Practical tips for taking college notes
Taking lecture notes is a puzzle for college students. Just what is valuable and what can I ignore? It is unlikely that your professors will crystal clear things. Too much writing reduces perception while too little writing can be difficult during exams. Empty
Bring a digital recorder to class.
I started bringing micro-tape recorders to class 25 years ago; Now I use a digital recording process. The technology now allows a recording device attached to your Notepad so that with the help of some learned symbols you can go back to the exact moment of recording that is consistent with your notes.
A quick anecdote: In my postgraduate days I had a history professor who had a three-hour lecture on Tuesday night, if nothing else, captivating and entertaining. The problem was that they were irrelevant.
The students took a lot of notes because we all assumed that the lecture material would be tested in the midterm and final exams. Indeed, and to our surprise, his experiments were informed only by textbooks and text assignments. It was not important to take notes in his speech.
The digital recorder captures everything that is said. Listening to the whole lecture, however, can be unfavorable for the whole class to hear again.
Leave the room to ask questions and focus on the main ideas
When returning to your class notes while studying, it is extremely important to explain the ideas; You need to make it clear that the two ideas are clear, focusing on the main points and ideas that have become fuzzy by asking questions. Do this by writing in the margin. Although hard to find, the law-lined paper provides the perfect medium for taking notes because the left margin reserves the entire third of the page for review notes.
Although it may seem labor-intensive at first, making review notes reduces the time required to retrieve notes while studying, and later studies are a picnic. As you re-read your notes, you must actually make sure that you understand the key points and that your questions are clear. You want to make sure you understand the basics and that your satisfactory questions are answered; If they exist, you no longer have to spend time on that page.
Finally, create a note-taking style that feels right
My own notes fall as a genre of consciousness novels illustrated by doodles, drawings, and pictures. I had a colleague at my graduate school who was an addict to an organization and took his notes in the form of outlines. We both did well. In fact, we shared the same study group in almost all of our classes.
The obvious thing is that it doesn’t really matter what style you use to create the notes, just go with the comfortable one. Develop this style because it works for you and not because someone told you exactly how to take notes. There is no quick fix for this important aspect of academic achievement.A college professor helped his students learn the secret to taking effective notes for better grades. She likes to share your knowledge with many other guidelines for good reading habits on wizeprep.com