One thing I like to do is write down key phrases (and numbers) on a piece of paper that I can look at and study quickly without trying to flip through the phrasebook.
I also write down my own pronunciation guide for the word(s), especially here since the pinyin is a little confusing at first (see the related post).
It might go without saying, but if your handwriting looks like chicken scratch the way mine does, you really need to take effort to write cleanly. While I can figure out an English word that I scribbled, the pinyin and/or translation needs to be readable character by character or it’s not really useful anymore.
For example, excuse me is jieguang (with some accents not shown) and my pronunciation tip is jegwung. or is it jegiung? or does that say jegriung? hard to tell (for the record, it’s the first one, where wung rhymes with swung).