How to Learn the Periodic Table

There are 118 cards in the deck below. You can read through them, practise them right here with the flip-card player, and then save the deck to study properly with spaced repetition — the method that makes them stick for months, not minutes.

Most symbols match the English name (O, C, N), but a stubborn handful come from Latin and trip everyone up: sodium is Na (natrium), potassium is K (kalium), iron is Fe (ferrum), lead is Pb (plumbum), gold is Au (aurum), silver is Ag (argentum). Those are the ones you actually have to drill.

The fix is active recall plus spaced repetition. Instead of re-reading the list (which feels productive but barely works), you test yourself — pull each answer out of memory — and you review each card on a schedule that stretches over time. Every time you successfully recall a fact, the memory gets stronger and the next review is pushed further out. That's how you go from "I saw it once" to "I just know it."

1. Break it into small batches. Learn it in blocks: the first 20 elements (the ones you use constantly), then the common transition metals, then work outward. You rarely need the far-right synthetic elements from memory, so save those for last.
2. Test, don't re-read. Look at the question, say the answer out loud before flipping the card. The little struggle to recall is what builds the memory — a smooth re-read does almost nothing.
3. Review on a schedule. Spaced repetition shows you each card right before you'd forget it. Get one right and it comes back in a few days, then a week, then a month. Miss one and it comes back sooner.
4. Keep sessions short and daily. Five to ten minutes a day beats a two-hour cram every time. Consistency is the whole game.

One fact per card. Note the capitalisation: symbols are one capital letter, or a capital followed by a lowercase (Co is cobalt; CO is carbon + oxygen). It matters.

Here's every card in the set. Practise them above, or save the deck and let spaced repetition schedule your reviews automatically.