Flashcards In GoodNotes: 7 Powerful Tricks To Study Smarter (And A Better Alternative Most Students Don’t Know)

Can You Actually Study Well With Flashcards In GoodNotes?

Short answer: kind of… but it’s not ideal.

GoodNotes is amazing for handwritten notes, PDFs, and pretty digital planners. You can hack together “flashcards” in GoodNotes using pages, templates, or stickers.

But here’s the problem:

GoodNotes doesn’t do the two things that actually make flashcards powerful:

1. Active recall (forcing your brain to retrieve the answer)

2. Spaced repetition (showing you cards again right before you forget)

That’s where a dedicated flashcard app like Flashrecall comes in. It keeps all the good parts of flashcards, but automates the hard stuff you’d never want to track manually.

👉 You can grab Flashrecall here (free to start):

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flashrecall-study-flashcards/id6746757085

Let’s talk about:

• How to use flashcards in GoodNotes (properly)
• Where GoodNotes starts to fall apart for flashcards
• How to move your GoodNotes notes into Flashrecall and level up your studying

How People Usually Make “Flashcards” In GoodNotes

If you’ve been doing any of these, you’re not alone:

1. The Split-Page Method

• Left side: question or term
• Right side: answer or explanation
• You cover one side with your hand or rectangle shape and try to recall.

• Quick vocab
• Simple definitions
• Small topics

• Hard to shuffle or reorder
• You end up scrolling a lot
• No way to track what you remember vs forget

2. The Flashcard Template Method

Some people use:

• A “card” template page (front/back)
• Duplicate the page for each new card
• Flip between pages like a deck

• Looks like real flashcards
• Satisfying to write by hand

• Super slow to create big decks (50–200 cards)
• Reviewing is painful — you have to manually decide what to review
• No spaced repetition, no reminders, no performance tracking

3. Sticker or Shape “Cover” Method

You write:

• Question at the top
• Answer underneath
• Add a white rectangle or sticker to cover the answer

Then you tap to move the sticker and reveal.

But again, no scheduling, no progress tracking, and it becomes chaos once you have more than a few pages.

The Big Problem With Flashcards In GoodNotes

The main issue isn’t that GoodNotes is bad. It’s just not built for flashcards.

Here’s what’s missing:

1. No Spaced Repetition

Real long-term learning needs spaced repetition — seeing cards again right before your brain forgets them.

In GoodNotes, you have to:

• Decide what to review
• Decide when to review it
• Remember to actually open the app and do it

Let’s be honest: that doesn’t happen consistently.

• It uses built-in spaced repetition
• It schedules reviews for you based on how well you remember each card
• You’ll get study reminders so you don’t forget to review

You just show up, open the app, and it tells you exactly what to study.

2. No Real Active Recall Flow

Active recall = seeing a question, trying to remember the answer, then checking.

In GoodNotes:

• There’s no “front/back” flashcard flow
• No easy “show/hide” answer for hundreds of cards
• No way to mark “I knew this” vs “I didn’t”

In Flashrecall, that’s built in:

• You see the question
• You think of the answer
• Then you tap to reveal and rate how well you knew it
• The app adjusts the schedule automatically

You don’t have to track anything. You just answer and move on.

3. No Stats, No Feedback

GoodNotes can’t tell you:

• Which topics you’re weak on
• How many cards you’ve mastered
• What you should focus on before an exam

Flashrecall does. It’s designed for studying, not just note-taking.

The Better Workflow: GoodNotes For Notes, Flashrecall For Flashcards

The best combo isn’t “GoodNotes vs Flashrecall” — it’s GoodNotes + Flashrecall.

Use:

• GoodNotes for: handwritten notes, lecture annotations, pretty spreads
• Flashrecall for: actual flashcards, spaced repetition, exam prep, memorization

And the nice part? You don’t even have to manually rewrite everything.

How To Turn Your GoodNotes Content Into Flashcards (Fast)

Here’s how to go from messy GoodNotes pages to smart, auto-scheduled flashcards in Flashrecall.

👉 Download Flashrecall here if you haven’t already:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flashrecall-study-flashcards/id6746757085

Step 1: Export Or Screenshot From GoodNotes

From GoodNotes, you can:

• Export a PDF of your notes, or
• Take screenshots of key pages or sections

Then you can feed those into Flashrecall.

Step 2: Let Flashrecall Generate Cards For You

Flashrecall can make flashcards instantly from:

• Images (screenshots of your GoodNotes pages)
• PDFs (exported from GoodNotes)
• Text (copy-paste summaries or key points)
• YouTube links
• Typed prompts
• Or you can make flashcards manually if you like control

Example:

• You export your “Cardiology” GoodNotes notes as a PDF
• Import into Flashrecall
• Flashrecall auto-creates flashcards from headings, bold terms, and key points
• You tweak anything you want, then start studying

Way faster than rewriting everything.

