That's it! You're now ready to start reviewing.Ĭlick Again if you had no idea and need to see the word again in the same session.Ĭlick Good if you had some idea of the definition or had to take a while to recall it.Ĭlick Easy if you knew the definition right away. Now simply double click on the downloaded file and the entire deck will automatically be imported into Anki. So let's download the shared deck so that you can get started right away. If you do find the need to learn more words, feel free to search for a shared deck that is more comprehensive. Your time is probably better spent reviewing concepts and doing practice exams. Sure, memorizing thousands of words is ultimately better, but the returns would be less and less. Students of mine have memorized all 400 (well, there's actually 405 in the deck) in as little as 2-3 weeks, 15 minutes per day. Why 400 words? The SAT will test you on much more but I've found that 400 is the perfect dose to get the greatest score improvement with the least amount of effort. My students have used the other shared decks but they are either too overwhelming (with thousands of words) or riddled with typos and bad definitions. Definitions are as student-friendly as possible and each card also includes the part of speech and the percentage of times the word has shown up in past released exams. Luckily for you, I have made a free deck for everyone containing the top 400 words (using an outside analysis of over 60 released exams). The next step is to either import someone else's deck or write your own. After you've installed it, open it up and you should have a blank slate with just the "Default" deck. Getting Startedįirst, download Anki for your computer at No peeking at the definition like you would on a wordlist.Īnki can be used and synced with any computer or phone, so you have easy access to your daily flashcards wherever you are. Either you can recite the definition or you can't. If you're particularly ambitious, you can configure that setting to a higher amount or review more often than once per day.Īnki's flashcards force you to be honest with yourself. That way, you're maximizing your time with unfamiliar words while still maintaining a connection with the ones you've done.Īnki sets the amount of words you review each day so you know when to stop and you won't feel guilty about it. While it does takes repetition at regular intervals for our brains to fully process and store information, Anki makes this ridiculously easy. Words that you already know will show up the least often while words you struggle with will show up more frequently. Sorry, there just isn't a way to just look at a word once and remember it forever. Numerous research studies have found that the best way to remember something is to regularly encounter it just as you're about to forget it. It's based on a complex algorithm that gets closer and closer to timing your brain's memory based on your responses. Meet AnkiĪnki is a spaced-repetition software that manages flashcards and presents them to you at the optimal time. Or thinking you know the definitions when you really don't.įortunately, there's a free program that solves all those problems and makes the whole process of memorizing things as painless as possible. Then there's the problem of going over words you already know but you're not sure you know. In fact, it's so overwhelming that most students either give up after a certain point or don't start at all. There's nothing more intimidating than pages upon pages of SAT words and their definitions. And when you do stop, you feel guilty for not studying more. There are several things that make stacks of flash cards and gigantic lists extremely ineffective. Wasting time flipping through words you already know. Stacks of flash cards sprawled out across the desk. When you look at what some students go through to cram some vocab in their heads, it's no wonder most students don't bother. Why I Don't Like Physical Flash Cards and Lists It's also probably the single most painful thing to do when studying for the SAT's. If you've read this previous post, you should know that the single most important thing required to do well on critical reading is to memorize vocabulary.
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