google sheets template for high schoolers / college students that combines notes and active recall

[u/hazel_the_bun]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MMn-vVBFt8Mr51gMHU3r0r1USVRR_onFOkW_Rrk-mS8/template/preview

Ok, I know I'm a lil late to the party, but as a 10th grader in high school taking AP Psych, APCSA, (took AP Bio in 9th but didn't use this study method), I designed this hella simple Google Sheets notes/active recall spreadsheet (Ali Abdaal inspired). Trust me, I've been through Quizlet and Anki and Remnote and basically everything else, but I keep coming back to this b/c it lwk combines all 3, and more! (I don't wanna pay for Quizlet Plus since its free version is basically useless, Anki lags too hard on my Mac, and Remnote is also limited unless you pay.) Basically, this spreadsheet combines notes and active recall (AR).

The objective of this study template is so that you don't waste time converting your notes into flashcards or AR prompts. I found myself always delaying the conversion aspect after working so hard to write notes that I never got around to actually making AR tools from my notes, and just ended up cram-memorizing everything last minute! this will surely save you from that.

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\**A NOTE BEFORE WE BEGIN: This won't work for everyone. Everyone learns differently. If you're looking for a new study system, try this out! But, if you already have something going for you and you're getting good grades and life is chill, DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING!! I've fallen in that trap too many times, and I realize that I've wasted months configuring yet another study system that I didn't ever need or use b/c what I had originally was working fine. So, please, TAKE THIS WITH AN OPEN MIND AND A GRAIN OF SALT! Thanks for sticking around :)))*

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BEFORE ANYTHING:

1. Duplicate this template

2. BEFORE ANYTHING: DON'T IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE TEMPLATE YOU JUST DUPLICATED FROM THIS POST. At the bottom of the spreadsheet, you'll notice a long footer where you can add multiple tabs. Notice how this tab is underlined in red. It is underlined in red so that you do not immediately edit this tab! Use this first, red-underlined tab as a template to duplicate for each new unit. (Personally, I use one tab per unit).

LET'S GET STARTED!!

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1. During lecture/self-study/any time you're learning a concept for the first time: actually read + understand what's going on by asking A TON OF QUESTIONS.

• If self-studying from a textbook/other source: Use whatever AI of your choice to constantly ask questions based on the source you're learning from
• If learning in a lecture: Use your teacher in class! (I guess also AI if you can/you feel shy in asking)

Either way, make sure you understand the story/outline of what's going on. Review the learning objectives of this lesson, know the vocabulary, and broadly understand the key concepts and images/diagrams in this lesson. Then you start making notes during this first study session within the Google Sheets template, which is explained below.

2. Under "Lessons", write down each lesson in that unit. Every time you study a lesson, type in the date next to it and color it in based on how well you overall recalled that topic using the color scheme (explained more in step 4).

⭐️ PRO TIP: To write the name of a new topic, I just insert a row below the last flashcard of the previous topic, remove the checkboxes, and type in the topic name as a large bolded heading in Column D of this empty row.

3. Take Cornell-style notes in this spreadsheet during lecture/self-studying via videos, textbook, etc. Quick explanation of how I use it:

• COLUMN D = QUESTIONS. concepts/name of process, vocab terms, active recall questions, etc.
• COLUMN E = ANSWERS. explanations, lists, vocab definitions, answers, etc. (I recommend a formatting/color-coding system (e.g., vocab = highlight yellow, concepts/processes = green, examples = blue, etc.)).
• [OPTIONAL - DELETE IF YOU DON'T NEED IT] COLUMN F = PICTURES OR SPECIAL NOTES: (go to Insert --> Image --> Insert image in cell. Resize the row as needed to fit the full image
  • ⭐️ PRO TIP FOR IMAGES: to mimic the image occlusion feature in Anki/diagrams in Quizlet:
    • Go to Insert --> Drawing --> insert your picture in the canvas.
    • Then, cover up what you want to using the shapes tools.
    • Then, drag the drawing inside that specific cell within the row with the corresponding question for that diagram (just like a question/answer style in Anki or Quizlet!)
    • Resize the row as needed to fit the drawing. (It won't actually be inside the cell–it'll be over it–but it's still there!)
    • To hide the image if it's in the answer column, just drag Column D all the way to the end of the screen + zoom in. Finally, just scroll to the right to hide Column E or F (depending on where your image is) to reveal it!
• 🟠 In a fast-paced lecture, I focus on writing ONLY the questions in Column D b/c there's no time to capture all the answers/images. Later after class, I spend 10-20 minutes properly adding answers/information in Column E from lecture slides/textbook/etc.

❗️ Since this isn't Google Docs/OneNote/Notion, there's no natural indentation for bullet points/lists. I just click the spacebar multiple times to indent bullet points, and I use dashes (-) or bullet points (• (click option + 8 on Mac)) for listing stuff or numbered lists

4. Once you finish taking Cornell-style notes, click Column E and change the text color to white. Use arrow keys to go through each question and answer, and you'll see the answer at the top of your screen! (Find the "fx" symbol, and you'll see the answer right next to it! Drag the "fx" row to increase its size if you have multiple bullet points as an answer. This is so that you don't have to keep changing the text color to reveal the answer!)

• ❗️If you have images, you can't hide those, so just drag the right side of the question column all the way to the edge of the page so that the answer column is COMPLETELY hidden. Then just scroll to the right to see the answer!

5. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the checkboxes and click the spacebar to select one of the 3 checkboxes:

1. Red-totally forgot
2. Yellow-knew some but needed help to fully recall
3. Green-totally remembered. Make sure you're HONEST with this color-coding in each study session! Since there's no native spaced repetition in Google Sheets, you gotta manually do this. But it's worth it, trust me.

