How Useful Strategies For Taking Notes Can Boost Your Grades
Do you struggle to write down your lecture in a nice layout? Have you ever found yourself wondering you could make an efficient writing style for notes? Whether you are in a classroom or taking an online lecture, note-making can be tricky but few valuable strategies, you will be able to ace it next time. There are different kinds of strategies for constructing notes that can be used to make them cluster-free as possible and we will elaborate you how it's done!
Before you get started, read it till the end:
The five Rs of taking notes:
- Record: During the class, pen down all the information accurately.
- Reduce: Write a summary of the ideas and facts using cue words.
- Recite: While studying, you need to write all the information in your words.
- Reflect: Write down your ideas and opinion, make essential questions and answer creatively.
- Review: Be habitual of skimming through your notes which enables to add more creative ideas to your material.
Strategies for taking notes to achieve good grades:
- Assemble your materials
Make sure that you place all essential material in your bag or table while preparing to take a lecture. Before lecture, you should go through the previous one to help you understand better.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
- Always be an active listener during lecture
Many students mindlessly write down every word said by a teacher. Focus on the lecture and ask questions accordingly. Do your best to listen actively and stay focused till the very end, so you won’t have a hard time reviewing it later.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions
When you face difficulty in a question, do not just write it down and worry about it later, ask the instructor to explain it to you. Because what you find confusing now, will be twice as confusing during a review.
- Prioritize relevant information
The most important point that you can change to improvise your note-taking skills is to focus solely on taking keywords and concepts. First, write down relevant information regarding the lesson, rest of the detail can be extracted from a textbook. Second, think about what you want to retain if it’s a new topic, you are certainly not writing a book. Third, do not waste time by writing something that you already know, instead focus on details that are unique to you.
- Use the Question, Answer, Proof method
While using this method, it becomes easier to take notes as it compels to engage you in the lesson and material. This technique of summarizing material in your own words has made taking notes more efficient. First, listen to your instructor and pen down essential questions from the material provided, try to answer them in your own words. After that, you can provide proof to support your answer. Voila! Now it is an easy-peasy lemon squeezy to relate and write down relevant information about a particular lesson.
- Make your notes appealing
You will be reluctant in referring to your hand-written notes when they are messy and unorganized. Use diagrams, boxes, and bullet points to make your notes neat and readable. It will prevent the pages from looking oh-so overcrowded and messy. Use different color coding for key points, questions and answers because in this way, your brain can memorize it with colorful visuals.
- Review your notes
Review your notes after class or read thoroughly for good 15 minutes before going to bed. Utilize your time to add any extra information that you remember about the lesson. Another effective tool is to summarize key points to fully memorize them.
- Test yourself later in the day
Out loud in your head, test yourself by answering the activity questions in your words. Observe how much of the detail you remember, memorize the details that were missed.
- Memorize what you have compiled
The line-by-line method includes memorizing each line 4 to 5 times and then reading it by heart. Keep on going at this pace until you remember the whole chunk of paragraph. The story method involves turning the lesson into a simple story. For using the mnemonics method, take the initial word of your key point and come with an interesting word for each point. You will eventually be able to memorize what you have written. To learn other ways to make school a breeze, visit the website or learn how Elite High School tutoring programs can help you build skills to become a better learner.
