You don’t have to read too far into the CSW exam study guide to find out that you’re going to have to
So, that poses the question of how to cram everything inside your noggin. Well, I think I’ve hit upon a way to help.
Anki to the Rescue
Anki is both a mobile and desktop flashcard app. It capitalizes on the concept of active recall testing to create the neural connections that will help you remember the data.
Don’t let the app fool you. Sure, it looks like an older Windows 3.1 program, but it’s powerful and intuitive to use. The best part is that you can study anywhere.
How Anki Works
The tedious part is creating the flashcards. There are free sets that people share in a host of topics. I prefer making my own from scratch to speed up the memorization process with some extra study time.
I’ve grouped my cards by the chapters in the study guide. It’s tempting to break down a topic like France into the main regions. However, you’ll likely remember the info in context because there aren’t a lot of cards in each set.
A better way is to put all the France cards together and add a separate field for region. You can also use tags. That way, when you test yourself, you’ll recall the actual info instead of the context of the nonrandomized questions.
You can get fancy and customize them too if that helps. The one thing I would suggest is installing the United States International keyboard to keep the spelling correct as you go through the different languages.
These keys become inactive until you hit the accented letter after it. The available ones are:
- ‘ single quote becomes á
- ” double quote becomes ü
- ` grave accent becomes è
^ caret (Shift-6) becomes ô- ~ tilde (Shift-) becomes ñ
It goes back to its original use if you hit it twice. It’s not the most user-friendly way, but it gets the spelling right. Which brings me to another point.
Respecting the Language
I also have used Google Translate to learning pronunciations too. As I’ve been studying Burgundy, I’ve learned the correct way to say Puligny-Montrachet instead of insulting the French with an Americanized way.
The next thing I need to tackle is a better way to memorize the geography.