Supermemo inspired iOS Monotouch app, previously in the app store

The following is from the app's help screen.

Flashback is based on the powerful and proven Supermemo system for memorising topics using scored-based flashcards. It works by repeatedly testing you on the questions you are trying to memorise, and adjusting the intervals automatically based on how well you are learning.

Your weaker areas are tested more frequently, while the stronger ones less frequently.

When you test yourself on a category, you are presented with six buttons numbered 1-6 that you use to score yourself. This may seem complicated at first, however the accuracy with which you score yourself helps Flashback to determine how frequently you need to be re-tested.

To score yourself you should based the scoring on the descriptions below:

1. - Didn’t remember at all.
2. - Wrong answer, but you just about remembered it once it was shown.
3. - Wrong answer, but the answer was easy to remember once it was shown.
4. - Correct answer, but it took quite a while (over ten seconds).
5. - Correct answer, but there was a delay remembering it (around five seconds)
6. - Perfect answer with little or no delay.

If you want to retest yourself on a category without waiting for the next due date, you can use the reset button to start the category from fresh. This resets all the question dates in the category and enables you to test yourself straight away.

To alter the order that the questions are asked in - go to "manage questions" for a category, and press the edit button. You can then drag the questions into the order that suits you.

Flashback works best if you keep the number of questions in a category to around 15-20. If you want to remember more items than this, separate them into their own subcategories.

How effectively you remember the content of a category essentially relies on your questions and answers being high quality (something stressed in the original Supermemo). If you ask a long question, and it requires a lengthy answer you are less likely to remember the answer, even with the aid of Flashback.

So try to keep the questions short and snappy, containing the bare minimum you need. The same should apply for the answers. Clearly different topics require a different amount of detail in the answer. Foreign languages can stick to single words or phrases while degree-level subject matter may require whole paragraphs.If you are finding questions for a topic can’t be reduced to a single words or sentences, try to mark out the key points of the answer as bullet points (using a dash), or turn each of these into separate questions.

Don’t worry If you forget to test yourself on a topic. When you remember to test yourself again, Flashback will accommodate for this by retesting you over consecutive days to refresh your memory. Bare in mind if you do this repeatedly instead of the using the schedule Flashback assigns to you, you may not learn the topic as thoroughly.