And you don’t get the advantage to learning and retention of having written the cards.
Having the cards doesn’t matter. Writing the cards matters.
^ Completely agree… Retention is one and you also get the much required writing practise as well!
you don’t think typing has the same effect as writing?
If I recall correctly, studies have been done that show that typing doesn’t have the same beneficial effect on retention as writing does. Alas, I don’t have any I can cite off the top of my head. (I know: I should have written them down.)
Agree with S2000 - writing the cards, then trying to write the answer out when going through the cards is SO MUCH more useful than just viewing a flashcard and trying to do it in your head. Something about writing it down makes it stick with you.
DON’T DO THIS - if you make each flash card full of a paragraph of information they will be impossible to memorize.
Stick to 1, maybe 2 formulas per flash card, or simple lists of terms.
I found if I loaded a card with an absurd amount of information it was nearly impossible to memorize it. They were the 5-10 cards out of the whole stack that I had problems with the week before the exam.
I think typing them out will be more passive learning because I can type without even needing to really comprehend what I am doing. I think writing out is more active in the transfer of knowledge. I can’t really prove this with statistical evidence, but that is just my opinion or at least what made me feel most positive.
That being said, one of my own colleagues took the LOS summaries, copied and pasted them into word and typed in his own notes and would just review those and he passed and I believe did very well.
Personally I like the writing process and then reviewing them. I had about 200 for each level. Some people had double that, which I think is highly excessive. I just wrote down key items and things I didn’t remember as well that I needed to learn.
For level 3 I do think doing the essays is a huge key as well.
I made flash cards only for the tricky things I discovered in my course of study. For other stuff I relied on the compact notes of Finquiz.