#noorstudy

Flashcards were an important part of my preparation for my IGCSE examinations. I found them extremely useful for retaining a wide range of concepts (especially for subjects like biology and psychology) in a simple yet effective way!

I hope y’all find these tips useful!! :)

PART 1

Do not rely solely on them

It’s important to note that flashcards are not a one-way ticket to that A*. It is a combination of several things that essentially leads you to a successful result (eg: past papers, homework, readings, research, etc).

Furthermore, it also depends on what type of material you’re studying and how far you are into the learning process.

Recognise which subject requires them

Flashcards are generally used for knowledge-intensive subjects that require a lot of factual memorisation over a long period of time. These can include the sciences, history, literature, etc. 

Subjects like these contain a multitude of relationships, terms, processes and facts that need to be individually internalised in order to achieve a meaningful level of mastery of the overall subject matter.

I didn’t bother using flashcards for subjects like mathematics or business studies.

PART 2

Avoid information overload

it can feel tempting to make flashcards for every little fact and shred of information so that you don't miss it on the exam. However, this usually results in an overwhelming number of decks.

During the initial exposure to the information, make sure that you have thoroughly read through it to isolate the pertinent facts and turn these into question-and-answer flashcards. To do this, I referred to end of unit tests and homework to get a good idea on which aspects of the topic/chapter are typically assessed.

It’s really important to condense the information since flashcards are typically used for REVIEW and to help consolidate your knowledge. Trying to add in an entire chapter of 12 pages really defeats the purpose of using them.

I was constantly worried that I might cut out information that may end up being vital. I was able to remove this fear of mine by ensuring that I only put down one concept/question per flashcard and then list down the components that made up that particular concept.

For example, these were my notes on medicinal drugs, with a focus on antibiotics. One of the key requirements listed in my specification was:

“To describe the functions of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infection”

I used this to understand what pieces of information to isolate.

As you can see above, I only listed down the functions of antibiotics and nothing else. I didn’t mention the fact that they were ineffective against viruses because there is a reason to that and the concept can be better explored in another card. I instead, chose to focus on how antibiotics combat bacterial infections.

This saves a lot of time during the revision process and also ensures that the amount of information you have to know isn’t too overwhelming.

Create Mental Connections

This can be easily achieved by mixing pictures and words or using mnemonic devices. These help increase your brain’s ability to recall what you’re studying. Just be careful to only use these when absolutely necessary.

Organisation of Your Flashcards

It’s highly likely that you may never use your flashcards when they are stacked one over the other until they form a skyscraper. This is where organisation comes into play.

For biology in particular, I organised my decks by chapter and then divided it into decks for the sub-topics within the chapter:

As you can see, I basically divided the chapter of “Biological Molecules” into those sub-topics which made the whole revision process less overwhelming and it also helped me plan what I wanted to study because I would have already had a basic overview of what I’m familiar with and what I needed to review further.

PART 3

The Process of Retrieving the Answer

When going through your decks, it’s important to note down the answer or say it out loud instead of adopting the “oh I know this already, so it’s fine” attitude. You should be able to hold yourself accountable and avoid falling for the false illusion of confidence. Even if you are already familiar with that particular piece of information, there’s no harm in reinforcing it again. Better to be safe than sorry.

Shuffle Your Decks

This is an incredibly effective way of challenging yourself with spacing and interleaving, instead of going through your flashcard deck in the same order again and again. You won’t be able to properly retain those concepts by trying to retrieve information based on the deck and card number!

Spaced Repetition 

Spaced Repetition is an evidence-based learning technique boosts learning by spreading revision out over time so learning is not crammed all at once. 

You can find a detailed explanation about the effectiveness of this technique here 

PART 4

Anki

This app allows you to create online flashcards which you can use to test yourself in practice sessions. It uses an algorithm built around active recall and spaced repetition and hence learns as you progress through your studies and revision.

Anki is available for free on desktop and on all mobile devices except iOS, but I highly recommend it as it’s in-built algorithm and other features (more information about the app including the download link can be found here) were incredibly useful for me!

Quizlet

This is another online learning tool that allows users to create study tools such as interactive flashcards, tests, and study games. 

The app makes it simple to start creating cards on the topic of your choice. In addition to text, you can also add images from your computer or Quizlet’s library. It also provides you with a variety of options when studying your cards. For more information on the features that Quizlet employs, visit this link

Quizlet is free but provides the option of a paid premium plan which includes additional features. 

Brainscape

This app also implements spaced repetition, which has been shown to increase rate of learning. 

Brainscape allows you to rate your confidence in each flashcard, on a scale of 1-5, which subsequently determines how frequently to repeat the flashcard. Lower-confidence items are repeated more frequently until you upgrade your confidence rating.

Like Quizlet, it is a free app but provides a paid pro plan with additional features.

Once again I want to emphasize that to truly succeed with flashcards, you need to learn how to create them correctly. The best app isn’t very useful if you’re not writing effective questions and answers.

That’s all I have for now, I really hope this post was helpful and if you have any additional tips or apps you’d like to suggest, feel free to reblog and add them!! 

sending love and wishing you all a wonderful day!

Hey everyone! I’m so excited finally announce this idea I’ve been working on for a while now.

As an avid lover of well-designed magazines and also science and tech, I wanted to combine the two and create an online STEM magazine available to all.

So, what is STEM-Zine about?

STEM-Zine is an online magazine that acts as a platform for students interested in STEM subjects to express their thoughts and opinions and provide educational content for others in an engaging and illustrative manner.

