How to create flashcards for studying with AI

AI generates better flashcards when the text is well organized. Before starting:

1. Choose the right unit: don’t try to process an entire book at once. Work by chapter, topic or week of class. Flashcards from a small, coherent block are more useful.
2. Clean the text if needed: if you copied text from a PDF it may have odd line breaks or page numbers in the middle. Delete those before pasting.
3. Formats that work well:
   • Text copied from notes, slides or a book (paste it directly in the chat)
   • PDF files (for NotebookLM or ChatGPT with file upload)
   • Google Docs or Word documents (copy the content and paste it)
4. Decide what type of card you want:
   • Direct question / answer (e.g. “What is mitosis?”)
   • Fill in the blank (e.g. “The cell divides through the process of ___”)
   • Term / definition (e.g. “Mitosis: process of cell division…”)

You can mix formats, but start with just one so it’s easier to import to Anki.

This is the fastest way to get started. It works with either one (ChatGPT at https://chatgpt.com or Claude at https://claude.ai).

1. Open a new conversation.
2. Paste your study text in the chat.
3. Write your request right after the text. Use specific prompts for better results:

For question/answer cards:

From the text above, create 20 study flashcards. 
Format: Question | Answer
One per line. No numbering.

For term/definition cards:

From the text above, extract the key concepts and their 
definitions in this format:
Term | Definition
One per line. Maximum 15 cards.

For fill in the blank:

Convert the main ideas from the text into sentences 
with a blank space to fill in:
Incomplete sentence | Correct answer
One per line.

4. The AI returns the list. Review it: correct any errors before using it to study.

Free plan: both ChatGPT and Claude have limits on their free version. If you hit the limit, wait a few hours or use the other tool. For continuous generation without limits, ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro cost $20/mo. Confirm on the official page.

NotebookLM (by Google) is free and works directly with your documents: PDFs, Google Docs, web pages or text files. It’s especially good when the study material is long or technical.

1. Go to https://notebooklm.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
2. Create a new Notebook.
3. Upload your sources: click ”+” and select the PDF, Google Doc or URL you want to use.
4. Once NotebookLM processes the document, type in the notebook chat:

Create 25 study flashcards from this document. 
Format: Question | Answer
Focus on the most important concepts.

5. NotebookLM generates the cards based on your document. Copy the list.

NotebookLM advantage: answers cite the original document, so if a card seems incorrect you can verify it in the source text with one click.

NotebookLM is 100% free. Learn more about using it to organize all your study material in the tutorial How to create your second brain with NotebookLM.

Anki is the most powerful spaced repetition tool for long-term memorization. It’s free on desktop, web and Android.

Step A: Export the cards as CSV

Go back to the ChatGPT or Claude chat and ask:

Export the previous flashcards as CSV text: 
first column Question, second column Answer, 
separated by semicolon (;). No headers.

Copy the result and paste it into a text file (Notepad or TextEdit). Save it with a .txt extension.

Step B: Import in Anki

1. Download and install Anki at https://apps.ankiweb.net (free on Windows, Mac and Linux).
2. Open Anki and go to File → Import.
3. Select the .txt file you saved.
4. In the import screen:
   • “Note type” → Basic
   • Field separator → semicolon (;)
   • Make sure “Front” and “Back” fields are mapped to the correct columns
5. Click Import. The cards appear in your deck.
6. Click Study Now and begin.

AnkiMobile (iPhone) has a one-time cost of $24.99. On Android, AnkiDroid is free. To study from a browser, https://ankiweb.net is free.

If you don’t want to import files and prefer to study directly on the platform, Quizlet is the fastest alternative.

1. Go to https://quizlet.com and create an account (free).
2. Click “Create” to start a new flashcard set.
3. Quizlet Plus ($35.99/year) has an AI feature that automatically generates flashcards from text: type or paste the material and the cards are created on their own.
4. With the free plan, you can create cards manually by copying and pasting the ones ChatGPT generated.
5. Use the built-in study modes (Learn, Write, Test) directly on the platform.

When to choose Quizlet over Anki:

• You want to start studying today without configuring anything
• You prefer to study from your phone without installing additional apps
• You want to share the card set with other classmates

When to choose Anki:

• You need to memorize long-term (license exams, languages, medicine)
• You want the most refined spaced repetition algorithm
• You have many decks to sync across devices

To learn more comprehensive study techniques with AI, visit the tutorial How to study for exams with artificial intelligence.

Problem	Fix
ChatGPT generates very few cards	Ask for a specific number: “Create exactly 30 flashcards”
Answers seem made up or incorrect	Check the source text; AI can hallucinate on specific data, correct them before studying
Anki doesn’t recognize the CSV file	Make sure to save as .txt and that the separator matches what you set in the import screen
Cards in Anki appear flipped (question and answer reversed)	In Anki’s import screen, swap the “Front” and “Back” fields
NotebookLM takes a long time to process the PDF	PDFs over 200 pages may take several minutes; split the material into smaller files