Ready-to-use flash cards

[Matthias Kleine]

Hi,

I started to learn for the SCJP exam whitch the book from Sierra/Bates. They suggest to learn with flash cards, so I started to write my own flash cards using a flash card software. However, as I am not the first person to learn for this exam, I thought there might be bunch of ready-to-use flash cards available somewhere in the web. Does anybody have some hints about that?

Best regards
Matthias

[Mark Spritzler]

Actually, there aren't any out there. There used to be one that was for sale, but that was for a long ago exam, like 1.2 or something.

Mark

[Bert Bates]

Hey Matthias,

When I was studying for the SCJP, Kathy made me make my own flash cards

It turns out that it's really better that way, because the act of making them becomes a key part of the learning process.

hth,

Bert

[Matthias Kleine]

Hi Bert and Marc,

thx for your answers. Of course I agree that one gets the most benefit when creating his own set of flash cards and learning material. However, as you all know, time is a very volatile stuff in the IT world, so I would prefer to find that material ready-to-use ;-). Unluckily, it seems I have no choice ... BTW Bert, thx for the nice book, which is my only hope to get the learning material during 1,5 months into my head. Because my voucher number expires at the end of may...

Best regards
Matthias

[Bert Bates]

You're welcome Matthias,

If your time is limited, spend a lot of it on this forum, then let us know how you did.

Good luck,

Bert

[James Collings]

Bert Bates wrote:You're welcome Matthias,

If your time is limited, spend a lot of it on this forum, then let us know how you did.

Good luck,

Bert

I'm sorry but this seems like a very backward way of thinking to me. It reminds me of a professor I had in college. He was low tech despite being a Computing prof and wrote huge volumes of text up on the white boards. He did it so fast that it was all you could do to keep up with the writing and never mind paying attention to what he was saying in class while doing it. A different professor took the opposite approach. He had 40-50 slide presentations which he provided PRIOR to the lecture the presentations covered. That way a student could take notes directly on the printed slides (printed 9 to a page) and focus on the ideas and any questions rather than require students to be copy machines.

In this case, if we had a body of pre-written flash cards, individuals could focus on making cards for our problem areas rather than bulk production stuff.

I understand what the fear is. The fear is that if we had good descriptive flash cards, who would need the book? Ideologically speaking, doesn't this remind you of DRM? Rather than let individuals decide what "Acceptable Use" is, lets just take away their rights to the material they purchase. Admittedly individuals will make individual decisions, not all of which will be ethical, but jeese guys, can't we work together to find a way that is acceptable to all parties? Couldn't there be an authorized Flash Card producer/manager? I'ld sure be willing to pay for something like that if the price is reasonable.

[Ruben Soto]

James Collings wrote:

Bert Bates wrote:You're welcome Matthias,

If your time is limited, spend a lot of it on this forum, then let us know how you did.

Good luck,

Bert

I'm sorry but this seems like a very backward way of thinking to me. It reminds me of a professor I had in college. He was low tech despite being a Computing prof and wrote huge volumes of text up on the white boards. He did it so fast that it was all you could do to keep up with the writing and never mind paying attention to what he was saying in class while doing it. A different professor took the opposite approach. He had 40-50 slide presentations which he provided PRIOR to the lecture the presentations covered. That way a student could take notes directly on the printed slides (printed 9 to a page) and focus on the ideas and any questions rather than require students to be copy machines.

In this case, if we had a body of pre-written flash cards, individuals could focus on making cards for our problem areas rather than bulk production stuff.

I understand what the fear is. The fear is that if we had good descriptive flash cards, who would need the book? Ideologically speaking, doesn't this remind you of DRM? Rather than let individuals decide what "Acceptable Use" is, lets just take away their rights to the material they purchase. Admittedly individuals will make individual decisions, not all of which will be ethical, but jeese guys, can't we work together to find a way that is acceptable to all parties? Couldn't there be an authorized Flash Card producer/manager? I'ld sure be willing to pay for something like that if the price is reasonable.

I respectfully disagree. The reason why its better to do your flashcards (or your own outlines) is because doing them takes time and effort, but it is the best way to ensure you actually understand the theory behind the phrases, instead of reproducing things like a record machine. Shortcuts usually don't pay off, and when they do they do so just in the short term. But if you want to spend several hundred hours producing a complete set of flashcards and then share the fruit of your labor freely, be my guest.

