Flash Cards for Palm Pilots

[SuperflyMD]

Has anyone heard about decent flashcard sets for the Palm OS? I'm looking for any of the first year classes (Gross, biochem, histo, etc.). I found a good flashcard program (supermemo), but entering the content is very time-consuming, and my first phase-exams are less than two weeks away.

Any help would be appreciated.

StephenS1

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[gp]

I've tried two other products recommended to me by other people: HandyCards ($10) and JTutor ($15), but I have to admit I haven't been that impressed. Both are shareware, with a free trial period - so I didn't actually shell out any money on them. Jtutor claims to have some prepackaged sets of flash cards that you can load (it comes with a "Cardiac Function" quiz as a sample), but I didn't see them on the web site I was looking at. If interested, both are available through http://www.palmgear.com

Disadvantages: 1) Data entry IS a pain. I couldn't even get the converter that converts text files to Palm files to work with the Handy Cards program. 2) You can't work off both sides of you flash cards - one side is the "Question" and one side is the "answer" - and you can't reverse them, which is really important because knowing your flash cards both ways involves two different types of learning - being able to name a concept looking at a definition (easier) and being able to give a definition from the name of a concept (much harder) - was a language major - so flash cards are my friends!!!

Advantage: I liked the quiz feature, I think. and it would have been nice to have something on the Palm to carry around, rather than keep up with index cards on the train on the way to campus.

I think for now I'm going to stick with index cards until I find a better option. I'm finding my two week old Palm to be a great toy, but some things just take more effort than they are worth, and paper just works better.

 

[SuperflyMD]

I found the same problems with handycard & JTutor. Supermemo is neat for several reasons. Data entry can be done through excel. Each card can have up to 7 categories (last night I worked on cranial nerves and on each I put number, name, fiber types, origin from brain, where it leaves the cranial cavity and where the cell bodies are located.

When you do drills, you tap each card right or wrong. The wrong ones are recycled, but the right ones go into a test file. The PDA quizes you a day or two later, and repeats cards based on frequency of correct responses. There's more to it, but I'm on my way to lecture.

In general, it really seems worthwhile. The drawback is the unregistered version is EXTREMELY limited. I had to shell out the $15 dollars before I could see what it could really do.

Unfortunately, no matter how good it is, data entry still takes forever.

 

[gp]

OK - you've got me interested - where do I get the program? I had not run across "Supermemo" in my searching yet. Thanks.

 

[SuperflyMD]

Their webpage is mapletop.com. Be sure to download or read their online manual. They also have links to where you can register the program. Like I stated above, it's not much good without it (althought the US States, capitols, & nicknames database is kind of neat).

Good luck & keep looking for flash cards,


StephenS1