Last Updated on July 31, 2019 by Dr M
A couple of months back I had one of those “how can you help me?” calls, which didn’t turn out as I hoped.
The caller mentioned that she’d failed her morning papers in the ABPI exam, despite reading the learning manual from cover to cover, and despite using her highlighter pen until it ran dry.
The minute I heard this, I knew I could help her…..
Pity I never got the chance.
Not sure why, but one way or another, I failed to convince her with my “pitch”, and even worse, I failed to follow up. What can I say? Only that I’m working on it. Otherwise, I’d have told her to chuck the highlighter, since relying on this as a way to recall your learning is unlikely to be as effective as you might think [1].
Have you tried flash cards instead? Practising with flashcard sets (with terms on one side and their definitions on the flip side) boosts your memory, improving your recall of the human body systems you need to know for your ABPI exam.
Even if you’re already a fan of paper flashcards, using an app extends your ability to test yourself, which boosts active recall (i.e. tests your ability to remember a concept or fact).
Most flashcard apps allow you to take your pick of ways to test your recall, ranging from: mix and match, multiple-choice, true/false, and even written answers.
But, I’d be careful with this last option, since some apps need one-word answers to score correctly.
Compared to creating your own handwritten cards, these apps help you to turn your learning activity into a game, which appeals to most of us, and especially to those competitive souls cut out for a career in sales. Having a flashcard app on your phone means you can also practice while waiting between appointments, rather than lugging around a mountain of paper cards.
So, if you want to save yourself time, learn more terms, and do practice tests, then do yourself a favour by using a flashcard app. For example, the one I use – Quizlet – lets you personalise your study sets by uploading your own images, removing ads, and even recording your own voice.
Alternatively, you could just start with a ready-made set of flashcards based on units 2, 3 and 4 of the ABPI exam learning materials, written by me.
Get ACCESS to almost 600 flashcards created exclusively for my tutees in Quizlet.
And, if you’ve got a minute, please leave me your questions, or thoughts on using flashcards or anything else about the ABPI exam in the comments below.
Have fun,
Marie.
P.S. Get more tips, FREE lessons and updates on offers HERE.
[1] http://ideas.time.com/2013/01/09/highlighting-is-a-waste-of-time-the-best-and-worst-learning-techniques/