Description of my vocabulary notebook and system for improving my vocabulary

When I started studying the Porter vocabulary for the first Progress Check, I found it extremely annoying to look at the computer screen for hours as the vocabulary.com website only existed on the internet. Generally, I’m the type of person who takes down everything on a sheet of paper because I can’t really study from computer screens.  That’s why I decided to write the words and their definition down. It cost me an enormous amount of time but it helped me personally to study the Porter words better. 

Now that there is already the second Progress Check getting closer, I have developed almost a perfect strategy to study the Porter vocabulary. As we have to study five units for the next PC, I elaborated one unit on a day which I think is a doable pensum. In this way, it took me five days to study the five Porter units.

I followed the same clear strategy every day: Firstly, I did the exercises in the Porter book. Secondly I highlighted the words which were new to me and the ones which were given (meaning the ones which we have to fill in the gaps or chose as the correct answer). Thirdly, I created for each unit a vocabulary list on the vocabulary.com website. This was quite simple because I only had to type in the words I needed and then dragged them to my list. Fourthly and lastly, I created vocabulary lists for each unit in a Microsoft Word document, which cost me most of the time of all those steps already mentioned. I simply copied all the words, their definitions and sample sentences into a spreadsheet in a Word document. 

While working on the creation of the vocabulary lists, I think I already learned a great deal about the vocabulary and their definitions. I can recommend this strategy of mine to everybody who is tired of staring at computer screens.  (Of course, the computer screen can’t be completely be avoided as one first has to create the vocabulary lists on the computer, but once having printed them, studying the vocabulary is a lot more convenient. ;) )

In this way, I don’t really have a vocabulary notebook, but a vocabulary folder where I keep all the sheets printed with numerous vocabulary lists and also the ones I wrote down for the first PC.  When I revise the words which I ‘ve already learned and I don’t remember some of them anymore, I highlight them and keep revising them until I know their definition.

( Generally, I can say that I have been trying to improve my vocabulary by taking down words and expressions which occur in the English courses and are new to me.)

Studying and elaborating the Porter words is always a big amount of work. I hope that I will pass the second Progress Check and will be rewarded for my effort.