Mental Case 2 — Flashcards for the Serious Student App Reviews

Clear and away the best solution for syncing flashcards between iOS and Mac. It has everything you could want: iCloud syncing, unicode support, multimedia support, downloading from popular flashcard sites like Quizlet, spaced repetition. It’s also not subscription-based like some of the other solutions. The iOS and Mac apps are both native, and very well done. Keep up the good work! I love MentalCase and I love Drew McCormack! It has made studying foreign languages so much easier!

and excellent support.

Just updated and now it wont open. I have a week to study the cards Ive been working on for weeks, now I cant. Id prefer a dependible average program to a bipolar app that works great when it works but then can completely fail on a moments notice. So I guess Id say dont update if your version is still working.

I have a large Mental Case library, and while this helped make previous versions of Mental Case a bit slow, after the update it is unfortunately unusable. The sync process will not complete and freezes. I have to force quit, but that doesn’t help either. I am not able to use the suite that I purchesed for iMac, iPhone, or iPad.

Several versions have passed since I wrote my review about iCloud syncing not working consistently. It is extremely buggy. In fact, as far as iCloud syncing goes — this is by far the worst implementation of it I’ve ever seen.

Use this app every day (also on phone), pretty good, the syncing is a lot better with this version, but still needs some work

I’m an over the hill university student who attends university classes as a form of therapy for “severe” brain damage… Yes, the used-to-be “gifted underachiever” had his head knocked into a realm of normalcy where memory is no longer a given and now actual study, which I never did before, has become an absolute necessity. I’ve been toying with Mental Case since it’s beginning, at which point I quite liked it. I also experimented with a few other flashcard programs, none of which approached the usefulness of Mental Case. The evolution I’ve witnessed has been remarkable. The program has become increasingly more and more adaptable to different flash-card strategies. The iCloud storage has become increasingly dependable and is functioning beautifully for my multi-computer computer style, all computers easily able to share and access all flash-card files. There is full capability to apply various formats of information in the creation of flash-cards (images, sounds, links). Editability is excellent. This has become one of my most important post brain-damage crutches and I’m skating through college (currently in last semester of BA in English, and accepted into Masters’ program for Folklore). An absolutely magnificent tool!

Saw this App on the App store and thought it would be great for my 3 school aged kids. They share a computer and all have iPhones with seperate iCloud accounts. I’m thinking great they can create their flash cards on the computer and sync with their iPhones….NOPE. I would need to purchase this app 3 times, once for each student, just to sync with iCloud. Surely I thought this was a mistake, so I contacted support….No Response in week. Looks good on paper, but not in practice.

Now that I have only one more mid-term remaining, I am using the app yet again! I had just begun to use the application when suddenly I realized that I can create notes on my Mac but not use them on my phone (mobile study while on my way to class). A quick note jotted to the support team launched me from being frustrated to exuberant! They were quick to identify that the iOS for Cloud services is not up and running with Apple yet so they provided a quick work-around. I was able to import my cards to my phone with no further issue. I love the fact that the app allows you to take screen shots and save them to a card. The user is able to upload or record sound files (in case you possess a more auditory than visual learning style). I can save images to the notecard which helped me a TON in Anatomy and Physiology. Forget about those boring apps that let you merely create cards - here you can create cards with style - YOUR personalized style! Less cumbersome than notecards, more convenient than carrying your text, this app will delight even the most timid of studiers. Once Apple gets their stuff together - the Cloud sync function is going to be out of this world! Don’t look at the price tag but instead focus on the fantastic grades this app will bring you. The lack of 5 stars is only because there was not an explicit set of instructions for the work around (taking time out of my study session). Beyond that, the app comes to you HIGHLY recommended!! :)

Using for multiple children school projects. My daughter is using the software for Art History. The drop zone import makes setting up a new card quick and easy. The other children are using the software to learn musical notation and History. Unbelivablly easy to set up and create a self contained study program to set up the final parent quiz to make sure they are ready for the test. Using the icloud sync on ios and mac allows me to create the flash cards on my mac and have the children continue to study using just their iPhones. If you are an apple centric family with children who need to study multiple subjects, this is exactly what you have been looking for.

