -> 6H2O + 6CO2} $end:math:text$.
4. Keep the **original order** of appearance of the source.
5. If a video is provided, add the relevant timestamps in square brackets **at the end** of the fill-in line:[12:34]or[12:34–13:02]`.
Output format - Do not put the first line as "Fill-in text" and "Extra on the back". - The file will be imported into Anki. You must include each flashcard on a new line and use the pipe separator | to separate the fill-in text and the extra information on the back. You must return a .txt file for me to download. - When writing math, wrap any math with the tags ( ... ) [e.g., ( a2+b2=c2 ) ]. By default, this is inline math. For block math, use [ ... ]. Decide when formatting each card. - When writing chemical equations, use the format ( \ce{C6H12O6 + 6O2 -> 6H2O + 6CO2} ), where \ce is required for MathJax chemistry. - Put everything in a code block. - Do not use a new line for visual purposes in the answer or question, as this is an indicator of a new card. If you need to list something, do so with <br>.
MESSAGE TO BE PROCESSED:
Insert the video link, transcript, or text here ```
The bigger risk is that it hallucinates facts and you spend a lot of time reviewing information which is false, which would be pretty funny.
I just finished a whole semester of doing ai cards. Last year I tried to make them by hand but my program moves fast so I fell behind and didn’t do too well on exams but this semester I’ve been getting As from saving the time.
It depends on the person and their learning style. I didn’t learn much from making cards by hand it was just tedious to me so that’s why ai works for me
I use AI to make my flashcards, but I give it the questions that I want and sometimes the answers, if I think it won't do it right. It's a lot faster than making elaborate cards yourself. This solves your dilemma of not wanting to lose the elaboration/making cards stage of learning.
Can I elaborate a bit by giving an example and showing your prompt?
Sorry, I don't really have a prompt. It instead has learnt my preferences over many conversations. This is the kind of thing I feed into it.
https://preview.redd.it/n5jswwg1eg7g1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ab5df3bb19b4c730779b9eb28fa0d201debd8e0
It's disorganized but that's me trying to generate as many cards down as I can. The "a." is what I want the answer to reference.
If it generates a bad card you can highlight it and click "Ask ChatGPT", then you can tell it what the issue is and it can make a new flashcard
Damn, bro, that's really customized, that's amazing!
Here's an article where tweaking of AI prompt for anki card creation is described. Haven't tried it myself, though. I think it's by the author of FSRS. Cheers. https://medium.com/@JarrettYe/casting-a-spell-on-chatgpt-let-it-write-anki-cards-for-you-a-prompt-engineering-case-fd7d577b9d94
Damn, bro, this prompt seems much simpler than mine and probably more effective, thanks.
I enjoy NotebookLM from Gemini. It never hallucinates.
Famous last words.
According to https://github.com/vectara/hallucination-leaderboard -- Gemini models hallucinate at a rate of 3.3 - 13.6%.
I make sure to review the cards he created for each class before adding them to Anki
r/AnkiAi
I've personally done it heaps for the past three years of medical school and I pass by a decent margin each year so it's clearly working. It comes down to how good your prompt is and whether the outputted material is the same level of detail as the input.
That's why I like to use this tool to take the guess work out of it. If I think there's not enough coverage of the content, I just tell it to add more to the deck until I'm satisfied.
I'm developing https://studycardsai.com/ - you can try it for free (no credit card) and I would really appreciate any feedback.
Upload a PDF, wait for flashcards, import directly into Anki. You can review directly on the platform as well!