Make your own cards if you can

There are situations where it’s better to use pre-selected groups of words. Maybe your teacher has chosen the vocabulary for a test or you are using a group from Watch and Learn carefully selected by your teacher.

But if this option isn’t available there is a LOT of value and learning in choosing information and creating your own words, pictures and systems.

Use different information

Using words and pictures makes information more memorable and easier for your brain to recall when you need it.

Try a Mnemonic

The word mnemonic means to make a memory. Rhymes, songs, poems and acronyms are all great ways to remember. Here is an example to remember parts of speech.

Instead of:

Noun = a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things.

You can use:

Noun = names a place or thing like May, monkey, river, ring

Keep it simple

Too much information on a card puts you in danger of recognising it not remembering it.

Imagine you have one flashcard for phrasal verbs with ‘get’. There are eight in total.

The worry is you remember five and tell yourself you will probably remember the other three so you don’t practise the other three. It’s always better to have less information on cards for this reason.

Go both ways

There are two good reasons to make sure you change up the direction of your flashcards.

The first is that learning the same information in the same order is going to get boring really quickly. The other reason is that the chance of remembering something is higher if you vary how you learn. So don’t always revise in the same direction.

Now that you have flashcards that you’ve made yourself or have come from a teacher here is what to do next.

How often do I need to study vocabulary?

We all know that if you want to do well on a test, you can’t just have one long study session weeks before the big day. Also working until late the night before is not a great idea. So how can you plan your study to get the best results from the least work?

The answer is a technique called spaced repetition that has been around for nearly 100 years. It’s an easy concept. You can remember more and study less by revising at planned intervals.

Spaced repetition works because every time you try to remember something your brain has to find that bit of information. The more often you study the higher chance your brain will find a memory of you learning it.

Here’s a simpler way to understand. Imagine you need to find a really important piece of paper and you need to find it quickly. If you make one copy and put it on your desk there's a good chance you’ll remember and get it when you need it. But - what if you put a copy on your desk, on your fridge and in your bag? You’ll definitely find at least one copy of it then, right?!

Mind the gap

If you’ve ever been to London and got the tube you always hear ‘mind the gap’ or watch the space between the train and the platform when you’re waiting.

The space here needs watching too. There’s been tonnes of research and debate about when exactly to study before an exam. Benedict Carey in his book ‘How we learn’ makes the case for the following rough gaps between studying:

So for that test in a week do something today and then in a day or so. It might be a good idea to have a short session the night before too. So you just go through all your cards each time right?

Nope ! There’s one last part to perfecting the system. You need a way to practise what you forget more.

The Leitner System

It’s a good idea to go over what you forget more. A Science Journalist Sebastian Leitner suggested a way to do this in the 1970s.

Imagine you are going to have five study sessions. Each one is represented by one of the boxes in the diagram. If you remember what’s on the cards correctly it goes into the next box. If you get it wrong the next time you study it goes back a box.

This is a smart way to make sure you go over more of what you find tough !

So there we have it!

The complete guide to how to make and plan your flashcard study sessions to get brilliant results every time.