At this stage, you’ll also need to decide what medium you want to use to make your flash cards. Will you choose paper and pen or will you create digital flash cards? Ultimately, it is a matter of preference. Studies have shown that most students retain information better if they have to write out the materials. [2] X Research source Yet, the convenience of having your flash cards on your phone may outweigh other concerns.
Eventually, you will develop a system of note-taking that will make flash cards easier to make. Some of the easiest ways of doing this are to highlight or underline key sections your teacher stresses. Some people use asterisks, dashes, or other symbols to set off important text from the rest of their notes.
Write with pencil or light ink so that this information doesn’t bleed to the other side of the card. Draw diagrams if you need to. Don’t be afraid to include additional information on the back of your notecards, as long it is essential information to the studying process.
If you find yourself including too much detail on your notecards, either try to distill it further or break it up into several notecards. In this case, you can place the key word on the first side with some kind of qualifier in parentheses. For example, if you wanted to remember the causes of the French Revolution, but couldn’t condense it onto a single card, you might make several cards. “French Revolution Origins (Political)”, “French Revolution Origins (Social)”, and “French Revolution Origins (Economic)” might be possible cards for this subject.
Use color to organize your notecards further. Simply highlight the text that you’d like to recolor and then click on the text color tab at the top of your program. Use a color that is still easy to read, but distinguishable from the other color that you’re using. For example, use black for the primary information and green, blue, red, purple, or brown for subsequent particulars on the same card.
You can punch a hole through one corner and string cards on a ring to keep them together. Then you can just flip through them as needed.
Most apps are free, so try out a couple to see what best suits your needs.
Once you’re logged in you can select flash cards from a class you’re taking, or you can create your own flash cards.
Quizlet also gives you the option to include a description in the title, so include as much information as you like.
If you’re creating flash cards for a foreign language class, Quizlet allows you to select from over a hundred different languages. If you’d like to adjust the font and color, include images, or add an audio feature, upgrade your account to Quizlet Plus.
You have the option of separating the terms and information using tabs or commas.
Some researchers even think that hand-written flash cards work more effectively than those made on MS Word, with other software programs, or online. Princeton and UCLA psychologists found that information retention increases when students are forced to write it out on paper. Your brain is forced to process the new material in a different way than if you simply type it out verbatim. [13] X Research source
If you are new to the information, you might even have your study helper show you the side with the information and then you say the key word. [15] X Research source
