Hi, my name is Bridie Li, a senior AP student and a NHS number. I have slow handwriting which made me frustrated about taking notes. When studying my notes for tests, I did not know how to use them since the information is unorganized and hard to find. But after years of notes taking, I found a few tips that may help you make your notes efficient.
Use bullet points or numbers
A clear structure is necessary for well-organized notes. It gives you a clear view of different topics and notes for each of them. When reviewing unfamiliar topics, you can easily find each topic from a bulleted list.
Underline the important word/phrase
Underline the key words and phrases to help you remember the information better. For example, “elephants are bigger than ants”. When you see the underlined word “bigger”, you may recall that information and waste less time preparing for the tests.
Highlight the essential topics
Some teachers assign study guides to help students prepare for the exam. When using study guides to review your notes, highlight the topics that are repeatedly written in the study guide. If your teachers don’t assign study guides, highlight the topics that the teacher spent more time talking about in class.
Do not copy the notes word-by-word
Sometimes teachers show a lot of information on a single slide when presenting. Don’t panic and don’t try to write down everything. Sometimes it only wastes your time and makes it hard to find the key information from lots of words. Paraphrasing the notes in your own words helps you remember them better, and is easier to recall in the test. You can also use abbreviations and signs. For example, replacing the word “increase” with an arrow both saves your time jogging down the notes and makes it more visible when reviewing. But remember, do not over use them so that you won’t be confused when reviewing them later.
Review your notes from previous classes
To take the notes faster, being familiar with the previous lessons may be helpful. Since lessons are taught in order and related, your notes are also taken in order. Some terms that the teacher explained in an earlier lesson are used again. Reviewing the past notes helps make it easier to catch up with the lessons and have more time to take new notes rather than trying to recall learned terms.
Keep them in a organized notebook
Having all notes in a notebook in order is also important. Even if you can not find the page you wrote on last time, do not randomly take the note on random pages. Find a paper or rip the last page and start writing. After the class is over, use a stapler or paper clip to put it after your last note. Some people favor having notes on separate pages, but having a folder holding them in order is important. Additionally, writing the topic and number of the lesson better organizes them in order. If there is no number, writing down the date would also remind you of the order of those notes.
-Comment below your favorite note-taking strategy. -
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