Creating Your First Deck

Planning your deck

Before opening the app, spend 60 seconds on these three decisions:

Define a specific learning goal. "Spanish food vocabulary" is a deck. "All of Spanish" is not. The more specific the goal, the more focused your cards will be, and the more useful each review session becomes.

Choose your creation method. Three options:

• Manual input: You write each question and answer. Best for precise definitions, formulas, or concepts where phrasing matters.
• AI generation: Paste notes, type a topic, or upload a file. The AI drafts cards for you to review. Best for converting existing material quickly.
• Image capture (mobile): Photograph a textbook, slide, or handwritten notes. AI extracts the content into cards. Best for physical study materials.

Write a useful title. "BIOL 201 — Cell Membrane Transport" is better than "Bio Notes." A good title tells you exactly what the deck covers when you're deciding what to study.

Creating on web

1. Click "+ New Deck" in the left sidebar on app.neurako.com.

2. Enter a deck title and optional description. The title is visible in your deck list and study queue.

3. Choose a creation method: manual card entry, AI text generation, the AI Deck Wizard (topic or file upload), or image upload.

4. Add or generate your cards. For AI generation, provide a topic description or paste source material, then review the draft cards the AI produces.

5. Review each card before saving. Edit any that are too broad, unclear, or contain multiple facts.

6. Click Save to finalize the deck. Your cards are now in your study queue.

Creating on mobile

1. Tap the Create tab at the bottom of the screen.
2. Select an existing deck or create a new one by tapping "+ New Deck."

3. Choose an input mode: Text (type or paste), Camera (photograph material), or Microphone (speak notes or vocabulary).

4. Submit your input. For camera and microphone, the AI processes the content and produces draft cards.

5. Review the generated cards. Swipe to edit or remove any that need adjustment.

6. Tap Save to Deck to confirm. Cards are added and immediately available for review.

Writing good first cards

The most common mistake with flashcards is putting too much on one card. Each card should test exactly one fact.

Too broad — avoid this:

• Front: "Explain photosynthesis"
• Back: (three-paragraph answer)

Well-scoped — aim for this:

• Front: "What molecule do plants produce to store captured solar energy?"
• Back: "Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆)"

The test for a good card: can you answer the front question with one specific piece of information? If the answer requires multiple distinct facts, split it into multiple cards.

Cloze deletion works well when the blank forces genuine recall. The sentence provides context; the missing word is the target knowledge:

• "The powerhouse of the cell is the ____." → mitochondria
• "In Spanish, 'to eat' is ____." → comer

Avoid cloze cards where the blank is obvious from context alone — the goal is retrieval, not guessing.

How many cards to start with

10–20 cards is the right size for a first deck. Here's why:

A 20-card deck reviewed on day one will produce roughly 5–10 cards due on day two, depending on how well you performed. That's a manageable daily session while you're building the habit.

A 200-card deck reviewed on day one creates a much larger immediate queue and a steep workload in the first week. Most people abandon the habit before FSRS has time to space out the reviews.

Once you're reviewing your first deck daily without effort, add more cards or create a second deck. It's better to have 20 excellent, well-phrased cards than 200 mediocre ones where half are too vague to test anything specific.

Related reading

AI Flashcard Generation

Generate flashcard drafts from notes, text, images, audio, or uploaded files using Neurako's AI creation tools.

Web App Tour

A walkthrough of the main sections of the Neurako web app at app.neurako.com.

Active Recall

Why generating answers from memory builds stronger retention than recognition or rereading, and how to apply it with flashcards.