Flashcard Load Plan
Work out the STEADY-STATE load, not the first-week load. That is the number that decides whether this fits.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/flashcard-daily-load-calculator
The deck
- Subject
- Cards in deck
- Days available
- NEW CARDS A DAY
- Review multiple (your app's, if known)
- CARDS A DAY AT STEADY STATE
- Seconds per card (timed)
- MINUTES A DAY NEEDED
Log the real load each week
| Week | New/day | Reviews/day | Total | Minutes | Accuracy % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The arithmetic
- New cards a day
- deck ÷ days
- Reviews a day
- new × review multiple
- Steady-state load
- new × (1 + multiple)
- Minutes a day
- load × seconds ÷ 60
- 600 cards over 60 days
- 10 new a day
- …at a 7× multiple
- 80 cards a day
- …at 8 seconds each
- about 11 minutes
- ⚠ Week one
- feels light — reviews build
Before committing to a deck
- Steady-state load checked, not the first-week load
- Review multiple taken from your own app if available
- Seconds per card TIMED over a real session
- Daily minutes checked against a realistic day
- Card quality reviewed — one idea per card
- Cards testing two things at once split
- Material understood BEFORE it was made into cards
- A plan for what happens after a missed day
Reviews are the real cost
Twenty new cards a day is never twenty cards a day. Every card you learn comes back, and the load builds for weeks before it plateaus — which is why a schedule that feels easy in week one fails in week three.
Accuracy beats volume
Cards you fail come back sooner and more often. If the load is unmanageable, the cause is more often card quality than card count — too long, two ideas at once, or material never really understood.