It acknowledges the fact that not everyone is in a position to afford science magazines and wants to make knowledge accessible to all.

How can I contribute?

as Writer:

to write on (almost) any STEM topic you are interested in

no experience necessary

as Designer:

to design the magazine cover, inside layout and other misc. items such as logo, etc

experience preferred

as Photographer/Illustrator:

to take photos for/illustrate articles in order to make them more visually appealing

experience preferred

as Editor:

to work with writers to edit and improve articles

experience preferred

as Manager:

to help with the overall management of the magazine such as publication, social media, etc.

experience necessary but if you really think you can do it, feel free to apply

How can I apply?

Just send an email to [email protected] including the following detail:

Your name

What position you are apply for

What you can contribute (skills, qualifications, etc)

What grade/degree you are currently studying

If you have any experience in your selected position

And if you do include examples as an attachment

Lastly, a gmail adress

-Before applying please consider if you have enough time available to dedicate to this magazine.

-Contributing to a magazine makes a great extracurricular that you can include in personal statements for schools and universities. There are various skills you can learn here such as collaboration and working against deadlines

-Feel free to send a message if you have any inquiries.

Hi! Math can totally be fun (sometimes) :D I (Kat) just finished a semester of Calculus and it was actually one of my favorites classes :) 

url: we don’t get it | nice | wow :O | awEsoMe | CAN WE TRADE :3

icon: who/what? | cute! | love it <3 | gorgeous | WE ARE STEALING IT!

desktop theme: yay | pretty | yaassss | PeRFeCt | Code? PLEASE?

original content: cute| good job! | aesthetic | #goals | so pretty we gonna cry :’)

overall : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

following: not right now, sorry | now we are!! | of course, forever and ever!

comment: Your posts are SUPER NICE!?!?! Your calligraphy is always perfect and the color coding is on point <3 We’re super glad to be following such an amazing blog :) 

Want a blograte? (:

Hi there! So, I recently finished my final English Literature examination and I wanted to share some tips and resources! Hope you guys find them useful :)

Please note that not all of the tips provided below may suit you but I suggest trying some of them to see if they work :)

During the exam

1. Remember that you’re supposed to provide an ANALYSIS and not a summary for an answer

2. ADDRESS the question and only the question — it’s easy to drift away from it and ramble so watch out for that

3. Identify the KEY TERMS in the question and which sections of the poem/story/play you are going to use — for my mock examination, this was the question I received for the poetry section in Paper 1: 

How does Hopkins vividly convey thoughts and feelings about the bird in The Caged Skylark?

the key terms here are “how” and “vividly convey” so focus on that when answering the question

4. Ensure that you have a sustained personal response throughout the paper — avoid making statements like “his/her work is quite brilliant” and try to focus more on the effect the author intended to evoke with a particular phrase/quotation and comment on how said phrase/quotation would affect the reader 

5. WHY? — don’t just state that the writer has used imagery. Talk about WHY they used it in that particular moment in the piece and their intentions

6. ALWAYS mention the:

themes

tone: gloomy? lighthearted?

structure:  this is especially important for poems

literary devices: imagery, repetition etc

7. You can also score more marks by commenting on parallels — it shows that you have a good critical understanding of the story and that you’re able to show individuality and insight!

8. Further to this, you can also mention contrasts in scenes and their impact on the overall effect of the piece

9. Don’t use lengthy quotations, examiners detest this!

10. Time — You’ll have two tasks in each paper so devote 45 minutes for each one and stick to this plan! It becomes really easy to add some extra points but it ultimately affects the quality of your second answer so avoid that at all costs! BALANCE your time!

Some websites I found useful:

1. https://www.enotes.com/  — I suggest typing the title of your story and “enotes” along with it for immediate results

2. http://sittingbee.com/ — like enotes, just type the title of the story and “sitting bee” along with it in the search bar

3. https://poemanalysis.com/educational-syllabus/cambridge-igcse-literature-english-0475-2020-21/

4. https://www.litcharts.com/

5. https://www.ibdocuments.com/LitCharts/ — this site contains litcharts guides which you can download free of charge!! it saves you a lot of money and hassle so I highly recommend it!

6. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/

7. https://igcse.school.blog/category/literature/

8. https://igcserevision.wordpress.com/english/english-literature-0486/

Some extra tips:

1. I highly recommend going through as many notes or analyses online as you can! They really help you get different interpretations of the text from a variety of perspectives which widens your overall understanding. However, it’s important to ensure that you’re not too reliant on them as it restricts you from providing an informed personal response in your paper

2. Read on characters, especially for paper 2 because sometimes the questions are based on the character and their significance within the story

3. GET FEEDBACK FROM YOUR TEACHERS! — This is so important because when doing past papers and trying to mark them yourself, you’ll find that the mark schemes just provide a rubric for reference. So, try to do some past papers and get them marked by your teacher for some detailed feedback and so that you know which strategy is working for you and what you need to work on

4. Go through some example candidate responses — Cambridge provides multiple pdfs filled with different candidate responses and you can even see the examiner’s detailed comments on the common mistakes the candidate made and how they could have improved their answer! You can find some at this link:  https://learning.cambridgeinternational.org/classroom/course/view.php?id=3198

5. Annotate your texts and focus on aspects of language, structure and form used to convey ideas or experiences — I usually avoid annotating since I don’t find it particularly helpful, but for literature, I focus on the important bits of the story/poem/play and note down a few points on the significance of that particular moment. It really helped making my revision for my final examination a LOT more easier since I could just skip to the parts where I had made the annotations and reinforce those concepts in my mind!