Studying With Flash Cards...

This is the most common method of memorizing information. In your own words list the most important facts along with key words -- either on the front or the back of the flash card -- that will trigger recall without needing a full written explanation. The idea when using flash cards to study is to use a deck of cards with a question and answer on opposite sides. You pick up the card from the top, look at the question, and think to yourself: "The answer is...". Then you turn the card over to see the correct answer.

Like this:

Put the card in one of two decks on the table: The ones you answered correctly on one side, and the ones you didn't know on the other (or alternatively, if your answer was incorrect you may also put the card right back to the bottom of the deck you are holding).

When your hand is empty, you pick up the deck with the questions you didn't know, and start over. For each time you do that the "did know" pile on the table will be a little bit bigger. Finally, when your hand is completely empty, you may simply start all over again. You will be surprised to see how quickly you learn. If you are studying a new subject, you should limit yourself to a maximum of 100 cards, better 40 to begin with. But if the stack contains more than 100 cards, you might begin by dividing them into groups which make best sense to you.

1. Flash Carding System

A. Convert summary ruled notes and questions to index cards, question on one side of card, answer on the other.
 
B. Do the same for any "chapter objectives" or "learning objectives" or lecture notes your teacher might have given you.
 
C. Encoding - put information into a form you can process easily and at one glance - so keep it short and precise!
 
D. Use pictures/imagery to represent ideas as often as is possible. Pictures are easier to remember than either words or numbers!
 
E. Review all flash cards 5-10 minutes each day. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to classroom success is failure to do sufficient rehearsal after you first understand a concept. Essentially, you must commit to memory what you understand so you can either recognize, recall, or apply the information you've studied. This is just plain old memorization, or "rote" memorization, as psychologists call it.

The reason for 5-10 minutes each day is that concentrated "cram" sessions have you trying to push too much into your brain too fast, causing you to "pull blanks" and to otherwise screw-up the information. Dividing the two-hour cram session into tiny 5-10 minute blocks of everyday reviews has been proven over and over to be far more efficient and alsorelieves a lot of unnecessarily anxiety the night before the test. Breaking up the material into these small review sessions is sometimes called the method of distributed practice (as opposed to the mass practice of a cram session).
 
F. Carry your flash cards with you and study whenever you have the opportunity. Review your flash card at stoplights, waiting in line at the bank, the grocery store, the post office...just anywhere you have some "down" time. You can get in some extra study time this way when you've got nothing to do but wait in line.
 
G. "Chunk" material to be learned. Make sure all material practiced at any one time is concerned with the same topic. This is easily achieved by the English outline system. Don't learn lists of "miscellaneous" facts, as they don't have relationships to each other. Each "chunk" of study material should have its relationships well-connected as in an outline.

2. Rehearsal, Studying, or Memorizing
 
A. Use as many senses as you can while studying ("Shotgun" method). The use of more senses than sight and thinking helps you store the information in a variety of additional sections of your brain. This will later make it easier to recall or recognize information that you have stored.
1. Look at and read your notes.
2. Speak your notes out loud.
3. Listen to yourself while speaking out loud.
4. Touch the questions and answers on the paper/cards.
5. Walking or pacing the floor as you review is sometimes helpful, also.

 
B. Use rote recitation/rehearsal when you do your overlearning of information in short-term memory, but memorize definitions/explanations you don't understand. Understand these first by decoding, then use rote to store them.
 
C. Use the method of logic wherever possible. This is sometimes called the "Method of Places." Separate your pages of notes into smaller sub-sets and place each sub-set in a particular location around your house or apartment. Try to visualize or picture the notes lying on the dining room chair and what they contain. Another set is on top of the TV, etc...just all around.
 
The main idea is to distribute the information physically in a variety of locations and then on the test you just mentally "walk-through" your house, "picking up the notes" in each location in sequence. It organizes a series of notes, chains them together in a logical sequence, and uses imagery (the easiest type of information review). Spend a moment to choose the places to put them:
parts of the arm on a list laid on the armchair
a list of head muscles placed on a pillow on the bed
back muscles and vertebrae taped to the back of a chair, etc.
 

D. Remember to use mnemonics. Mnemonics are memory "tricks", such as rhyme schemes to help organize information before you attempt to store them in your long-term memory system. For example, take the first letter of each of several terms to learn and make a word out of these letters. This will make remembering all the individual terms a snap!
 
E. Memorize all flash cards so well that you can recite your entire list of (200+?) cards perfectly at least twice. (Three times is even better.) If you merely learn the material so you can repeat the answer one time, it may be the last time. Further rehearsal is good insurance against "pulling blanks" on a test.
 
F. Keep reviewing mentally as you drive from home to the test, walk from one class to another, etc. If there's time, review flash cards before the teacher hands out the test. It's okay to review one last time before the test, but keep in mind: "If you don't know it now, you'll never know it", so don't wait to study till the last minute!
 
G. Some people like to actually study in the same room that the test will be in. This is the principle of "state- dependent" learning; study in the same place and you can avoid a lot of test anxiety by getting used to asking and answering questions like you will during the actual test.
 
H. "Primacy and Recency" effects - the first and last items on a list to be memorized are learned first. The bigger the overall list, the bigger the mid-section becomes and the longer it takes to learn them. So, break big lists into smaller ones and there will be less of the "middle" of each list, especially if you restrict your lists to the "Magic 7" rule: 5-9 items long only.