This app could be amazing. It’s so close. However, there are a few big flaws that just can’t be overlooked. The elephant in the room is iCloud sync. I don’t know whose fault it is, the developers or Apple, but the app crashes every time it tries to sync (both Mac and IOS versions). I’ve tried reseting iCloud sync multiple times, making sure to follow their instructions exactly, to no effect. The next big problem I have with Mental Case is how multiple choice questions/notes are handled during slideshow mode. I make a mixture of traditional flashcard-like notes (e.g. "compare and contrast X and Y” on one card/facet with the answer on the other), and multiple-choice-type notes ("which of the following is most likely to cause X...” on one facet, and then an option-A facet, option-B facet etc etc). If you do a traditional quiz or “presentation" as the app calls it, the question-answer cards work pretty well, showing the prompt and then the answer. However, when a multiple choice card comes up, It shows the prompt, "which of the following is most likely to cause X...”, but not any of the choices. If you advance, it then only shows you the right answer, which kind of defeats the purpose of a multiple choice question. You can set it to multiple choice mode, but then all of the question-answer cards are left out. Can’t I just have one quiz mode that displays both question-answer and multiple-choice cards correctly at the same time? This app is so close. If they could fix the iCloud issue, and make a few small tweak but very important UI tweaks, it would be 5 stars for sure. It’s just not there yet.

although i would like to see a better looking interface for creating the cards, this app is fantastic! with the companion app for iPhone / iPad i can create, edit, and practice flashcards anywhere!!

Feature rich isn’t always fun. But MentalCase gets you started, then is handy and addictive, and then just keeps delivering as you mature as a flashcard user. (Me: I’ve used it, and several others, for ~10 yrs. I love paper flashcards. Long ago I made my own flashcard tool in MS Access… a flashcard old-timer/nut.) This month I set MentalCase up again from scratch to give it an in-depth look: on 2 Macs, 1 iPad & 1 iPhone. I have to say… Wow. This is what you want on your phone, for standing in line at the grocery store/cafe. And, open on your computer, to create cards on the fly… each time you note something you ought to learn, a person whose name/face you want to remember, etc. I prefer to read books as PDF/eBook, and copy-paste words, sentences, screen shots straight into new cards. On your FIRST card to your 100th… You find all the things are there you would hope for, getting started… - it is beautiful software (they’re Dutch! :-p) - it has both desktop software & mobile apps - it supports images (and, well) - quick and easy to create cards With your 100th-to-300th cards… You realize it ALSO… - does import/export really well, including from the standard websites with Millions of decks… - synchronizes betwen devices really, really well (as good as Evernote, effortless background sync… and actual sync for offline use by default). This is a YOSEMITE-era enhancement, optionally leveraging either DropBox or iCloud. I hate iCloud, but use it, and I’m surprised how much I love MentalCase sync. (I’ve done tests between my 2 MacBooks, iPad & iPhone… 4 installations… it’s impressive how well it works.) Finally, as you get into 100’s & 100’s of cards - The MentalFaculty (these folks) have really noodled out how “smart” flashcard software SHOULD behave: remembering what you’ve missed, reinforcing what you need to repeat… You might not care about these features at first (because they didn’t teach it in the 4th grade, when you made your first flashcards), but this is really the whole point & WORTH using. It does it automatically, but eventually, go read the documentation — it’s short, easy, to the point. - …your old cards become more fun & valuable, when you can sculpt your “sessions” on the cards that gave you troubles long ago. Bravo, guys. Sooo worth the money.

I have emailed the dev regarding terrible sync in terms of reliability. I constantly get sync errors with iCloud. Dropbox works, but it’s slow. But the main issue is the scheduling of notes which gets all messed up when syncing from device to device. I have 3 devices. I start studying on one, and when I try to start from where I left off, the intitial sync on the device wipes out my study progress. Happened multiple times already and I’m not the only to report.

