Years before I ever considered nursing school I used index cards to make flashcards. I learned in college the best way to use the index cards was after each class while going over the material presented. I made my cards from the lecture. At any desk, I sit at I always have at least one pack of index cards.
#1 Information in pieces
The information represented on the card shows a small section. I never had a card that was so filled writing was wedged into corners. If you find yourself doing that, then break up the information on to multiple cards. The cards allow the student to take a subject and dissect the data. The act of breaking the pieces up can make the information more tangible to the student. When utilizing the cards during a study session, the data is then absorbed in the small bits. If you, the student, are not grasping concepts fully, this building up of information allows the student to identify where the gap is in understanding. Abling the student to seek out help or concentrate more on a specific topic.
#2 Arranging the information
The cards and knowledge become a tangible item. When you look at a sheet of paper with the notes arranged in a list format down the page. The information is viewed at as a whole, and each one is more of a task to accomplish. When the data is on the cards, you are able to focus on the one piece of information at a time. The information when reviewing the cards in a physical medium is sorted. During a study session, I would review, cards that are readily known placed into one pile, information that is less known put in a second collection. The second pile, after considering all the cards were the ones that were further study and review. Being able to review the information that needs to be learned. This allows the student to focus, instead of learning information that is already known. The physical form of the cards allows sorting and resorting to maximize the learning and understanding of the lecture material.
#3 Easy to take everywhere
The easy carrying of the cards allows this study method to be brought anywhere. The cards can be used in line at the grocery store or waiting for a doctor’s appointment, it indeed becomes an easily accessible study session somewhere, anytime. During nursing school, I worked as a cashier at a retail store. In between checking out customers, I was able to take out my cards and review the material of the lecture. The ability to study the material at work gained me hours of study time that I might not have had if I wasn’t given the accessibility of the index cards as flashcards. The flash cards I would study them in the library efficiently pack them up, or review them before class. The cards allowed for studying anywhere. I didn’t have to worry about lugging around a massive pile of textbooks or notebooks. The cards for quickly picked up and promptly put away. Several students would study from the books, they would make study guides, everyone had their own way of studying for nursing school, some students would take pride in a study area that took 10 minutes to set up and unload everytime they wanted to review material.
#4 Memorization
Flash cards are also a great tool when you have to memorize information. What I would do in studying and remembering the material, with a fresh pile of cards pick up about 3 to 5 cards, read through them, memorize them, pick up another 3 to 5 cards, review the information on the new cards and go through the new pile of cards. Studying the cards in this fashion allows you to review the information multiple times but also fully memorized what is on the card. To this day as a nurse, I find information that I haven’t seen since nursing school and somehow, I am able to recall facts without knowing that I knew that information. Reviewing the information on the cards and memorizing allowed a significant amount of data to remain in my long-term memory.
#5 Multiple study methods
The best part about the cards is that there are multiple ways to study with them. Using them as a device to memorize, being able to sort them out to review information, and indeed research and utilize them in whichever way or fashion you as the student would want to study. Using flashcards allows the student to focus in on the information and concentration on the gaps of knowledge to be able to review. The information on the cards can be used as a game, straight study session, and information that can be categorized. Every student learns differently no two people are going to acquire knowledge or process it the same and the cards give a sense of flexibility.
I personally prefer to use an actual index card to make flashcards, there are several apps and several websites that will make a digital flash card. Quizlet is one app that is available on the phone as well a website. I used this app for one semester. The app was great, it still had a lot of the flexibility of being able to pull it out and use it wherever whenever. But for me, the highlight of using index cards was able to hold the information, to be able to keep the cards, to be able to physically sort them. Whereas, the app it was digital. Quizlet, the website, does allow you to print the information on to a physical medium. The app also will configure quizzes and other tools for studying using the information that is inputted into the website or app. I prefer the actual physical cards but the app and the website were great you can have an account and use both go from one to the other which is great and useful. A classmate of mine used this site throughout nursing school and absolutely loved it.