Occasionally when I was a student, the teacher would let everyone make a notecard to use during the test.
Great, I thought, I don’t need to study because I can put everything I need to know on the notecard.
So, the night before the exam, I would gather key facts and formulas, or names and dates, and squeeze them onto the little notecard.
Then, when it came time to take the test, I put the card on the corner of my test and began the exam.
And without fail, I never needed it.
Writing is Studying
It turns out, the teacher “allowing” us to use a notecard tricked us into studying effectively. Just making the notecard got the information to stick in my brain so well that I didn’t need to look at it during the test.
Most students “study” by looking over things but never writing, which is a problem because writing is a powerful study technique. It’s physically active and effortful, which sends a signal to your brain that what you’re trying to learn is worth remembering. So, by getting everyone to write a notecard, the teacher was getting us to study better.
Filtering
Just as important was the thinking that went into choosing what to write on the notecard. This forced me to sift through all of the things I’d learned, filtering the essential from the trivial, and writing down only those things that mattered most. In order to do that effectively, I needed to first understand the big picture, which is something students often fail to do.
It’s common for students to get lost in the details of a topic and never grasp the main ideas. When this happens, they study everything rather than the things that are actually important, which is overwhelming and inefficient. My usual advice for overcoming this problem is to start with a summary, but thoughtfully making a notecard works too.
Make One Anyway
Most of the time, teachers don’t allow you to use a notecard on the test. But as my experience shows, the value of a notecard isn’t in the having it’s in the making.
Regardless of how else you study for the exam (and you should use other techniques as well), you’ll benefit from making a notecard. So even though you won’t get to use it on the test, make one anyway.
Compare Notes
If you have a friend in the class, you can both make notecards independently and then compare them. Odds are, there will be some differences. Fill in each other’s gaps, and both of your notecards will become better.
You can also take your notecard to the teacher on one of the days leading up to the exam, show it to them, and ask what you’re missing. This is a great version of asking what’s going to be on the test.
Recall and Rewrite
Once you have a satisfactory notecard, it’s time to move to the recall phase of studying. Take out a blank notecard and brain dump what you think the original notecard says. This forces your brain to practice retrieving the information, which is exactly what you’ll have to do during the test.
Then compare your new notecard to the original and fix any mistakes you made.
Later, do it again because spaced repetition strengthens memory.
Once you can remember it all, you don’t need the notecard anymore.
Studying for a Final or an AP Exam?
Make one notecard per unit.
Chris Loper has been working as a tutor and academic coach since 2014, racking up over 13,000 hours of experience supporting students.
Along with Greg Smith, Chris is the co-creator of Parenting for Academic Success, a series of classes that create empowered parents, confident students, and harmonious families.
Chris writes the popular self-improvement blog Becoming Better, where he also offers habit coaching, helping busy adults with habit formation and productivity.
Chris’s most recent endeavor combines his academic and habit-formation expertise to help students thrive in college. Visit SmartCollegeHabits.com to learn more.
In 2021, he published a humorous memoir titled Wood Floats and Other Brilliant Observations, a book that blends crazy stories with practical life lessons.
He lives in Issaquah, WA, where he is the owner of South Cove Tutoring.