I like the app, but they cannot get the sync to work out right. I am thinking about just paying $15 a month for quizlet or trying another app. Its just too unreliable to spend my time working on making cards and it not go to my other devices.

Bottom Line: Flexible flashcard app that makes studying easier and more efficient. Seems stable and mature, I haven’t had a single problem yet. For me the most important part of studying is putting together the concepts in a way I understand and then reviewing that until it’s locked in. The best way I’ve ever found to do that is to make flash cards or study sheets. Mental Case 2 helps me do this on my computer making the whole process more efficient and flexible. I’m using it to study languages and mathematical concepts alike. I don’t think there is any limit to what you could study with this. Highlights: -Multi-facet flashcards, make a five sided flashcard to study a verb, its meaning and its various conjugations -Programmed study periods - it keeps track of how often you study and what you keep getting wrong -Simple online backup to dropbox or iCloud - don’t have to worry about losing those carefully constructed flahs cards -Also syncs with iPhone app which seems nice though I don’t have an iPhone

I love everything about this app in THEORY. The theoretical easy sync between devices, the theoretical study schedules, the multi-facets, reversable cards, it all sounds wonderful. In practice I have never been more frustrated with an OS X or iOS app. Here’s my laundry list: Sync: This has gotten a lot better (as in apparently it works now for iCloud, I use dropbox) I don’t know who’s fault this is, but the end results are the same. It used to be hit or miss whether it would sync or not, now it does. Each device constantly logs out so I’m always turning sync back on, entering my username and password, waiting for the long sync process to happen… Study Schedule: Wonderful, but super easy to accidentally reset. Then you’re back to day one and this can be super discouraging when you have thousands of cards you’re studying. Once you commit to card template you had better not want to change it once you have some studying under your belt! Reversable cards: once you finally figure out how to make a card reversible….. You can’t pick what side you want to come first, so if you’re studying a language, you’re stuck with random cues, so you can’t go from just side one to side two for one round, then side two to side one the next time, it’s always a random mix. If you switch a card/stack from a non-reversible template to a reversible template it starts your study schedule over. There’s a big learning curve with all the features. Confusing options in weird places. Navigation in the iOS app is a bit clucky. For example: if you’re studying a card and want to correct a typo or add something it’s a big ordeal. Overall, if it worked as expected and described it would be amazing. Unfortunately it doesn’t. I’ve been using Mental Case since the first version and I’m always hoping they fix everthing with the next update (which are frequent, I’ll give them that). It does make all other flashcard apps seem feature poor and ugly, but after so much trouble I finally had state my irritations publicly. This is both it’s strength and down fall, it does a LOT, but it doesn’t do it well.

So I used this for a while a year or so ago then came back to it. I have had no end of confusion until I figured out that there is a new version of this app… Mental Case 2. This new version has a new icon on the phone that does not match the icon on the MAC. This really seemed like something that would not have to be looked out for. Amazing the amount of trouble that can be caused over the silly things. Why would you make the Mental case 2 Mac APP and the mental case 1 ios app icons match but not the MC2 and MC2??

I have tried several flashcard software, but this one is the best. It takes ALOT of getting used to the interface, but you get the hang of it eventually. On the ios, I really like the flexibility and card tracking of Flashcards Deluxe, but it doesn’t have an osx component; Suprememo doesn’t have an ios component, so I’m sticking with Mental Case until either of the other flashcard software “fixes” their deficiency.

I have been use this app for more than half a year. I use it to learn english and also other materials. After getting use to it, I feel this app is very helpful and the interface is very user friendly. It not only support text but also image, audio and video. All I need to do is add (or drag) materials into the app and the app will set learning schedule for me automatically. I use iCloud to sync data, and it works great. I tried several study apps before and, honestly, this one is the best. Looking forward to new features and improvements in the future. ------ I have some advice: Font can be set separately in each Template. UI and interface can be improved (they are actually already very great) to make more space to show the material, in the edit mode and also slideshow. If the name of a new Template is identical with a previous one, I can choose to replace it directly. Font size can be changed directly in Slideshow mode (like in the Reader mode of Safari), and text can be rolled up and down.