Step 3: Let Spaced Repetition Do Its Thing

Once your cards are in Flashrecall:

• The app uses built-in spaced repetition
• It automatically decides when to show each card
• You get study reminders so you don’t forget to review
• You don’t have to manually create a review plan

Just open the app on your iPhone or iPad and knock out your daily cards.

Step 4: Use Active Recall Like It’s Meant To Be Used

Flashrecall is built around active recall:

• You see the question side
• You think of the answer
• Tap to reveal
• Mark how easy or hard it was
• The schedule adapts

If you’re unsure about something, you can even chat with the flashcard:

• Ask it to explain the concept in simpler words
• Get extra examples
• Clarify confusing definitions

It’s like having a tutor attached to each card.

GoodNotes vs Flashrecall For Flashcards: When To Use Which

When GoodNotes Is Enough

GoodNotes is fine if:

• You’re just casually reviewing
• You want to doodle/mind-map concepts
• You have very few terms to remember
• You don’t care about long-term retention

Example:

Learning 10 words for a short quiz tomorrow? GoodNotes “flashcards” might do the job.

When Flashrecall Is Way Better

Use Flashrecall when:

• You have a lot to memorize (exams, languages, medicine, law, etc.)
• You want to remember things long-term, not just for next week
• You’re tired of manually deciding what to review
• You want your phone/iPad to remind you to study

Flashrecall is especially great for:

• Languages – vocab, grammar patterns, example sentences
• School & university – biology, history dates, formulas
• Medicine & nursing – drugs, anatomy, guidelines
• Business & work – frameworks, interview prep, sales scripts
• Literally anything you need to remember

And it works offline, so you can study on the bus, train, or in dead Wi‑Fi zones.

Realistic Example: From GoodNotes Chaos To Flashrecall Clarity

Imagine this:

You’ve got:

• 60 pages of GoodNotes lecture notes
• Random highlights, arrows, side comments
• A test in 2 weeks

You could:

• Scroll through everything repeatedly and hope it sticks
• Or try to turn pages into “flashcards” manually in GoodNotes

OR you:

1. Export your notes as a PDF

2. Import into Flashrecall

3. Let it auto-generate flashcards from your content

4. Review a bit each day with spaced repetition

5. Get reminders so you don’t forget to study

6. Use chat with the flashcard when a concept is confusing

By exam day, you’ve seen the important stuff multiple times, right when your brain needed it.

That’s the difference between “I kinda recognize this” and “I actually know this.”

Why Flashrecall Beats Doing Flashcards Only In GoodNotes

Quick summary of why Flashrecall is a better fit for actual learning:

• ✅ Automatic spaced repetition – no manual scheduling
• ✅ Study reminders – you don’t have to remember to remember
• ✅ Instant card creation from images, PDFs, text, YouTube, or manual input
• ✅ Active recall built-in – real flashcard behavior, not DIY hacks
• ✅ Chat with your flashcards when you’re stuck
• ✅ Works offline on iPhone and iPad
• ✅ Fast, modern, easy to use
• ✅ Free to start, so you can try it without commitment

GoodNotes is amazing for notes.

Flashrecall is built to make those notes stick in your brain.

How To Start Right Now

1. Keep using GoodNotes for your main notes (no need to change that).

2. Download Flashrecall here:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flashrecall-study-flashcards/id6746757085

3. Import a PDF or screenshot from one of your GoodNotes notebooks.

4. Let Flashrecall auto-generate some flashcards.

5. Do a 10-minute review session and feel how different it is from just scrolling notes.

Use GoodNotes to capture information.

Use Flashrecall to remember it for real.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Quizlet good for studying?

Quizlet helps with basic reviewing, but its active recall tools are limited. If you want proper spacing and strong recall practice, tools like Flashrecall automate the memory science for you so you don't forget your notes.

What's the fastest way to create flashcards?

Manually typing cards works but takes time. Many students now use AI generators that turn notes into flashcards instantly. Flashrecall does this automatically from text, images, or PDFs.

How do I start spaced repetition?

You can manually schedule your reviews, but most people use apps that automate this. Flashrecall uses built-in spaced repetition so you review cards at the perfect time.

What is active recall and how does it work?

Active recall is the process of actively retrieving information from memory rather than passively reviewing it. Flashrecall forces proper active recall by making you think before revealing answers, then uses spaced repetition to optimize your review schedule.

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