Learning Vocabulary
Learning vocabulary is one
of the two most important things you can do to prepare for your real estate
license exam (the other is getting lots of practice answering questions). There are three ways that this can be done
effectively. The most effective way is
to have someone quiz you, and its really effective if it’s someone who likes
torturing you. They can quiz you from a
textbook glossary. In one study
session, they should always give you the word or term, and you would give the definition. In the next study session, they should read
the definition and you would give them the term or word. The person quizzing you should also jump
around, so you are not getting the terms in any kind of order. If you get one wrong, they should keep
coming back to that (after about ten words), so you have to get it right before
they will stop asking you. This forces
you to learn the term.
The next most effective way
is by using flash cards. Then you can
inflict the same type of punishment on yourself, without someone’s help, er, I
mean, then you can utilize the same techniques to learn the vocabulary on your
own. Some books have flash cards
included, or you can make them on your own.
If you are making them on your own, you should start early, as this will
be time consuming if you do it all at once.
When you are using flash
cards, go through the entire stack every time you study (if you don’t have that
much time, going through some of the terms is better than not doing it at
all). Keep the terms or words all
facing one way, and the definitions all facing the other way. The first time you go through, look at the
terms and guess the definition. The
next time you go through, look at the definition and guess the term. Then, the next time, go back to looking at
the term or word first. Every time you
study, alternate from the way you did it in the previous study session. There are two different thought processes
involved with learning the vocabulary each way.
As you go through the stack
of flash cards, if you get one right, you can put the card aside. If you get it wrong, put the flash card back
in the stack, either at the bottom, or somewhere in the middle, so that that
card can’t leave the stack until you know the definition of that word. The next time you study, start with the
entire stack of flash cards again.
Periodically mix the cards up, so that you are not learning words in a
certain order.
The last way of studying is
to do it straight from the glossary.
Here you can utilize the same technique that you did with the flash
cards. The main disadvantage is that
you can’t change the order that you are learning the terms, and you may have a
tendency to learn things alphabetically, but struggle a little when you see the
word by itself.
Start at the beginning of
the glossary, and completely cover the page with a piece of paper (thick enough
so you can’t see through it). If the
glossary has more than one column, use two pieces of paper, so the second or third
column remains covered while you are doing the vocabulary in the first
column. Look at the first word, look up
and guess the definition. After you
guess, slide the cover down just far enough to see if you are right. Now here’s the thing you won’t like, but it
will really make you learn your vocabulary.
If you get one wrong, start all over again (see there’s a reason my
“General Quiz” is so annoying). Don’t
just guess the one word again. For this
to work, you have to go through ALL of the vocabulary up to that point
again. If you get through any page,
without any mistakes, three times, then you don’t have to go back to that page
until the next time you study. If you
are pressed for time, instead of going back to the very beginning, just go back
to the beginning of the page you are working on, although this will be a little
less effective.
Every other time you study,
cover the entire page and slide the cover up to reveal the definition. Then look up and guess the term. This has the same effect as flipping your flash
cards over.
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