There are many ways to learn effectively, but over the course of my career, I find that using flashcards and testing myself rapidly is my most favored exercise. I did it in high school to learn SAT words, and I tried to help my sister learn with flashcards by taping flashcards all around our family's home so that she would flip one over every time she passed by the kitchen, the bathroom, etc., and do these mini-tests. My high school self thought that this flashcard method was too primitive, that eventually I'd acquire some more advanced technique, but alas it is the method that still works as an adult, and probably one I have to rely on until Elon Musk's promised "Neuralink" technology allows everyone to just inject chips into their brain and learn everything instantaneously (not too far off in the future apparently). Until then though, the hard work and perseverance required through flashcards still gives me pride and pleasure of knowing that I did something the "old school way." Flashcards are like bricks towards a destination, mastering each one is like paving a brick towards a destination far off in the distance, many many bricks away, but you know if you keep laying these bricks they'll eventually provide a safe and secure way to get there. It's actually one of the activities where I accept and encourage failure, because getting the question right means I knew it already, I didn't gain anything from this card, but failure equals opportunity to learn something new, kind of exciting actually. This "test through failure" method helped me especially to learn languages, lots of volume going through sheets and sheets of words every day to hopefully get them to stick in my mind.
Recently MJ and I have been addicted to Jeopardy, and after we inevitably run out of episodes to watch I think we will use the excellent resource J-archives: it's like a flashcard of all-time Jeopardy questions and answers. The questions are displayed like on the show, and then if you click on the box, the answer appears. My favorite format of challenging my brain with something ("Pop Quiz!"), making it work for the answer, and then when it gives up after not getting it, hitting it with the right answer. For some reason, whether because I inherited genes of prideful people who don't like getting things wrong or my naturally competitive nature (don't want to lose to an artificial enemy), I strive to make sure I don't get it wrong again, and then feeling the power of the knowledge coursing through my body, I strive on to the next one.
Note: MJ doesn't seem to use flashcards as much, I think she has more advanced non-Neuralink secrets!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment