Being organised and ordered with your studies and notes has been proven to aid memory retention. Having access to clear, concise and straight to the point notes is a massive advantage for any student at all stages of the year but particularly during the countdown to exam time.

Revision flashcards are among the best ways of presenting the fruits of your labour in a simple, go-to fashion. Flashcards are compact and leave no room for waffle; to create a good one you must have a comprehensive knowledge of what is you are wishing to summarise. Here are a few things to remember while creating your personal flashcards:

1. Brief Heading.

Your heading for each point should be short and simplified, avoid waffle and any long-windedness at all costs. This heading should be very easy to remember, so use everyday terms, you want to use your energy to remember the content, not the heading!

2. What to Include.

Flashcards should be used for short and specific material such as definitions, laws, theories, statistics and facts. The idea is to have this information on hand to refresh memory, therefore, avoid large-scale content such as essay-writing and long-answer questions.

3. Use Your Own Words.

Do not transfer content from a textbook to a flashcard. This defeats the entire purpose. If you can't write the content onto the flashcard in your own words and in a simplified manner it means you do not have a comprehensive enough knowledge of the topic.

You will only remember the content if you can write it in your own words as opposed to trying to learn it off a flashcard as opposed to a book!

4. Use Contrasting Colours.

Research has shown that our brains can associate colours and particularly contrasting colours with the content recently learned. By writing your title in one colour e.g. red and your content in another colour e.g. blue you are more likely to recall the information. Having contrasting colours will also make it easier to find particular information when under pressure!