Flash/revision cards - how effective?

[DataColour]

DS is in year 10 and for his end of topic exam revision I've so far encouraged him to make flash cards or summary cards. However, the cards he makes are pretty useless and inadequate. I've even sat down with him and shown him how to make a good revision card and school has given them examples of such cards and even then he writes the bare minimum on them, spaced out wasting space, info he already knows really well and not what he doesn't know, you get the picture.
It's a waste of time as he takes so long doing just a couple of cards! He has suspected ADHD, so might be another reason whey he struggles with focusing on making these cards.
Has anyone else found this with their kids and are there more effective ways to revise?

I'm not a teacher but from personal experience (and 3 dc who have or are going through gcses) I think it depends how you learn. I find them useful and so does dc1. Dc2 writes lots of spider diagrams and the likes and dc3 is very visual and uses videos and PowerPoints. You probably need to see how he learns. I bought dd the flashcards for science which helps cut down time (from world of books second hand but in great condition).

I agree with PP that it's a question of finding out how your child learns. DC's school suggests flashcards are not great revision tools as they involve passive revision, rather than active revision. DD likes them but that's because she uses them to help her focusing on summarising the main points and she does regularly flip through them. DS preferred drawing mind maps and online apps.

DD wasted too much time in Y10 making very pretty flashcards with hardly any content on them. I bought her cheap second-hand sets of CGP flashcards from World of Books* and a year on I can say they have been really useful. Every train trip or bus ride the cards are out for a quiz, and now even DS (Y7) can answer most of the questions!

*Obviously when using 2nd-hand resources, make sure they are for the current exam spec.

Yes, I was thinking back to my own revision days and I think I just used the textbooks to revise from and answer past paper questions. Cards didn't really have the depth of information needed to answer all questions, but they are useful for prompting what you already know and good for equations and formula's etc for science. Also probably useful for English Lit - quotes etc.

@DataColour For really excellent English Lit revision cards, have a look at flipscocards.com.

https://flipscocards.com/

That looks amazing @JessyCarr thanks so much!

I bought the specific exam board ones for dd, and ds will use too

Success depends on how you use them for dd. Doing it alone, was a bit rubbish. But in a pair of friends where both are studying the same subject, they were really good. It meant revision did not mean losing out on time with friends so she didn't mind doing it as much!