[James Collings]

Ruben Soto wrote:

James Collings wrote:

Bert Bates wrote:You're welcome Matthias,

If your time is limited, spend a lot of it on this forum, then let us know how you did.

Good luck,

Bert

I'm sorry but this seems like a very backward way of thinking to me. It reminds me of a professor I had in college. He was low tech despite being a Computing prof and wrote huge volumes of text up on the white boards. He did it so fast that it was all you could do to keep up with the writing and never mind paying attention to what he was saying in class while doing it. A different professor took the opposite approach. He had 40-50 slide presentations which he provided PRIOR to the lecture the presentations covered. That way a student could take notes directly on the printed slides (printed 9 to a page) and focus on the ideas and any questions rather than require students to be copy machines.

In this case, if we had a body of pre-written flash cards, individuals could focus on making cards for our problem areas rather than bulk production stuff.

I understand what the fear is. The fear is that if we had good descriptive flash cards, who would need the book? Ideologically speaking, doesn't this remind you of DRM? Rather than let individuals decide what "Acceptable Use" is, lets just take away their rights to the material they purchase. Admittedly individuals will make individual decisions, not all of which will be ethical, but jeese guys, can't we work together to find a way that is acceptable to all parties? Couldn't there be an authorized Flash Card producer/manager? I'ld sure be willing to pay for something like that if the price is reasonable.

I respectfully disagree. The reason why its better to do your flashcards (or your own outlines) is because doing them takes time and effort, but it is the best way to ensure you actually understand the theory behind the phrases, instead of reproducing things like a record machine. Shortcuts usually don't pay off, and when they do they do so just in the short term. But if you want to spend several hundred hours producing a complete set of flashcards and then share the fruit of your labor freely, be my guest.

Something weird happened when I was trying to post this earlier. Hopefully there won't be a double posting.

1. I can't agree with the idea that learning can't be made less painful without reducing it's effectiveness. I think it can even be fun, if the approach is right.
2. It seems like there is an assumption here that the person in question is not reading the study guide or that this is not enough. The book is for understanding the concepts. Flash cards are for memorizing the concepts and if they are written with the reasoning for the answers, I don't see a downside here. The questions here are, "Are they good flash cards?" and "Are you trying to cheat?". I have the study guide and I am reading it with gusto as should everyone. I don't believe that collaborative learning is cheating, though. Some people will "cheat", of course, but we know they always get their come-uppins in the end.
3. Producing your own flash cards, re-inventing the wheel, *IS* in my opinion wasting time being a copy machine. Why not use today's advanced learning tools? Flash card software these days can do great things like analyze your weak areas and optimize your educational experience. Why aren't we *for* that rather than against it? ..and what about questions or angles you've not even thought of and/or aren't even on the test but should be? The study guide authors could use such a venue as a crucible for new questions or new takes on old questions or other variants. Also, by not taking advantage of technology, aren't we depriving the Java community?

[Ruben Soto]

In principle I am not against much of what you say actually. The point I am trying to make is that a set of prepackaged flash cards might be of less use than you think (but perhaps I am wrong.) What I do like doing, personally, is writing down things that I don't understand and try to put down an explanation to rationalize everything and make sure I understand. I just don't like memorizing things, and perhaps that's why I don't think a comprehensive set of flashcards might be something I would enjoy. Personally, the best approach I have found to understanding how things in Java work is to code and try to find out why each particular thing is the way it is (aided when necessary by the API, the JLS, and other sources.)

But I still see merit in doing flashcards to some extent, and I understand why some people would like that. And like you say, there is no reason in not using any tools at your reach in order to learn. If I were you I would organize an initiative to start a collaborative project on this. Maybe you are on to something. But you can never replace reading a good book, regular trips to the JLS and the API documentations, and plenty of coding, with flashcards. As long as you just look at it as an addition to everything else I think it would be quite useful to some people.

[sudipto shekhar]

I agree with Ruben as I have made my own flash cards (which took time though) .Writing with the book closed,may be on a piece of paper or the flash card , is a very helpful and pretty good way to judge what you have understood from reading. Coding needs practice but even sometimes writing the codes itself on a piece of paper helps you remember things. I,personally never tried to find a ready-made/custom made flash cards (i never thought about it though) and believe me it has helped a lot and am sure it will help you too a lot James.
So many people are saying the same then there must be something in it, isn't it? Hope you understand the essence of making flash cards on your own. Rest is upon you. Enjoy preparing for SCJP and I am sure you are going to learn a lot.

Bye, have a nice time and all the best and enjoy