Chemistry Flashcard Strategies That Actually Work for IGCSE

Flashcards are one of the most effective revision tools for IGCSE Chemistry — but only when built correctly. A badly made deck wastes time and creates false confidence. A well-made deck holds the entire factual backbone of the 0620 syllabus in your memory with ten minutes of daily review. The difference is in how you construct the cards.

The golden rule: one fact, one card

Every effective flashcard tests exactly one piece of retrievable information. Students who write “Describe the properties of Group I metals” on the front of a card have created a quiz, not a flashcard. The answer requires five or six separate facts, and getting four right while forgetting one still counts as a “pass” in your mind. The forgotten fact never gets corrected.

Instead, make five cards:

• What happens to the reactivity of Group I metals as you go down the group? → It increases.
• What is the trend in melting point down Group I? → It decreases.
• What do Group I metals react with water to produce? → A metal hydroxide and hydrogen gas.
• What would you observe when lithium reacts with water? → It floats, fizzes steadily, and gradually dissolves.
• Write the balanced equation for sodium reacting with water. → 2Na + 2H2O → 2NaOH + H2

Each card isolates one fact. Each fact is tested independently. Weak spots are exposed individually.

What to card across the 0620 syllabus

Definitions

The syllabus contains roughly 80 key definitions. The examiner awards marks for precise wording. “A catalyst speeds up a reaction” scores zero where the mark scheme says “a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being used up.” Card every definition exactly as the syllabus states it.

Priority definitions: element, compound, mixture, atom, molecule, ion, isotope, relative atomic mass, mole, exothermic, endothermic, catalyst, electrolyte, electrolysis, oxidation, reduction, homologous series, polymer, alloy.

Qualitative analysis

This is the single most card-worthy section of the entire syllabus. Every test, every observation, every confirmation step. See our full qualitative analysis guide for the complete list.

Card in both directions:

• Ion → test and result
• Observation → ion

Equations

You need roughly 40-50 key balanced equations for the extended paper. Card the most frequently examined ones:

• Reactions of metals with acids
• Neutralisation reactions
• Thermal decomposition of carbonates
• Electrolysis half-equations (molten and aqueous)
• Combustion of hydrocarbons
• Addition reactions of alkenes with bromine, steam and hydrogen

Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is dense with factual content that suits flashcards:

• Functional group → name and general formula
• Homologous series members (first four of each)
• Reagents and conditions for each reaction type
• Tests to distinguish alkanes from alkenes (bromine water)

Colours and observations

Card every colour that the 0620 syllabus expects you to know:

• Copper(II) compounds: blue (CuSO4 solution), black (CuO), blue precipitate (Cu(OH)2)
• Iron(II) hydroxide: green precipitate
• Iron(III) hydroxide: red-brown precipitate
• Flame colours: Li (red), Na (yellow), K (lilac), Ca (orange-red), Cu (blue-green)

What NOT to card

Flashcards are wrong for:

Processes and explanations. “Explain why metals are good conductors” requires a structured answer about delocalised electrons and is better practised as a written response, not a card.

Calculations. You cannot flashcard a mole calculation. Card the formulae (moles = mass / Mr) but practise the actual calculations with past paper questions.

Diagrams. Dot-and-cross diagrams, apparatus setups and particle diagrams are better practised by drawing from memory on paper. See our guide on drawing chemistry diagrams.

Lengthy descriptions. If the answer takes more than two sentences, it is too complex for a single card. Break it down or use a different method.

Making cards: digital vs paper

Anki (free on desktop): Automates the spacing schedule, tracks which cards you struggle with, and syncs across devices. Best for students who will actually open the app daily. The learning curve is about 30 minutes.

Paper cards: Tactile, distraction-free, and impossible to ignore when they sit on your desk. Best for students who get pulled into social media on their phone. Sort them into three piles: know well (review weekly), shaky (review every 2-3 days), and do not know (review daily).

Quizlet and similar: Adequate for basic review, but the algorithm is weaker than Anki’s and the social features can become distractions. Acceptable if you already use it; do not switch to it from Anki.

The review routine

Daily review should take 10-15 minutes. If it takes longer, your deck is either too large or your cards are too complex. The routine:

1. Review all due cards (in Anki) or the “do not know” and “shaky” piles (paper).
2. For each card, attempt the answer before flipping. Do not peek.
3. If correct, the card moves to a longer interval. If wrong, it resets.
4. Add 5-10 new cards after the review, drawn from that week’s study or from errors in past papers.
5. Once a week, audit the deck: remove cards you have answered correctly ten or more times in a row (they are permanent knowledge), and check that no card has an inaccurate answer.

Common flashcard mistakes

Writing the card from the textbook without thinking. If you do not understand what the card is testing, you are memorising sounds, not chemistry. Understand first, then card.

Too many new cards at once. Adding 30 cards in one sitting creates a review bottleneck three days later. Five to ten new cards per day is sustainable.

Never failing a card. If every card feels easy, you are reviewing too frequently or your cards are too simple. Some struggle is necessary for learning; it means the spacing is working.

Abandoning the deck. Consistency beats intensity. Ten minutes every day for two months beats two hours once a week for two months. If you miss a day, do a double session tomorrow rather than letting the deck lapse.

Flashcards will not teach you chemistry. They will hold the factual foundation in place so that when you sit down to answer exam questions, the raw material is there. Pair them with active recall and past paper practice for the complete revision system.