#notesthetics

[cajucat]

cutting a corner when it comes to flashcards (literally)

After cutting my paper into the right size, I always take my scissors and cut out a small triangle of paper from the corner of my flashcards. There are two ways to do this:

Take your ruler and mark 1 cm. away from the edge two times (if you know what you mean)

or take another flashcard that already has the corner cut out and simply use it as a guide. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it actually does serve a purpose:

If you ever drop your flashcards, you have a quick and easy way to make sure your flashcards are all facing the same direction and right side up (try it; it really does work, but only if you cut only 1 corner. Any more and it doesn’t work)

If you only have 1 elastic band and you want to sort your flashcards, you can alternate between right side up and upside down, instead of taking a marker and colouring the edge of your flashcards.

[cajucat]

formatting your notes/flashcards in a way that you can quiz yourself

write your notes in question/prompt format so that when it’s time to review, you can quiz yourself. This works really well, especially with those topics that you always forget or struggle to memorize. You can also use this for drawing diagrams and such.

For example, on one side of the page/flashcard, write,

Nutrients vs. Energy

and on the other side, under Nutrients, write

-matter

-finite

-must be recycled

and under Energy, write

-can enter the atmosphere

-lost as heat

If you need to be able to illustrate something on an exam, you can write

The Carbon Cycle

and on the other side, just write things that need to be drawn in your diagram, such as

-Photosynthesis

-Cellular respiration

-Decomposition

-Ocean processes (marine animals and ocean currents)

-Volcanic eruptions

-Forest fires

So when you’re reviewing and you reach The Carbon Cycle, you can do a quick sketch and when you’re done, you can see if you’ve missed anything easily.

Reminder to do this during the semester next time, not when exams are coming up and I realize that I need to revise