Seriously?
You’re looking at my ridiculous flashcard collection. Those aren’t my accumulated flashcards from throughout med school. No. Those are my flashcards FOR THIS TEST. WTF?
The cards in the box are what I feel relatively confident I know. The stack next to the box is the stuff I need to learn in the next 48 hours. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.
Last year I did well by making flashcards for every little fact or funtoid I could possibly need for the test. (I tend to learn well by flashcards, sue me.)
The problem here, as you might be able to see, is that I’ve reached the point of diminishing returns. Hell, I reached that point, blew past it at ludicrous speed, and left it spinning behind me like a cartoon road sign. I slammed on my brakes somewhere around the point of futility, and came skidding to a halt at the point of absurdity. See, it wasn’t always like this. Last year, I might have a couple hundred flashcards per test. That might sound like a lot, but it’s actually very do-able. I’m estimating my current collection here at somewhere around 1200. That isn’t gonna work. I can’t even carry them all around with me.
The main reason for this dramatic increase in flashcards is largely because we’ve started Pharm, and there is a LOT of memorization for that class. But still, I’m obviously gonna have to re-evaluate my study methods for the next test. This is ridiculous. With this many flashcards, I don’t even have time to review them all enough times, let alone actually LEARN them.
Tags: flashcards · m-2 · really stupid ways to study · study techniques6 Comments
I’m very curious, please update when you figure out what the best technique for learning / memorizing large amounts of material
where are you attending?
nevermind i just read your “about”
Perhaps you could have flashcards for your flashcards?
Few Things You Can Do.
Switch to an electronic flash card system like Anki (program). Creating electronic flashcards with automatic timed review can be quite useful for memorizing large lists conveniently. Spaced Repetition has been proven to be the best way to brute force memorize things for the long term.
Second method – instead of passively perusing your notes / flashcards, get in the habit of asking questions and recalling your notes onto summary sheets. Instead of passing over your notes over and over, find your gaps of knowledge and focus in on them.
[...] talked before about my (bad) study habit of making tons and tons of flashcards. At one point, it seemed like a [...]