Only flashcards

Hii,


I was wondering, would I be able to get 9s in Biology and Chemistry without making notes at all but instead make only flashcards on anki/quizlet? (Alongside doing pastpapers and questions). I really want to save as much time as possible in revision but at the same time want good grades.

I was wondering, would I be able to get 9s in Biology and Chemistry without making notes at all but instead make only flashcards on anki/quizlet? (Alongside doing pastpapers and questions). I really want to save as much time as possible in revision but at the same time want good grades.

You can get all 9’s with just flashcards. All the posts above are just waffle

Scientifically proven, flashcards are the best revision

tool. Everything else is irrelevant & a waste of time.

https://www.gwern.net/docs/spacedrepetition/1939-spitzer.pdf

As I’ve said, all the posts are irrelevant. Do active recall/flashcards I barely make notes.

The posts above and the guy that said I’m talking rubbish has little to 0 IQ, and has no idea what’s he talking about

""

Papers? These are scientifically proven and accredited studies. They are documented for individuals like you

So go have a read, since you had time to write a whole paragraph of waffle

Wow, thank you for all of the replies! I will take all comments into consideration and try finding the method that suits me most!

If you don't have any notes, what will you refer to in order to ensure you haven't missed anything?

The general question of "can I get X grade in Y subject by only doing Z" is impossible to answer. It depends on many factors, including whether the method works for you, whether you cover everything, whether you actually do well in the exams, and so on. We also can't predict the future, and even if someone else has been successful that's no indication you will be successful. The best measure will be when you start doing mocks and past papers. If your method works, you should be getting top grades. If you're not, that's a good sign maybe your method is not sufficient. If you're just using flashcards, and not even using past papers for revision, odds are it isn't going to be sufficient.

From a more general perspective, there are no shortcuts. You can absolutely try to save time, but it's unlikely you'll get good grades without also putting the effort in. There's no magic formula, if you put the right kind and amount of effort in, you'll get the results. Initially writing up your notes should not really take up a substantial amount of time, if it is you may be writing too much in your notes. In the long run, consider how much time you save by not writing notes, vs the impact that will have. You don't have to write notes, but consider the impact of putting in a few hours to do so, vs not having an easy "all in one" guide to your subject for future reference.

IMO, when we're talking about top grades notes are incredibly beneficial. They act as a sort of checklist for everything you should know, which gives you a chance to identify what you're missing. If you're writing notes and find you don't know something, or even worse something is outright missing from your notes, catching that and doing something about it is imperative to getting top grades. You may or may not be able to do that with other methods. I personally wouldn't be able to look at a set of flashcards and confidently say "yes, they cover all the material I could possibly need".

Thank you a lot for your opinion! However, I have seen pretty good premade notes like the ones pmt land save my exams, so do you think it be more inefficient to use those as opposed to writing my own?

Depends what angle you look at efficiency from. If you're looking at it from a "how much time I have to invest making notes" perspective, then obviously using premade notes saves you a lot of time. It's efficient in that sense.

However, there's quite a few benefits to creating your own notes. They'll be in a format more suitable for you. You can pay extra attention to areas you personally need to focus on. Writing your own notes is itself a form of revision, and will use more of your brain than simply reading some premade notes. And so on.

I'd say it's absolutely fine to use other notes as a reference, but it's going to be more beneficial for you to create your own notes. They're supposed to be your notes to help you after all, and you can personalise them however you wish. You could of course start with someone else's notes and highlight or add to them, but at that point you might as well start from scratch and write your own. There is of course also a risk that premade notes are wrong, whereas at least what you get from the textbook is direct from source. But really this is going to come down to how much value you personally get out of writing the notes. Personally, writing my notes was often sufficient to remember something but that's not the case for everyone. You may in fact do much better by using someone else's notes as a base, and making changes to suit you. Maybe that's how you learn, and we can't really tell you one way or the other there. Do whatever you feel most helps you.

To be honest, notes are a waste of time in my opinion. Repeatedly write out what you’re learning until you can write it out on a flash card without referring to anything and then do exam questions. Active recall and therefore doing exam questions and flash cards or blurting is way better than just making notes.