Want to Cut Your Study Time in Half? Here's How...

This method best works if there is a multiple choice test and all the answers must come from source text material. 

Supplies needed:  Your source text or texts, a writing instrument, flash cards and 3 rubber bands.  There should be a red rubber band, a yellow rubber band and a red rubber band.

Step 1.  Go through the source text and create flash cards on every little piece of information that could be asked.  

Step 2.  Go through your pile of flash cards and separate them into  2 piles.  One pile of the cards you got correct and other other pile is the pile you got wrong.  Place the green rubber band around the pile you got correct.

Step 3.  Immediately go through the pile you got wrong and again separate the cards into 2 piles of correct and incorrect.  This time, place a yellow rubber band around the pile you got correct after just having looked at it.  (This means, you can recall this pile from short term memory)  Place a red rubber band around  the pile you got incorrect.  This is the pile you can not cram for. 

Step 4.  Your top priority is to take a small number of index cards from the red pile (1 - 3 cards) and take them with you everywhere.  Review them while casually walking, standing in line or waiting at stop lights.   Once you can get the red cards correct after say a 4 hour break, put it in the yellow pile.  Work through your red pile diligently and exclusively until all the red pile goes into the yellow pile.

Step 5.  Only after you have worked through the red pile, should you address the yellow pile.

Step 6.  The day of the test or right before the test, flash the yellow pile several times and the green pile once.

Why this method works:  The green pile represents the facts you already have in long term memory.  It may feel good to flash the green pile because it will feel like you are successful but it will not help you improve your score at all.  The yellow pile is the maybe pile.  You can make educated guesses on this pile on the test.  The red pile represents questions you will definitely get wrong because you can not get it correct even when you just saw it!  Your time is best spent turning red cards into yellow first. 

Additional Instructions/Tips:  Only when you have no more red cards should you be attempting to turn yellow cards into green.  Yes, cards can change from green to yellow.  Go over the green cards maybe once every month to make sure you are not fooling yourself and if you get a green card wrong even once, put it in the yellow pile.  Yellow pile cards go into the green pile only after waiting a few days to look at them.  If you get them right on the first try, and you feel confident about it, put the card in the green pile.