Ice skaters remember the time spent hugging the wall. Arms on the rail, sliding and catching before a fall. They will also remember that it is only possible to learn how to skate by letting go of the wall. Falling, failing, is a natural part of the learning process. Just as using SRS to study for classes is a new frontier, it is also necessary to let go of the traditional study methods to go anywhere.
Khatzumoto at AJATT briefly brought up the idea of letting go of the wall in regards to using monolingual dictionaries to learn languages. It can also be applied to using SRS in general to memorize material.
The first time I began to use SRS seriously to study for courses I tried it for one class out of the four. After 2 weeks I realized I learned information much faster and easier than the methods I used before. Immediately I switched all of my courses to SRS and spent the semester developing the techniques I share on this website.
SRS has been called a ‘quiz tool’. It may seem like a tool to review information after it has been earned through the blood, sweat, and tears of forcing information into the mind using traditional methods. However, the SRS review itself builds the memory. Instead of passively looking through material and having an ambiguous acknowledgement of the material as learned, the SRS gives a definite "correct" or "try again." This active learning is strong and is made efficient by the algorithms running in the background of the SRS.
To realize the full potential of SRS the old ways must be abandoned. Holding onto the wall will earn frustration and partial benefits. Using SRS the first few times will be confusing and making cards will be new. Eventually, and sooner than expected, it will become a fun art to make cards and review the SRS. Each class requires different types of cards and it is fun figuring out how to design the cards to make the new memories most effectively.
I still believe in doing practice problems for classes. The practice problems can even be put into the SRS. However, the memorization necessary to complete the problems should come from SRS cards.
There are a million ‘but-’s and ‘what if-’s that could be used as an excuse. I took the jump because I knew if the method failed I would only have a slightly lower grade on one exam. I came to realize my grades were the same or better, only with SRS it took far less time, effort, and stress to study for the exams. Readers of this website have the benefit of seeing the models of cards I developed to study for courses to be most effective. This will save a lot of time figuring out how to effectively build cards.
Let go of the wall, dive right in.
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