I made about 400 cloze cards straight out of my lecture notes, one deletion per sentence. I pass them in review at maybe 92 percent but I completely blanked on the same material in a practice exam. It feels like I am remembering the shape of the sentence rather than the fact. What do I change without rewriting all 400?
You have built recognition cards, not recall cards. The giveaway is that the surrounding sentence uniquely identifies the answer before you have thought about anything.
Two cheap fixes that do not need a full rewrite:
The [...] nerve controls the muscles of facial expression, the second half is the whole answer.I would rewrite the 60 cards you care about most and let the rest die. Sunk cost on flashcards is real and expensive.
Test the card the way the exam tests you. If the exam asks you to name a structure from a description, your card should show the description and ask for the name. Cloze deletions pulled out of prose usually test neither direction properly.
Ninety two percent is too high anyway. If you are not failing cards you are not being asked anything.
Add a second card for the reverse direction on the twenty facts you know are examinable. Small effort, disproportionate return.
@petra_lindqvist · 3mo ago
Shuffle the order once and see what happens. If your accuracy drops from 92 to 60 when the cards are not in lecture order, you have your answer for free.
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