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Flashcards are undoubtedly great for memorization-heavy courses, but creating hundreds for a single course can be time-consuming and exhausting. Thankfully, AI flashcard generators can spare you the manual work and help you memorize even the toughest content.
1 FlashKa
I've tried nearly every free flashcard app, and while most include AI flashcard generation features, they're often locked behind a paywall, have extremely limiting free versions, or are simply underwhelming.
That's when I started my hunt for dedicated AI flashcard generators, and one tool I wish I'd discovered earlier is FlashKa. Not only does it use AI to generate flashcards, but it also helps you interact with your study material and explain any doubts you might have.
FlashKa offers four different modes: PDF, Describe, Text, and Manual.
Since we're focusing on automating the tedious process of creating flashcards, I'll stick to the first three as the Manual mode requires you to create the flashcards yourselves. In the Describe mode, all you need to do is just specify what you want to learn, your familiarity with the topic, and what you'd like to achieve.
For example, I wrote "Momentum, I know some of the concepts, I'd like to master the topic," named my deck, and FlashKa created the flashcards shown below.
If you have the study material on hand, you can use either the PDF or Text mode. For the Text mode, simply paste up to 1000 characters, and FlashKa takes care of the rest. Since I mostly study from handwritten notes and lecture slides, the PDF mode is my favorite.
Just upload your PDF, select the pages you want to create flashcards from, and choose between two options: either hit the Generate Flashcards button to let the AI do its thing or highlight information you want converted into flashcards.
Flashka also includes an image occlusion feature, perfect if your subjects require visual memorization.
Of course, making the flashcards is only half the battle -- the real challenge is studying them. Thankfully, FlashKa also assists in the studying process. It uses a spaced repetition algorithm and even allows you to test your knowledge by generating quizzes from your flashcards.
FlashKa operates on a credit system, giving you 50 daily credits. A credit is used each time you generate a flashcard, quiz, or use the AI help features. While the free credits are generally sufficient for daily use, they might fall short if you tend to cram the night before an exam. In that case, you can upgrade to their Beast or Wizard subscriptions, which provide 3000 AI credits or unlimited credits, respectively.
2 Brainscape
FlashKa's great, but as I mentioned earlier, you might find its free credits limiting if you're the type to pull all-nighters and cram an entire semester's worth of content the night before the final.
If you're looking for a similar tool with an excellent spaced repetition algorithm that's mostly free, Brainscape is definitely worth checking out. To create AI-powered flashcards within a deck, you've got three options: Import/Paste Flashcards, Summarize From Content, and Just Tell AI What I Want.
If you already have study material in the form of pre-existing questions and answers like vocabulary words or definitions in a file (.xlsx, .csv, .txt, .tsv), or an image, you can easily convert them into flashcards using the Import/Paste Flashcards option. When I've used this feature, the initial set of flashcards that Brainscape displays on the "Do these look right to you?" page is usually a mess.
You can either add all the cards to your deck or hit the No, Fix With AI button, which uses ChatGPT to improve both the content and presentation of the cards.
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On the other hand, the Summarize from Content mode works similarly to FlashKa. All you need to do is upload a file (.docx, .pptx, .txt) or an image of your study material, and the AI will convert it into flashcards for you.
If you don't have any study material and just want to generate flashcards on a topic from scratch, use the Just Tell AI What I Want mode. Here, you specify the number of flashcards you want and the topic, and you'll have your flashcards ready in seconds.
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While features like adding images and sounds to flashcards, bookmarking specific cards, and reversing features require Brainscape Pro, creating and studying AI-generated flashcards on Brainscape remains completely free.
The only drawback is that, at the time of writing, Brainscape's AI tools are not fully available on its web version. So, you'll need to use the iOS or Android app to access them for now.
There is a file size limit for the Import/Paste Flashcards and Summarize From Content options, though Brainscape doesn't specify exactly what that limit is. Once you reach the "limit", you won't be able to upload any more files unless you upgrade.
3 Gizmo
You'd be lying if you said you haven't studied from a YouTube video at least once during high school or college. YouTube is a lifesaver when you're struggling with concepts and exams are approaching. But let's be real -- watching them can be super time-consuming, especially if you're jotting down notes or creating flashcards.
If you try watching at 2X speed (trust me, I've tried!), you often miss key information and end up rewinding, which just adds to the time crunch.
This is where Gizmo comes in. Its Magic Import feature lets you turn a YouTube video into flashcards simply by pasting the link. For example, I pasted the URL of a YouTube video on Momentum by Congito, and it created 27 flashcards covering the entire 7-minute video.
Once your flashcards are created, you'll notice a few words in each card highlighted in green. These are the terms Gizmo will quiz you on when you're studying. It also uses machine learning to ask you additional questions. Like the other tools, Gizmo utilizes a spaced repetition algorithm, presenting questions in the most efficient way to help reinforce your memory.
But it doesn't stop there -- Magic Import also works with PDFs, PowerPoints, Google Docs notes, Quizlet and Anki decks, a Google webpage, photos of your notes, and even real-time lecture recordings, converting all of them into flashcards!
When building your set, you can also click the AI Generate button, which opens a chat where you can input a topic or question. Gizmo will then provide an answer in flashcard form, ready to be saved to your deck.
The options are endless, and the best part is that Gizmo is completely free to use.
Given that AI has seeped into nearly every sector of our lives, it only makes sense to leverage AI for studying as well. With the flashcard generation tools I've mentioned above, you'll not only save a significant amount of time creating flashcards, but also reduce the time you spend studying as a whole!
