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Here is a classic revision strategy: flash cards. To help you get to grips with this technique here is a video above explaining how to make and use them.
One of the key things is to know when they are effective. Flashcards work best when you have two pieces of information to learn, for example, a word and a definition. They are great for learning vocabulary in French or Spanish, key terms in any topic, equations in maths and science and quotations in English.
But also, there are times when flashcards aren’t a good idea and that’s because what they don’t do is allow you to learn the relationship of things. The Periodic Table is better for learning atomic numbers, mind maps help with more complex relationships, Cornell notes help with wider range of facts in a topic
You might be familiar with online apps that do similar things. A lot of you will have pre-made revision cards for various topics. Premade cards or online apps are useful because they have been designed with a whole course in mind, and should help you learn exactly what you’re supposed to. However, they miss one of the key points about the way the brain works: if you write them yourself you are much more likely to remember them. Working out what to write on the card is part of the learning process. As with mind maps, if you can do it yourself, do it yourself.
You don’t need much to make flashcards. Paper works, but it’s a bit flimsy for sustained use. You can cut up card to make them, and they don’t need to be big so you can get 8 out of a single sheet of A4 card. That’s a lot cheaper than buying ‘index cards’, but the proper ones can be bought fairly cheaply.
Before you begin, get your equipment. You can use card or paper. You can cut up larger cards to make smaller cards – you’re not going to write a lot on them, so they don’t need to be big. A6 or smaller is best. You can colour code for different topics or subjects.
Some people will tell you to put a hole punch in the corner and using a treasury tag to keep them together. You may be better off just keeping them tied up in a rubber band because part of the way you use them is sorting them, so tying them together won’t help. When you have your cards, write the term, quotation or equation you’re trying to learn on one side. On the other, write the definition, meaning or use. On this side, it’s best to use your own words. Don’t write a whole lot of facts or words on one card. This is so that you learn the individual terms, rather than a group of them. If you put 5 terms on a single card, when you test yourself you might find you know 4 of them and you'll either not notice that you've left one out, or you'll have no way to sort out what you do know from what you don’t. You may even find you only know them when they are surrounded by the other facts.
With your cards in hand, give them a shuffle (you don’t want to learn them in the same order every time) and then read the top one. Before you turn it over, say the definition. This can be in your head if there are people around! If you can say it before you turn it over, it goes in the ‘know’ pile and if not, it goes in the ‘don’t know’ pile. This helps you keep on track of what you know and what you don’t know.
Remember that you can test either way (can you work out the word from the definition and the definition from the word?). If you only do it one way, you’ll never know if you really know it. The other thing is you need to keep using them. It doesn’t take long to whizz through your cards, so build it into your revision routine.
Don’t forget to watch the video for more tips, including how to sort and keep them.
Remember, every bit of revision you do now will make you more confident when the exams come.
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