The estimated reading time for this post is 5 minutes
The Wonder of Tech welcomes back guest blogger Elizabeth Sexton who previously wrote Best Apps for Successful Students! Today she has written about Quizlet, a free service to help make studying more fun and efficient.
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Whether you’re a student studying for exams, a new driver who needs to study the rules of the road, a professional who needs to pass a certification exam, a student studying for a standardized test, or someone who wants to learn a new language, Quizlet can help you use your study time effectively. Quizlet is a free website and app designed to help you learn information quickly and efficiently.
As a high school student, like many, I am constantly asked to memorize massive amounts of information including terms for English, Mandarin Chinese, chemistry, history, and religion. Memorizing is not just for high school students, but often needs to be done in college and in the professional work force. Quizlet is a great website created by a student that allows people to actively engage themselves in learning in a manageable way.
How Quizlet Works
Quizlet helps you study by using flash cards, games, and quizzes. Quizlet tracks your progress to help you see what you have learned and what you need to study more. Quizlet is available in many different languages and includes images and audio prompts so you can learn through reading, viewing and listening.
You can make your own flash cards or use ones that others have created. Quizlet has thousands of card sets available for you to use for free. You can browse through sets by category or search using a specific term.
If you’re studying for standardized tests such as the SAT’s, LSAT’s or any other exam that’s part of the alphabet soup of the application process, check Quizlet for cards to help you study and prepare. You can also find Quizlet card sets to help you study for AP exams.
If you need to take a test for your professional certification, Quizlet has card sets that can help. Check out card sets for bar exams, medical exams, banking, CPA, insurance, teaching, engineering, computer science, real estate and many other professions.
Creating Flash Cards
Creating a new set is quite simple, the Quizlet website will guide you through creating a set of flash cards. You can add images, audio, special characters and other prompts to your flash cards to help you learn.
To make a new set, first pick which language you want to use. This is really helpful, because depending which language you pick, a floating window will pop up on the side that provides special characters that aren’t on a normal keyboard. For example, the chemistry language provides subscripts, exponents and arrows. The math language provides other symbols such as Greek letters, the percent symbol, geometry symbols and much more. The other languages are there for language course vocabulary sets where there are special tone marks or accents needed.
Quizlet makes creating vocabulary cards easy and quick. For common vocabulary terms, you can simply click on the “auto define” button to show definitions that others have used in the past.
You can also add images and audio to your cards. This is especially helpful for people who are more visual or auditory learners, because they can just associate a photo or sound with the term they are trying to learn.
Using Your Flash Cards
You can study with your Quizlet flash cards on the Quizlet website or using a mobile device. Once the cards are created you can use the website to study them. There is also an app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The website was built really well to work on the iPad interface as well. The cards can also be printed out.
Other Ways Quizlet Helps You Learn
In addition to flash cards, Quizlet uses other methods to help you learn.
• Speller – Listen to the term that Quizlet reads out loud and type the term on the other side of the card in to test your knowledge of the spelling.
• Learn – See the term, and type the word corresponding to the term being shown. This is one of the most helpful ways to learn terms that have to be memorized because you can only advance to the next term after successfully typing in the correct answer.
• Test – Let Quizlet generate a quiz made up of matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank, and true/false questions. These quizzes show how you might do come test day.
• Scatter – All of the terms and corresponding terms are scattered on the screen and you drag and drop the terms that go together. This is a good way to familiarize yourself with the different terms you are trying to learn.
• Space Race – This game tests your speed in answering the corresponding term to the word that is moving quickly across your screen. Space Race tests you to see if you really know your terms.
Availability
Quizlet is available as a free website and as a free app for:
Third-party apps are available for Kindle Fire and Android, Windows Phone, and Nook. You can also access Quizlet on your mobile device using their web app. (See, Web Apps: The “Other” Kind of Apps)
You can create card sets only on the website, but you can study your cards both on the website and apps.
The service is free and upgrades are available. You can get Quizlet ad-free for $15/year. A teacher’s edition is available for $25/year that lets you create ad-free cards for your students. See, Try a Kinesthetic Approach to Vocabulary: Greek and Latin Roots to learn how a teacher used Quizlet cards successfully to help her students learn.
Bottom Line
Quizlet has done a great job of making the process for creating flashcards user-friendly and flexible. I use Quizlet all of the time, because of its many options and ease of use. I am not very good am memorizing terms, but with Quizlet I have been able to remember equations, vocabulary, and other terms for my many subjects. If you’re looking for a new and more efficient way to learn, then try Quizlet, because it might make a huge difference in how easily and quickly you learn.
Do you like using tech tools to help you study? Have you ever tried Quizlet? Do you like the idea of adding audio and images to your flash cards? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Hi Elizabeth, and nice to have you back at Carolyn’s blog 🙂
Sounds so very interesting 🙂
Had never heard of Quizlet earlier than now, and was just thinking how much tech. has changed ever since we were kids. Had they had such apps and service when we were kids, I’m sure most of us would have done wonderfully well in our studies (maths especially!). I could never remember those equations and huge ways of solving problems. I saw the video and loved the easy way you can make learning so much of fun through Quizlet.
I would certainly be checking up their site after this, and though we do have a few services like these our end too but they are more of paid programs to help you learn your course better. And if this is free to join, I’m sure my kids are going to love it.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a nice week ahead, both of you 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, Liz did a great job with this article. I’m so glad she wrote an in-depth article about Quizlet because it’s such a useful tool for studying. I especially like that you can use it in different languages so people around the world can take advantage of this resource.
You’re right, it’s amazing that this service is free. There’s really no good reason not to use it if you have to study for an exam!
