Just a general recommendation: for math/physics/CS it's far more useful to work through problems than memorize facts. I'll use linear algebra as an example since that shows up often in your cards.
Say you want to learn about eigenvectors and eigenvalues. Instead of writing the definition, you might have a card which asks the following:
"Create a matrix whose eigenvectors or eigenvalues are always equal."
This will force you to do two things. First, you will learn from creating the card since you're forced to synthesize the information rather than copy. Second, your recall will force you to work through this newly created problem.
Another general strategy is to just pick a problem from a book that uses the concept. If you ever get the problem wrong, you oblige yourself to solving an additional related problem from the same book (i.e. find the basis of one of the following matrices).
I guarantee you will learn 10x more effectively.
Also beware of falling victim to spending more time on building tools than learning... I've found that pencil and paper go a lot farther than people give credit.
I don't think it's one or the other. I struggled a lot through differential equations because I didn't have good memorization skills. Had I memorized all of the formula it would have helped me get more out of doing the problems.
It's like learning Spanish. If you memorize a bunch of words you won't be able to speak Spanish. But if you have a bunch of Spanish words memorized than you'll get a lot more out of reading/listening/ trying to speak Spanish than if you don't.
And memorization is usually a far less taxing activity that you can do on your phone when waiting in line or using the bathroom.
there is some truth to this but some areas of math do really benefit from just raw memorization. At a certain point, remembering the definitions and the statements of theorems may not be so trivial, and having them in your head makes it much easier to solve problems.
I agree here. Actually, in most cases, it was enough to know only the definitions. I could come up with applications from definitions on the spot. The thing to watch out for is to get used to the way to solve problems and forget the definitions. I think this is a more frequent occurrence (especially when preparing for the exam.) Then the one will get trouble if they need other applications.
Yup. There are a lot of physics concepts I broadly understand, but solving a problem for them is a different beast.
edit: Also, speaking as someone who mostly taught themselves physics from the books in college and didn't go to class. (I was not a great student, I did _okay_, and probably got lucky).
The caveat to this: I would recommend putting such questions in a separate deck. Solving these problems take time.
What I do: Fact based stuff that I want to just recall quickly go in one deck. I do this deck daily - 5-10 minutes max while having breakfast.
The more complicated cards go in the second deck, which I do only occasionally (e.g. weekends when I have time).
When I initially had them all in one deck, there was no way to do a daily review in a few minutes, and so I would often do it less frequently which messes up the whole point of SRS.
It seems to be a good way to assist with main usage. But I think it's dangerous to try to compose questions with it alone. In my personal case, I found it too burdensome to create such questions. Of course, if I want to learn something really deep, the way you said would be good.
Say you want to learn about eigenvectors and eigenvalues. Instead of writing the definition, you might have a card which asks the following:
"Create a matrix whose eigenvectors or eigenvalues are always equal."
This will force you to do two things. First, you will learn from creating the card since you're forced to synthesize the information rather than copy. Second, your recall will force you to work through this newly created problem.
Another general strategy is to just pick a problem from a book that uses the concept. If you ever get the problem wrong, you oblige yourself to solving an additional related problem from the same book (i.e. find the basis of one of the following matrices).
I guarantee you will learn 10x more effectively.
Also beware of falling victim to spending more time on building tools than learning... I've found that pencil and paper go a lot farther than people give credit.