Recently, I came across someone needing a jumpstart who asked me to help them. I agreed to help and went about starting to jump their car. I don't know a lot about cars, but I know the basic steps to jumpstart a car. After we let the battery charge for a few minutes (I thought), the car still failed to start. By this time, some family of the driver in need had arrived and told me that, 1. I didn't have the cables connected to her car sufficiently, and 2. that if everything is connected correctly, it should start immediately (I assume he meant from the power of my battery). He then reworked the connections to her battery while I (at his suggestion) started to rev my engine (after he connected the cables again). After a few seconds of revving, the other car started just fine.
My question is, is it actually possible to jumpstart a car using the power from a charged battery directly without letting the dead battery charge, or was it a combination of other factors that allowed her car to start at just the right moment?
Probably relevant: I drive a '92 Chevy Silverado and I was jumpstarting a small car (I don't remember the model, but I think it was foreign). The cables I have are fairly bulky for jumper cables. I don't know the exact gauge, but they are definitely thicker than standard cables.