Page 1 of 1

Packet Study

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 7:40 pm
by Chef Curry
When I try to packet study, I go on quinterest, look up the answerline from the packet, and record clues/what they mean on Google Docs and index the answerlines after viewing all of the questions on the said answerline. I'm curious as to what methods others use. What have you found that works, and what doesn't?

Re: Packet Study

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 8:51 pm
by Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock
Almost the same thing, except I handwrite the clues on pieces of scrap paper.

Re: Packet Study

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 8:53 pm
by bajaj
Wikipedia isn't the worst resource to use in terms of supplementing what you glean from Quinterest and adding a bit more context to clues (assuming deeper levels of study aren't viable because of time crunches).

Re: Packet Study

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 8:54 pm
by heterodyne
This might not be effective, but I read the wiki page/easily accessible secondary source (Stanford philosophy, etc) for whatever the answerline is and make flashcards of all the individual clues (those that make sense in flashcard form, ofc.) Then, when going back over those flashcards, if I can't remember it, I go and read more about it again.

EDIT: I mean making flashcards of all the individual clues in the question, not wiki or wherever I read about it. This allows the card to act as a sort of trigger for whatever I read about the subject.

Re: Packet Study

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 8:59 pm
by Maury Island incident
I second what Ankush and Alston have been saying about reading secondary sources beyond the questions themselves. I feel like it gives me a lot more context for the clues in the questions and helps me remember the clues better. In addition, I have started flashcarding as a way of writing down what I studied and testing whether I actually remember it after the fact.

Re: Packet Study

Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 8:14 pm
by Lo, a momentary rabbit-stage
yeah, context is super important, especially for harder/earlier clues that you haven't heard 10-20 times just by existing in quizbowl. i've found that it's much, much harder for me to remember flashcards that I just straight c/p from quinterest rather than at least reading wiki/stanford enc / internet enc / enc mythica or something. It's also worth noting that if it's something you really know well, there's not much use flashcarding it.

This may be because my memory is not stellar, but I also find it useful to even convert some of the questions I write into flashcards (obviously, don't do this if your questions are going to be used in a tournament and haven't yet! flashcards are not secure) - when I'm writing about something I don't know a whole ton about, I'm definitely using new information that isn't always 100% retained.

Flashcards are incredibly useful, but in order to maximize their usefulness you should use them as ways to remember the studying you do with other techniques, not just to binary associate. This is also good because for, say, philosophy, it allows you to answer conceptual tus / bonuses and not just things that directly associate with your flashcards on the top 200 philosophers, or whatever.

going through a packet and turning all the interesting clues into flashcards after looking them up is also super helpful and something I /really/ wish i had more time to do before nationals