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Supermemo for Windows]
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Pro: It Makes Learning Much Easier
With Supermemo, you only review the information you need to. Instead of plowing through hundreds of flashcards, you see only the ones you are in danger of forgetting. That saves tons of review time. For example, I have over 1,700 flashcards on my Palm Pilot--but Supermemo only shows me one to three dozen cards each day.
Con: It Still Takes Work
Okay, that's not a downside, it's propaganda. But it's still true: Supermemo isn't magic. You still need to study the material; you still need to decide what's important; you still need to be committed to learning and reviewing. All Supermemo does for you is schedule your review. But to me, that's a big load off my shoulders.
Pro: Guaranteed 90% retention of material
According to Dr. Wozniak, Supermemo calculates the right time to show you each flashcard so that you remember about 90% of the information at any one time. (Remembering 100% is possible, but the review schedule becomes impossibly hard. After all, forgetting is a natural process!) That means Supermemo should guarantee you scores of at least 90% on tests--as long as you put in all the material, and then use Supermemo faithfully.
My own experience bears that out. I started using Supermemo to study for the Oracle Database Administrator exams. I'm still preparing, but on the practice exams I'm scoring consistenly near 90%.
Con: Preferred by Techies and Men
Dr. Wozniak has compiled some statistics on Supermemo users, and apparently Supermemo requires a certain kind of personality. Women, artists, and humanities majors tend to hate it; men, scientists and engineers tend to love it. The idea behind Supermemo, just like Ben Graham's ``Value Investing'', apparently either hooks you in five minutes--or never hooks you at all.
Stick-toit-iveness seems to count for something too. About 60% of people who try Supermemo give up within the first two months. (I think that's no different than New Year's resolutions: how many last into March?) If you stick to it for two months, you're probably hooked for life.
Pro: Easy to Add Flashcards
Creating flashcards is easy with Supermemo. With a few keystrokes, or mouse clicks, or stylus taps, you've got a blank flashcard. Enter your question, enter the answer, and that's it! It's as fast as taking notes in a class. You can easily add flashcards as you work through your homework, while you review the book, or whenever.
Con: Not Enough Libraries
There aren't enough knowledge collections out there yet, so you'll probably have to do the work of making your own flash cards. That's okay; if you were using 3x5 cards, you'd still have to make your own. But it's a shame.
Exception: if you're studying English, or a European language (Eastern or Western), then there are probably some excellent knowledge bases out there for you. Go have a look at the Supermemo collection and see for yourself.
Note: Palm Version is Better
This isn't a pro or con, exactly, but I do prefer the Palm Pilot version by a wide margin. The biggest advantage of Supermemo (in my book) is its convenience. So the Palm Pilot version is better, because it's more convenient. It's a whole lot less powerful, but I seem to have no trouble flipping open my Palm while I'm stuck in traffic, at the bus stop, or wherever.
The Palm version is available at the same site, and costs less than the Windows version, too ($16 as opposed to $33). Still, you might want to consider buying the windows version, since it has more features like pictures and multimedia.
