August 22, 2018. Wednesday.

There is something about trigonometry that makes me wanna puke.xD

Flashcard Mistakes

Mistake #1: Not Making your Own Cards

The actual process of creating flashcards is important.

Your deck of flashcards should not just be “dictionary definitions.” Turning knowledge into cards is valuable for the same reasons it’s important to not take word-for-word notes: when you try to express information in your own words, you process the information. When you process it, you have to recreate the ideas in a way that makes sense to you. The process of retrieving and reorganizing the information actually strengthens the memory.

When you study flashcards which you created, you’ll remember the context in which you created them. If you’re studying a word in a foreign language, for example, you can include an example of a sentence that gives you trouble or some hint at the subtleties of the words which you’d miss by just writing a dictionary definition. In short, you can customize the card in a way that captures the exact challenges you face with that bit of information.

Mistake #2: Studying in One Big Session

If you sit down for one massive “cram session” with your cards, you’re hurting your learning.

The best way to use flashcards is as a quick impromptu study session. 15 minutes at the bus stop and 30 minutes between classes is better than hours and hours of continuous study at the end of the day, thanks to the rules of perfect practice. If you graph your progress, like I love to do, you’ll quickly discover that most of your progress seem to happen in between study sessions.

Here’s a surprising truth:

The goal of flashcards isn’t to get them right.

It’s to remind yourself of knowledge you’ve forgotten.

Researchers who have studied memorization developed a technique called “spaced repetition” for this reason. The major insight that they had, as a result of analyzing thousands of hours of study, is that you want to prompt recall just as something is about to be forgotten.

Mistake #3: Practicing Mindlessly

Do you know every fact in your deck equally well?

Certainly not. So you shouldn’t be lumping them all together into one big pile.

If you’re “zoning out” or going into a “robotic” mode when you use your flashcards, you’re wasting time. You should think about each card. Use the word in a sentence, remember some places you’ve heard it, say it aloud to yourself, etc. Engage with the content, don’t just say “yes, I know it” or “no, I don’t.” In fact, the spaced repetition concept from above would even suggest that you rate how well you know the card on a scale of 1-4. Then you sort the cards based upon how well you know them and study the ones you struggle with the most first before coming back to the ones you know better.

If all of this sounds hard to manage, there’s a better way.

So if you really want to improve your learning with flashcards:

Study it whenever you have a few minutes to kill. Embrace the small minutes of downtime you’d normally use to check social media.

Engage in the content. Say the words to  yourself, use them for an example, and don’t rush through the cards.

Source

If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it

Michael Jordan (via studyblr)

Late night studying featuring my glass of orange smoothie 😋 #studygram #studyblr #studymotivation https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpj2b_2h28y/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1dv8ryfalc6ep

a reminder as we head into the new year :-)

No better way to spend rainy days

Workout for the mind 🏋️

29.01.17

“Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to.” ― Susan Cain, Quiet

everyone is getting into relationships and growing up and I’m just getting lazier and finding more tv series to watch

And kid, you’ve got to love yourself. You’ve got wake up at four in the morning, brew black coffee, and stare at the birds drowning in the darkness of the dawn. You’ve got to sit next to the man at the train station who’s reading your favorite book and start a conversation. You’ve got to come home after a bad day and burn your skin from a shower. Then you’ve got to wash all your sheets until they smell of lemon detergent you bought for four dollars at the local grocery store. You’ve got to stop taking everything so goddam personally. You are not the moon kissing the black sky. You’ve got to compliment someones crooked brows at an art fair and tell them that their eyes remind you of green swimming pools in mid July. You’ve got to stop letting yourself get upset about things that won’t matter in two years. Sleep in on Saturday mornings and wake yourself up early on Sunday. You’ve got to stop worrying about what you’re going to tell her when she finds out. You’ve got to stop over thinking why he stopped caring about you over six months ago. You’ve got to stop asking everyone for their opinions. Fuck it. Love yourself, kiddo. You’ve got to love yourself.

Unknown (via help-n-quotes)