Flashcards
Write your own decks and review them with FSRS spaced repetition so each card comes back just before you would forget it.
Flashcards in Margin are scheduled with FSRS, a modern spaced-repetition algorithm. You rate how well you remembered each card, and Margin works out when you need to see it again. Cards you know well come back after days, then weeks, then months; cards you struggle with come back soon.
Making a deck#
Open Flashcards from the sidebar and choose New deck (the + beside Decks). Click the deck's title to rename it, and press Enter when you are done.
To add a card, write in the last row of the deck: the question where it says New card: the question, then the answer beside it (or under it on a phone). Press Enter in the answer, or ⌘ Enter (Ctrl Enter on Windows and Linux) on either side, to add it. Use $…$ for maths on either side:
Front: What is $\frac{d}{dx} \tan x$?
Back: $\sec^2 x$To change a card, click it and edit the front or back in place; it saves when you click away, and Esc undoes the edit.
The deck list shows how many cards each deck has, or how many are due when any are.
To delete a whole deck and its cards, choose Delete deck in the ⋯ menu beside the deck's title, then confirm.
Writing good cards#
- One fact per card. "State the quotient rule" is better than "State the product, quotient and chain rules".
- Ask for recall, not recognition. Prompt with the question and make yourself produce the answer.
- Keep the back short. If an answer needs a paragraph, split it into several cards.
- Delete cards you do not need. Hover a card in the list and choose the bin icon.
Reviewing#
Open a deck and choose Review, which appears with the number of cards due whenever there are any. Due cards come up most overdue first, one at a time in large type. Press Space, or choose Show answer, to reveal the answer under the question, then rate it.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space or Enter | Show the answer |
| 1 | Again |
| 2 | Hard |
| 3 | Good |
| 4 | Easy |
| Esc | Stop reviewing (or choose Done) |
The number keys work once the answer is showing. Each rating shows how long until you would see the card again if you chose it, and its key, for example Good with 3d · 3. A card you rate Again goes to the back of the current session so you see it again before you finish. When the session is done, Back to the deck returns to the deck.
How the scheduling works#
FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) models your memory of each card with two numbers:
| Measure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Stability | How long the memory lasts. Roughly, the number of days until you have a 90% chance of still remembering the card. |
| Difficulty | How hard the card is for you, from easy to very hard. Difficult cards gain stability more slowly. |
From these, FSRS predicts the probability you can still recall a card on any given day, called its retrievability. It schedules the next review for the day that probability is expected to fall to about 90%. Reviewing at that point strengthens the memory most for the least effort.
Every time you rate a card, FSRS updates its stability and difficulty:
| Rating | Use it when | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Again | You could not remember it | The card is relearned: it returns within minutes and its stability drops |
| Hard | You remembered, but only with real effort | A shorter interval than Good, and difficulty rises |
| Good | You remembered after a moment's thought | The normal next interval |
| Easy | You knew it instantly | A longer interval, and difficulty falls |
Be honest with your ratings. Rating a card Good when you hesitated means it comes back later than it should, and you are more likely to forget it before the exam.
Card states#
A card moves through four states:
- New: not reviewed yet. New cards are due straight away.
- Learning: seen for the first time; short steps of minutes until it sticks.
- Review: learned; intervals of days to months.
- Relearning: forgotten after being learned; short steps again before returning to review.
The card list shows each card as New, Due, or the number of days until it is next due.
Margin's settings#
Margin uses the standard FSRS parameters with two adjustments:
- Maximum interval of 180 days. A card is never scheduled more than about six months away, so nothing drifts past your exams.
- Fuzz. Intervals are nudged by a small random amount so that cards added together do not all fall due on the same day.
Every rating is also recorded in your review history, which feeds the review chart, recall rate and card stages in Progress.
Planning around reviews#
The home dashboard shows how many cards are due now, and when you generate a plan in the Planner with cards due, it adds a review task for today. Short daily reviews work far better than one long session: ten minutes a day keeps a large deck under control.