Howdy! As a major flashcard advocate, I can tell you that a lot of the instructors used them at Sun all the time -- not just for exams but especially for coming up to speed on any new technology fast, especially where there were a ton of details. I keep every set I've ever made; I have about 280 for Jini and another 250 for
EJB filled with all the picky little facts ranging from exact syntax to method signatures to fully-qualified class names to port numbers. They are a life-saver. And let's say that I do not teach a particular course for some time and I'm rusty -- I just pull out my flashcards again; much quicker than trying to read through my book and notes.
Basically, anything I want to memorize. So they have almost nothing to do with understanding something (well, indirectly they do) but they are excellent when you need to have the facts memorized without thinking about it.
We used them in our certification prep classes all the time, having the students make them for each other and then grill each other.
The two best things about flashcards are:
1) Making the flashcard is at least HALF the benefit. Once you have gone through the process of deciding what would make a good flashcard, and then putting down the right answer, you might not even NEED the flashcard much.
Making the flashcard engages a different part of your brain than reading or listening. It gets your brain to work more deeply than just writing notes, too.
2) You can take them EVERYWHERE. Wrap a rubber band around them and carry them with you.
Flashcard Types:
1) A simple question on one side and the answer on the other.
Q: What is the return type of Integer.valueOf() ?
A. (I'll leave that for you ; )
2) A class hierarchy diagram
Throwable
|_ Error
|_ Exception
|_ IOException
|_ RuntimeException
|_ ...
These won't have a question and answer, they're just for you to study from.
3) A fact you want to remember that isn't necessarily in the form of a question (Alex)
"Don't forget that for dynamic code downloading the client MUST have a security manager..."
They're great!!
cheers,
Kathy, CFT
(Certified Flashcard Technician)