How to take notes

Do you need to take notes during your classes, but don’t know how?

This article is aimed at students who experience difficulties or even have doubts about how to take efficient notes to facilitate their learning for tests, competitions, college, etc.

However, first, it is important to know that writing is one of the most effective methods for understanding content. But you need to know how to write it down correctly. In this article, I will talk specifically about taking notes in classes or video classes.

Well, get to know the tips.

Annotating is not copying

One of the main points you need to understand is that when taking notes, you don’t need to write down everything the teacher says. On the contrary, the less you write, the better it will be for your memorization process.

This is because simply copying everything the teacher says or writes is a very passive method of studying, as you stop getting involved and simply transfer the information from the board to the paper.

When you use your words to write down, synthesize, create symbols or anything like that, your learning increases, and you memorize the content more easily.

Now that you understand this, let’s move on to the steps for good note-taking.

Start with the key concept of the lesson

Write in your notebook what the topic of the class is. This helps you quickly identify what your notes are about.

Furthermore, when writing the class topic, you can previously generate some questions about the topic that will be answered later while watching the class and taking notes.

If you want, you can even write these questions at the top of your notes. They are like little guides to ensure your attention during classes.

Then, using a topic system, you will chain together the ideas that are presented by the teacher in class.

Prefer to annotate in a topic system

Ideally, your notes should be in topics with the main concepts presented by the teacher.

When you return to these notes, you will use your memory more to retrieve what was explained by the teacher and, therefore, using your memory more, you will memorize more easily.

Write short keywords or concepts that express the central idea of the lesson, one below the other. Furthermore, the topic system makes it easier to find ideas and supplement them later during your review.

An annotation review system

After making your notes, you can review what you learned. At this point, you can do it after class ends and even at home.

Read the notes and force your memory to remember what was said at each moment to write down those concepts. Then, if necessary, as you remember, supplement your notes.

At the end, if you want, you can answer the questions you created at the beginning or create some more questions to answer to help even more with your learning.

Furthermore, when you do your review, you won’t need to read much, it will be quick, just enough for you to remember the subject covered.

Conclusion

With these elements necessary to make a good note, you understand why you shouldn’t copy but write down. Furthermore, you discovered that taking notes in a topic system will be better for your memorization and also how important it is to constantly review to keep the information in your memory.

Now is the time to put it into practice and adapt according to your needs. Some students I serve like to create several questions to answer in the review, others like to take notes by making small drawings and symbols, this will vary according to their way of learning.

Understand that at first you need to get used to the idea of synthesizing and noting down much, so don’t get discouraged right away, keep trying, over time you will learn to synthesize more quickly.