The 30-Day Study App: NotebookLM + MindFlash for Board Exam Prep
MindFlash is an offline flashcard app built to be the second app in a 30-day board exam study workflow. This page describes the end-to-end workflow, the role of each app, and why the combination works.
The problem with one-app study
Most AI study tools are creation engines: drop in your sources, get flashcards, study them. The problem is that the cards get displayed once and forgotten. There is no daily review queue, no spaced repetition, no retention curve.
The day before the exam, you have hundreds of cards you have seen once. The cards you actually remember are the ones you reviewed on Day 1, Day 5, Day 10, Day 20, and Day 25.
The two-app workflow
1. Day -30 to -25: Build the deck. Open NotebookLM. Drop in your sources — class slides, textbook chapters, practice questions, study guides. Generate flashcards for each source. The flashcards cover the full syllabus.
2. Day -25: Hand off. Export the flashcards as a CSV from NotebookLM web. Transfer the file to your phone. Open MindFlash. Tap Import. Tap Confirm. The cards are in your daily review queue.
3. Day -25 to -1: Daily review. Open MindFlash every day. The app shows you the cards that FSRS has scheduled for today, based on your recall history. Spend a focused block reviewing. The cards you struggle with come back more often. The cards you find easy stay away longer.
4. Day -1: Final review. Open MindFlash. The app shows you the cards that FSRS predicts you are most likely to forget. Spend 15 minutes on the highest-risk cards.
5. Day 0: The exam. The cards you reviewed on Day 1, Day 5, Day 10, Day 20, and Day 25 are the cards you remember. The cards you only saw on Day -25 are the ones you forgot.
Why this works
Spaced repetition is the most efficient way to move information from short-term to long-term memory. Daily review over 30 days produces better retention than cramming the night before. The research is decades old and well-established (Ebbinghaus, 1885; Wozniak, 1990s).
The two-app workflow splits the work:
• NotebookLM generates the cards from your sources. This is the work that takes hours: reading the material, summarizing, creating flashcards.
• MindFlash schedules and reviews the cards. This is the work that fits inside a daily coffee break: opening the app, going through the queue, marking your recall.
You cannot replace the first app with MindFlash — MindFlash does not generate cards. You cannot replace the second app with NotebookLM — NotebookLM has no daily review queue. The two apps are complementary.
Compatibility with any board exam
The two-app workflow is exam-agnostic. The same flow works for:
• Medical board exams (USMLE, PLAB, AMC, MCQE).
• Engineering licensure exams.
• Bar exams.
• Language proficiency exams.
• Any exam with a defined syllabus and ~30 days of study time.
Get MindFlash
Free on Google Play. No account. No subscription. No in-app purchases.