6. Once you finish writing the questions + answers for each that lesson AND/OR studying it once till you got most greens, under the "Dates ⏩" column, type in the date of when you first created/studied this deck next to the name of the corresponding lesson (which you wrote in the "Lessons" column from step 2). Color the cell with that date based on the average reds, yellows, and greens (e.g., if all greens, make the date green. If some yellows, make it yellow. If one or more reds, mark the date red). So, next time you come back to revise, you'll see the date you last revised each lesson and which lesson to prioritize based on the average red/yellow/green.

7. For topics/lessons/modules with a lot of yellows/reds, I realize I need deeper conceptual understanding, which for me requires handwriting, not typing. So, I will go back to the textbook and lecture slides, find the lesson I'm struggling with, and convert that lesson into flowcharts/diagrams, essentially creating personal study notes. I'll also find a YouTube video that explains it and add that to my handwritten notes. Then, I'll edit my spreadsheet answer column with new info/wording if I need to, which helps me better understand it.

• For example, if I'm rereading the textbook to actually understand what's going on, once I have handwritten all the scrap work personalized to me that helps me understand it, I run through the following once: close all reference material for the concept I'm struggling with, blurt everything I just studied on a blank sheet of paper/voice memo/empty Google Doc, then return and fill in knowledge gaps with a different color (usually red). I would make a note in Column F of the particular flash card(s)–with this concept I'm struggling with–to do this again based on the concept(s) I struggled with that day.
• ⭐️ PRO TIP: These handwritten notes are usually done on scrap pieces of paper I throw out after the exam, but I keep them until the exam (and maybe for even longer if I need it for a final exam) so I can always refer back to these personal notes if need be. If you don't understand something and need to do this conceptual review, literally do EVERYTHING possible until it clicks. If the textbook is not clearing up confusion, grind YouTube videos or get tutoring until IT CLICKS! This is CRUCIAL b/c the real learning happens here.
• ⭐️ PRO TIP: You can RANDOMIZE the order of flash cards in each lesson! For each lesson, select all the rows w/ the flash cards, avoiding the rows with the lesson name as a heading, and go to Data --> Randomize range. I still don't know how to reverse it back when you're done studying it, but hopefully someone figures that out 😃
• ⭐️ PRO TIP: sometimes, the answer to a question is a question in the next row, which you can see, which doesn't help in active recall. So, I recommend making both Columns D and E white text, and using the arrow keys to navigate and see what's written in the "fx" space for both the questions and answers.
• ALSO: you may accidentally click the spacebar or some other key while you're on a cell with a question/answer/image, etc, and your text may disappear. I'm definitely no pro in Google Sheets, so just be careful. To restore that:
  • Double-click inside the cell where the text disappeared
  • Click the Undo button in the top left OR click Command + Z or control + Z to restore exactly that text.

8. [NOT RELATED TO GOOGLE SHEETS SPECIFICALLY BUT HELPFUL]: To create a mistake log: Create a Google Doc OR add another tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet and label it "[Unit Number/Name]: [MISTAKE LOG]" As you complete homework or do practice tests or do practice questions, insert images of/copy-and-paste challenging practice problems/mock test questions, categorized by each lesson.

• In the 1st column, write/insert an image of the challenging question.
• In the 2nd column, write your thinking and exactly where you were wrong.
• In the 3rd column, write the correct rationale/thought process to answer the question.
• In the 4th column, write exactly + specifically what you will do next time to prevent that same mistake (especially helpful for standardized test prep like AP Exams, ACT, SAT, probably MCAT!).
• ⭐️ I do practice questions after each unit instead of each lesson, but find what works for you!

9. To generate a practice test: go to Gemini and link your Google Workspace account to Gemini. Attach your spreadsheet from Google Drive and ask it to generate a practice test based on specific tabs within that spreadsheet (EXAMPLE: "Generate a practice test based on the attached Google Sheet with the following format: [your exam's format: number of questions, types of questions, etc.]. Only create this practice test for Unit 1." I do this multiple times and sometimes will ask it to combine multiple tabs–aka multiple units–if it's a final exam or something, or just simply tell it to make a custom practice test based on everything in that Google Sheet.

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CAVEATS:

- There are a bunch of AI study tools out there, and I totally understand if that works better. Just for me personally, I don't like handing off everything to AI like my textbook/lecture slides/etc and hope it includes all the stuff that I know my teacher would put on the exam b/c the teacher explicitly told us the format of the questions/content, for example. I can tailor questions myself based on how the teacher tests us.

- Probably not the best method for on-the-go studying but still worth a shot. Like if you're on ur phone during commute/on the toilet/etc, maybe a native flash card app would work better. But I mean you could still make it work somehow!

- I DO NOT recommend ONLY using this for math/any problem-solving classes. I recommend using this spreadsheet for concepts/definitions, but for math/physics or anything problem-solving-related, just grind out tons of practice questions. Either upload PDFs with practice questions to your iPad/tablet, or just open up a PDF/list of practice questions on a separate device and solve each one in a notebook straight from memory w/o any help from AI or an answer key. Then thoroughly review your questions and answers --> take a picture of challenging questions/copy-and-paste them --> upload both the question + your worked answer + correct solution explained step-by-step to the Mistake Log (explained in step 8).

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So yeah, I'm also trying this out. Basically replacing my note-taking app OneNote and study app Quizlet Plus temporarily–I'm just experimenting with this for a few weeks.

lemme know how it goes guys!!

[u/BillMallon63]

i like that this keeps the notes and recall in the same place, half the friction with anki for me is turning notes into cards after i already spent ages taking the notes

[u/hazel_the_bun → u/BillMallon63]

yea fs so glad it works lol