I introduce the remaining rules quickly.
“Rule 1: Do not learn if you do not understand”: Do not try to memorize information which you do not understand. For example, if you do not know German, do not try to memorize the history textbook written in German. It takes much time, and the knowledge is useless.
“Rule 2: Learn before you memorize”: Learn the whole picture of knowledge before memorizing individual knowledge. The whole picture can be incomplete and rough. It is easier to memorize simple things than complete and detailed ones. After you memorized a rough picture, you can gradually refine it.
“Rule 3: Build upon the basics”: Pile up from the foundation. About basic matters, even if you feel that you understand them well, make them questions. If you really understand them, there is no actual harm as the review interval expands soon. Understanding is a hypothesis. The damage is greater when you feel you understand what you do not understand. Let’s quickly verify the hypothesis. This rule is strongly related to Rule 2. (*1)
“Rule 11: Combat interference”: Find and remove interference. Sometimes multiple cards interact and prevent each other’s memorization. For example, trying to remember similar English words like “adapt” and “adopt” at the same time, you may confuse and answer the meaning of the other word. In that case, you need to improve the cards or remove them. You may think that simply removing them makes it impossible to remember those words. However, you can not remember either unless you remove them. The result is the same. Japanese proverbs say, “If a person who follows two rabbits at the same time, he catches no rabbits.” If you can not improve the cards, you can only remove them.
For the rest of the rules, I introduce only the title here and not explain it in detail.
- “Rule 7: Use mnemonic techniques”
- “Rule 8: Graphic deletion is as good as cloze deletion”: It means the fill-in-the-blank question as a graphics.
- “Rule 12: Optimize wording”
- “Rule 13: Refer to other memories”
- “Rule 14: Personalize and provide examples”
- “Rule 15: Rely on emotional states”
- “Rule 16: Context cues simplify wording”: Make a wording simpler by using context hints.
- “Rule 17: Redundancy does not contradict minimum information principle” It is not inconsistent with the minimum information principle that redundant storage cards.
- “Rule 18: Provide sources”
- “Rule 19: Provide date stamping”
- “Rule 20: Prioritize”
- Footnote *1: As an example of the improvement, refer other memories such as the word “AC adapter” for computer power supply, and “opt” in “adopt” are “opt” in “option.”