My biggest study secret...

[wallypredoc]

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I use Anki. It is a computer flashcard program (synched with my iPhone!) that has helped me tremendously over the past two years. The website says it best...

"Anki is a program which makes remembering things easy. Because it is a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn."

Anyone else agree?

 

[NDPitch]

I used mental case for the DAT - and had my Mac, iPad, and iPhone synced with flash cards. However, I think I might like the way Anki lets you answer the questions by determining how hard it was to recall the information. I might give it a shot. The only problem is that I'm currently not studying for anything, so I have nothing to test it with. Maybe I'll make some state capitals cards to brush up on those, lol.

 

[Stacker]

I use quizlet.com when I want to use flashcards. But I prefer not to use flashcards. I think time is better spent memorizing the content rather than making them (at least when they're made by hand). I like drawing concept maps for understanding pathways and mechanisms. Coming up with hilarious mnemonics help a lot.

I just looked into anki and mental case. I think anki is 3x more expensive than the mental case version for iPhone.

 

[finchy86]

Continually watching Chad's videos while doing mundane data analysis at work...and taking notes of the important things.

 

[wallypredoc]

I use quizlet.com when I want to use flashcards. But I prefer not to use flashcards. I think time is better spent memorizing the content rather than making them (at least when they're made by hand). I like drawing concept maps for understanding pathways and mechanisms. Coming up with hilarious mnemonics help a lot.

I just looked into anki and mental case. I think anki is 3x more expensive than the mental case version for iPhone.

I'm the same way when it comes to Organic and some other subjcts, but I can generate notecards extremely fast with Anki. That is the only reason it is worth using for subjects like Biology. Yes, Anki is EXTREMELY overpriced on the iPhone.

 

[dantemac]

stay off of sdn. Focus on your own life and work.

 

[iDentastic]

I'm the same way when it comes to Organic and some other subjcts, but I can generate notecards extremely fast with Anki. That is the only reason it is worth using for subjects like Biology. Yes, Anki is EXTREMELY overpriced on the iPhone.

I guess my question is (and probably the reason why I never used flashcard programs although I wanted to) how do you transfer the large amount of information on like a physiology powerpoint lecture to your flashcards in an efficient and productive way?

Do you just make it a question and answer format? Fill in the blank? I feel like it's so hard to write all that information on flashcards BECAUSE everything I learn in like physiology, for example, is usually connected in some way so chopping it all up into cards and learning them in random order wouldn't seem like such a good idea. Just IMO.

 

[KittySquared]

You guys take too much time into putting stuff on cards. I just stare at my notes until it's photocopied in my brain.

 

[finchy86]

I think the best thing that flash cards or notes do is fortify what has been learned by writing it down on paper. I rewrote my notes several times over and that helped me retain.

 

[wallypredoc]

I guess my question is (and probably the reason why I never used flashcard programs although I wanted to) how do you transfer the large amount of information on like a physiology powerpoint lecture to your flashcards in an efficient and productive way?

Do you just make it a question and answer format? Fill in the blank? I feel like it's so hard to write all that information on flashcards BECAUSE everything I learn in like physiology, for example, is usually connected in some way so chopping it all up into cards and learning them in random order wouldn't seem like such a good idea. Just IMO.

Powerpoint is great because you can copy and paste a bullet point into the Anki card, double click on the word(s) you want to appear on the back, and then press next. It is SO FAST. If you want to remember multiple words in the bullet point, you create multiple cards by copy, pasting, and then double clicking the word(s) you want to appear as a blank on the front of the card... I can not write or read as fast as i can generate these cards through the Anki program. It works SO well for me.

You are right. The material is chopped up into note cards, but the big picture unfolds as you get through them. The cards rotate back through your review until you rank them as easy, so you answer every card correctly before you finish any particular review. It's a very dynamic learning program.

 

[shulk]

I use Anki. It is a computer flashcard program (synched with my iPhone!) that has helped me tremendously over the past two years. The website says it best...

"Anki is a program which makes remembering things easy. Because it is a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn."

Anyone else agree?

Anki is an incredible program! I'm currently using it for bio and chemistry and it works wonders. Need to memorize a table of 40 random facts? No problem!

The best way to use Anki is to use mnemonics for challenging material. I usually create short sentence for a difficult fact with the keyword (the thing I want to remember) clozed out. Anki lets you select a word in your flashcard and 'cloze' it, meaning it removes the word and adds a blank, while generating a flashcard back side. I first used Anki to learn the japanese kanji (chinese characters), which probably would have been impossible for me without it.

 

[Glimmer1991]

You guys take too much time into putting stuff on cards. I just stare at my notes until it's photocopied in my brain.

Agreed. So agreed. For many of the people I know--not saying this applies to anyone here--they use making note cards as a sort of "excuse" to make them FEEL like they're studying. Making 500 note cards is not at all helpful if you never look over them again. Duh. But some people just dream...

Note cards don't help me, and neither did practice questions when it came to the DAT. I never did a full practice test, and the Destroyer was a waste of time (except the Math Destroyer). I just keep reading and rereading my notes. It works. For school, I usually read what I've written, then look away and try to recite my notes to myself. Also, since I typically take notes on my computer, I'll look at my set of notes and then open a blank word document where I type (from memory) what I just read. I guess it's sort of like "rewriting" my notes, but it's a heck of a lot faster because I'm typing. This saves me lots of time!

Different strokes for different folks. I think it's interesting to see how others learn!

 

[wallypredoc]

Agreed. So agreed. For many of the people I know--not saying this applies to anyone here--they use making note cards as a sort of "excuse" to make them FEEL like they're studying. Making 500 note cards is not at all helpful if you never look over them again. Duh. But some people just dream...

Note cards don't help me, and neither did practice questions when it came to the DAT. I never did a full practice test, and the Destroyer was a waste of time (except the Math Destroyer). I just keep reading and rereading my notes. It works. For school, I usually read what I've written, then look away and try to recite my notes to myself. Also, since I typically take notes on my computer, I'll look at my set of notes and then open a blank word document where I type (from memory) what I just read. I guess it's sort of like "rewriting" my notes, but it's a heck of a lot faster because I'm typing. This saves me lots of time!

Different strokes for different folks. I think it's interesting to see how others learn!

Sure wish I had a photographic memory...Must be nice.