Flash Cards: A Great Invention by Elizabeth

Flash Cards: A Great Invention by Elizabeth - January 2014 Scholarship Essay

The most effective study method I have used is the use of flash cards and outlines. I start out by outlining the most important information provided to us by the professors. After I have created an outline with the important highlights of information needed, I then get the major details and put them onto flash cards. This can include definitions, dates, periods, etc. The amount of flash cards needed varies by the subject as well as how confident I feel in what I have learned. If I do not feel confident in the information provided to me, then I will read over the text further and create more flash cards to help me understand it better. Much of tests are memorization of the information, and flash cards are a great memorization tool. It takes our brains multiple times of seeing, reading, or hearing something to be able to memorize it. Flash cards help us do that.

Flash cards have benefited me much over my years of studying. My senior year of high school I took an AP European History class. My teacher had provided us many packets over the year to help us with our tests. I would take the questions from the packets and turn them into flash cards to help me study. I ended up with an A in the class. In addition, I kept these flash cards for the AP test itself. With having all of the flash cards from the entire year, this helped me to achieve getting a four on the AP test. Another way flash cards have benefited me is in college. There is so much information that you learn in such a short period. The most recent assistance I received with using flash cards was for my Art History class. I have problems remembering dates and historical periods, using flash cards and repeatedly going over them helped me memorize important dates and periods for the exams.

In the end, flash cards would be one of the study methods I would advise everyone to try, along with outlines. If someone needed help with understanding the important information needed for the flash cards or outlines, I would be happy to go over what is truly important with them. That is the key to these forms of study tools. You must know what is truly important, and what is frivolous to the subject matter. In conclusion, when you combine these two methods, they create a great study tool that creates a great benefit.