HSK flash cards for iPad - looking for feedback and suggestions

[markwong]

Hello Chinese Forums!

When studying for the new HSK level 3 this past year I had a hard time finding a flash card program that i liked - didn't like the alternatives which i found to be too complicated, or not flexible enough, so I worked with a small group of students and professors and created my own.

the "HSK Review" app provides convenient and customizable flash cards + review quizzes for the iPad and i'm looking for your feedback and help. If you're interested in giving it a try, please send me a message.

I'll give you a promo code so you can use the software for free, in exchange for your thoughts and feedback!

Links:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hsk-review/id482584603?mt=8

heres a short demo video

http://www.acereference.com/HSKReviewScreenCast.swf

hope to hear from you,

Mark

[roddy]

What specifically do these do that other flashcard programs don't? We've got plenty of members familiar with the other applications out there, so there's no need not to make direct comparisons.

[Hofmann]

Which were too complicated? Which were not flexible enough?

[feng]

I know Anki is bad, but how is this better? Does it sync better between my computer and my iPad?

[murrayjames]

The positive: It's obvious a lot of work was put into this. Looks great and looks fast. Badges aren't my thing, but they appeal to lots of people. So bravo for that!

The (potentially) negative: So this isn't an SRS, right? 5 stars are great, but are you familiar with the forgetting curve? I can't imagine studying flashcards without it... What does this offer that Mnemosyne, Anki and Skritter don't?

[markwong]

Thanks for interest!

To start off, we were specifically looking for something that would work on my iPad. We think its a great device for mobile language studying and its easy to take with us. Because we often study in places without wifi, we needed something that worked without requiring an internet connection. So, with those two things in mind, our goal was to make something useful for the HSK student that is also inexpensive, easy to use and nice to look at.

Heres a survey I did to get an idea of what else is around, and how 'HSK Review for iPad' fits in compared to Pleco, Anki, StickyStudy, and Hancard. Of course, these are *my opinions only* - i think all of these options offer a lot of great features and are very useful, and our whole team has a lot of respect for all the people and companies working in the space.

<Hmm, table won't format properly, attaching image of the table instead>

Also available here:

http://www.acerefere...eComparison.png

[markwong]

@murrayjames: thanks for taking a look at the app, we did make an effort to keep the design clean and simple, glad you liked it.

Your second point is a good one - the cards are not sorted using spaced repetition, but our Quizzes implement the Leitner SRS.

We keep track of your proficiency on each vocab concept and the app uses this when generating the quiz questions. The quiz questions themselves are ordered using the SRS, so you'll see concepts that need more revision more frequently. Internally we keep at "retry date" for every card to help us decide when you should be quizzed on it again. If you're interested, I can PM you more details on how we're computing this, just let me know!

We imagine that you can use the flash cards for studying and memorization, then use quizzes for efficient studying. After the quiz is done, you can chose to review the quizzed concepts in more detail if you wish.