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I take notes okay, but I think I could do better. Any advice?

Here are my general tips of ways to improve your note-taking:

  1. Even if notes are provided online or on handouts, take notes in class anyway, because it helps you focus and reflect on the material as you go along.
  2. Note-taking is not the same as taking dictation. Your notes should be abbreviated-key words and examples from the lecture, not full sentences.
  3. Abbreviate words when possible. You may have to teach yourself/create a few abbreviations for words that come up frequently in a class.
  4. Leave a lot of space between major concepts. Space helps in many ways-you can add more information later on if needed. It also makes your notes seem more readable. Cramped notes without any space are very unpleasant to read or study.
  5. Compare your notes with a classmate (or more than one). This is a good way to see if your notes include everything they should (it's also a good study method).
  6. In a lecture class with objective tests, you should aim to study your note within 24 hours of taking them. Why? Because the lecture is still fresh in your head, and you can fill in some blanks that you didn't realize you left. As you study these notes, you should have some system to mark key points, such as highlighting those terms, or writing the terms in the margins. After you study the most recent notes, go back to the beginning (or to what has not yet been tested), and quiz yourself on those key terms. If you review your notes on a regular basis in this manner, you will be more likely to remember what you need to know for the test.

*One caution-I have met with some students who learn everything in their notes, but they haven't really written down enough in their notes or drawn on enough related information on those notes from the text to do well on the test. In learning a concept, you need to be able to define, explain its significance, come up with examples for it, and be able to distinguish that concept from one that is similar. That's more than simple memorization of a few hastily jotted words in your notes.

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