I hope your daughters find Quizlet useful, Harleena!
This sounds like an app I will need to help my 8 year old son to get ready for his end-of-year spelling test. I will be back with feedback. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Churchill, Yes, this tool can be used for people of all ages. I wish I had Quizlet a few years ago when I had to study international road signs when I was trying to pass my British driving test.
Good luck to your son on his spelling test, Churchill!
Hi Elizabeth and welcome back to Carolyn’s blog.
I’m SO glad I’m out of school but as I’ve mentioned to Carolyn numerous times while reading something cool she’s shared with us that I wish this stuff had been around when I was in school. I know, we are much more advanced now and I think this will just be that much more helpful for the kids today as they study. This is really a cool program. I just hope I’ll never have to use it. lol… If I did though I think I’d understand what I’m studying much better.
Thanks ladies for another very informative post on another really cool program. You guys have a great week.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, when we’re out of school we may think we’re done with exams, but you never know when you might have to study for something. My most recent exam that I had to study hard for was just a few years ago when I had to take a rigorous test for my British driving exam! I so wish I had had Quizlet then. International road signs can be very challenging to learn.
But I didn’t have Quizlet back then. There wasn’t even an iPhone or Android phone back when I took that test.
Imagine how much better we would have done in school with all these great tech tools, Adrienne!
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
I just tried it, not sure how useful it will be. I forget words and sometimes even their meanings, so it might be useful for reminding me. I do use some strange words sometimes though! I have just come back from an art gallery. I still have to transfer the photos from my computer. I have to review a exhibition, I think my photos might not be any good. The pictures were covered by perspex which tend to be more reflective than glass. I think I photographed my own reflection a lot of the time! I didn’t think I was going to make it to the top floor to see the exhibition. One staircase ran from the 1st lfloor all the way to the 3rd floor, no wonder I was out of breath.
I used one of you pictures on today’s blog post. I was better than some of the stuff I saw this afternoon! 🙂
Hi Mike, Yes, if you need to remember words or terms, Quizlet would be a wonderful resource for you. Hey, it’s free so why not give it a go!
I will head over to your blog soon. I got a notice from Talkwalker Alerts that you had mentioned me at your place. I’ve been working hard on a smartphone review today that will be published tomorrow. I thought of you as I was writing the review because the phone’s camera has so many cool features and filters.
Carolyn – How would I go about submitting a guest post?
Hi David, Thanks for your interest in submitting a guest post. You can contact me through the Contact link in the menu at the top of the page.
Thanks for the response. I’ll send you an email this afternoon.
Liz, mandarin Chinese? You’re a brave soul. I can say hello(Ni hao) and that’s about it. If Quizlet can make you learn Mandarin faster, then it’s got some real potential.
Hi Frank, Yes mandarin Chinese has been pretty challenging, but with Quizlet I have been able to memorize around twenty characters with their meaning and pronunciation per night. I’m not sure what I would do without Quizlet, it has been a great aid!
Yes, Frank, Liz is truly amazing. She is truly brilliant, brave and a great writer. Her enthusiasm for tech is matched by her knowledge and talents. We are very fortunate to have her here as a guest author!
Hi Carolyn,
Great guest post from Elizabeth, detailing a great resource.
I wish this was available when my kids were at school as I’d have been able to help them along instead of paying for extra tuition before their exams.
I saw you mention that it works for other languages, would it also work as a translation tool when travelling? Not that I do any myself 🙁
Isn’t it great that technology has moved on to help those that’re struggling with their exams. I wrote a post a while back about an accountant who disliked his career and started teaching kids maths. He realised that many needed extra tuition so set up a website to help them all, with their parents joining in.
Quizlet sounds like another fantastic tool that’ll help parents join in and make sure that their kids are up to scratch for the exams due.
I’ll be bringing this to my brothers attention as I know his Kids would benefit.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention Elizabeth.
Barry
Hi Barry, Yes, this tool is a fantastic, free resource for students and anyone else who needs to study. People may be more motivated to study if the process is fun and effective.
Yes, you could use Quizlet for translation, but apps and websites dedicated to translating languages would be more efficient.
That website set up by the accountant sounds very similar to InstaEDU, an online tutoring service I wrote about last fall: https://wonderoftech.com/instaedu-on_demand-tutoring/ I love that tech helps kids learn. These tech tools can make a big difference to the future for many students.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for this interesting blog post. Learning online with flash-cards… . I’ll check the website to see what is all about. You have used the program and worked with flash-cards so I would like to ask: can you compare flash-cards with infographics?
One more thing … . You said there is a possibility to print the flash-cards. How about downloading them? Can I download these flash-cards on my desktop computer?
Thank you for your time
Hi Silviu, You can upload photos to a flashcard. This way you could be prompted by a photo and say the corresponding term, or vice versa. You can export the flashcards to a PDF on your computer. The cards will be downloaded in flashcard format, so when you go to print them you just have to fold the cards in the middle and cut them. Hope Quizlet works for you!
Hi Silviu, As far as flashcards vs. infographics, you can see which one works best for you to learn. Quizlet is free, so you can see if it is a good fit for your learning style.
Hi,
Well, it’s nice to know that you have posted some up to date articles again. Anyway, Quizlet? Sounds an interesting app to have. I guess it’s time for index cards to be thrown out of the way since Quizlet has arrived. With the advancement of technology, it’s only fitting to have an app which makes everything easy and studying should be one of the benefactors of it. With this, I guess students would never complain again in terms of studying.
Hi Farrell, Yes, studying with index cards is definitely “old school” now. Studying with Quizlet is much more efficient and can help you learn in many different ways. How great that it’s free too!