PDR Flashcards · G Souza

Papo de Residência is a preparation programme for Brazilian medical residency exams, bringing together mentoring, technology and study content. Our goal is to help medical students and newly graduated doctors win a place, with guidance and an organised study routine. To get to know the team's work, we're at @papoderesidencia.

PDR Flashcards is one of the products we build at Papo, alongside the study platform and the mentoring programme. I took part in developing the app as part of my work on the team.

Reviewing something once doesn't make it stick. Flashcards exists because of that: cards by specialty and topic, with spaced repetition deciding when each one comes back. On the phone it becomes a routine: pick the subjects, review one card at a time, follow your own studying.

Stack and implementation

The mobile app is built with React Native, Expo and TypeScript. React Navigation organises the screens and navigation flows; TanStack Query handles data fetching and caching, and Zustand holds interface state. Animations and gestures combine Reanimated and Gesture Handler, keeping the interactions continuous while studying.

Choosing what goes into the session

At the start the plan is empty, and the screen says only that: unlock at least one deck. Decks split the content by area of medicine, and the student picks the topics. Once that is done, the day's session takes over the home screen, with progress and a direct path to continue. The decision of what to study today arrives already made. Anyone who wants a specific subject uses quick review, without disturbing the plan.

Study screen with no plan set, showing the prompt to unlock at least one deck and the Unlock decks button. — Before any reviewing, choosing what goes in.

List of decks by specialty, with shortcuts to overdue, archived and favourite cards. — Content organised by specialty.

Study screen with the daily session, progress and the button to continue reviewing. — The day's session as the starting point.

See the app on the App Store

One question at a time

Before starting, a summary says how many cards are coming and how long it takes. In the review, the question holds the centre of the screen alone: the answer only appears when the student decides. Then they say how much it cost: got it wrong, hard, got it right, easy. That rating is what sets when the card returns.

Summary of a study session with the number of cards and estimated time before starting. — A view of the session before it begins.

Flashcard with a question, the topic label and a Show answer button. — Question first; the answer in the student's own time.

The same card with the answer revealed and the four ratings: got it wrong, hard, got it right and easy. — The student's rating is what schedules the next visit.

See the app on the App Store

What stays attached to the card

Tapping the topic opens the whole path, from the deck down to the last subdivision. It helps when the question turns up out of context, in the middle of a session mixing specialties. From the same screen the card can be archived, favourited or annotated: a note that stays attached to it and comes back along with it.

The card's path opened over the question: deck Cirurgia Geral, subdeck Abdômen Agudo and subdeck Abdômen Agudo Obstrutivo. — Where the card came from, deck down to the last subdivision.

Add comment panel open over the card, with a text field, the keyboard and a 600-character limit. — The personal note stays attached to the card.

See the app on the App Store

Seeing the consistency

Streak days, cards studied, average time per card. The heatmap opens the whole semester at once. It's where consistency shows up, or doesn't.

Study metrics with day streak, overview and a heatmap with no recorded activity. — The routine seen over time. Screenshot without study history.

See the app on the App Store