Tips to get the most out of your study time!
(These apply to flash cards as well as word lists - however for the sake of
simplicity I am going to use word lists as an example)
Don't let lists go stale
Make sure you have a new list every few days. When you have the same list for
more than a week, you start getting sick of it. You won't want to look at it, and so
it does you no good.
You won't find yourself using the words right away
The lists are used to make you familiar with a given word. The word becomes an
acquaintance. You won't become friends with the word (where you use it all the
time and remember it perfectly) until you use it in sentences and/or hear it used
in songs, Anime, and video games. Just memorize a word until you can get it
right on a "quiz". Learning it for keeps comes later - when you review your old
lists. That's when you start to make the words permanent residents of your brain.
Keep old lists for review
They say you have to forget something 7 times before it enters your long-term
memory. That seems to be true in my experience. Most words make several
"word list" appearances before I know them like the back of my hand.
Don't make the lists too big
Everyone is different, but I'm sure many people get overwhelmed if they
perceive too much work ahead of them. If you have a list with 25 words, you
might not look at it if you only have a minute, thinking "I need at least 10
minutes to study this properly". That's a waste of the minute you had to study. It
would be better to break that list down into 5 mini-lists with 5 words each - on an
index card perhaps. After a lot of experimentation, I discovered that a list of
around 15-20 words works best. Try to make a new one every day or every other
day.
Many words have more than one English meaning - pick ONE!
Don't write down too many meanings at once. The more meanings you have
written down on your list, the more memorizing work you have, and you don't
need that right now. Try to pick one or two English meanings per word. If there
are many synonyms, get rid of all but one.
Example:
BAD:
sugoi - awful, incredible, amazing, cool, unbelievable
GOOD:
sugoi - amazing, cool
If there are other meanings associated with the word, add the word to your list
again later (with one of the other meanings).
Slow and steady is the best way to go
If you have a choice of studying 10 minutes a day, or 2 hours on the weekend,
choose the 10 minutes a day. Your brain is always working (even when you're
sleeping) so it's best to make use of your brain's power. I heard that your brain
files things away while you sleep - so it's a good idea to look at your word list
right before bed. I have done that for a month or so, and I've noticed results. I
take a brand new list and by the next day I already know most of the words. I
make sure I look over the list for about 3 or 4 minutes before bed.
