#howtostudyhistory

[sorcierstudies]

Revision Notes My first step to studying history is making revision notes that summarize the material I’m learning. I aim to write around one point per paragraph but I rarely do that :’) Realistically, I write around 4-5 points. (whoops!) One trick I use to make myself truly distill the material is by pretending the bullet point I’m making is going to go on a flashcard. (Which it is anyway!) This way, I remember that I don’t want to distill the information again for the flashcards part. 

Flashcards This is actually a recent thing I started to do when studying for history. On one side of the flashcard, I would write the paragraph title or the general gist of what the content is about. On the other side, I have the bullet point(s) from my notes summarized even further. After creating the flashcards, I practice retrieval from both sides. If I’m using physical flashcards, my process for reviewing is the same as the learn mode on Quizlet. The learn mode is simply get it right twice. It’s quick, easy, and I learn a lot. When using digital flashcards, my favourite site to use is Quizlet. I use different modes depending on how much time I want to spend studying and the depth of the material. Flashcards are extremely helpful for remembering the dates of key events, main ideas, or key people. 

Mind map For the longest time ever I didn’t understand the point of mind maps. They were just too confusing?? I decided that I would try to make a mind map for the history topics. The topics were just too confusing and a mind map helped me see where they connected. I also used my mind map as a guide for my ‘blurts’. You can see one of my mind maps here. 

Blurts Blurts are when I see a topic name/paragraph title and I blurt out everything I know about the topic. Blurts can really help you see the gaps in your knowledge. 

Timelines This is self-explanatory when it comes to history. There’s just so many random dates and having it in chronological order is really helpful. 

This is just my way of studying for history. Of course, it’s best to experiment with what works best for you when studying if you can. You can see I experimented a bit by trying out flashcards and mind maps. The end result: a more effective way to study for me!