How many times have you looked at your notes when you are studying for an exam and couldn’t figure out what your notes were saying. In this video, I am going to show you how to take notes effectively. If you use these tips in your own study routine, you’ll never have the problem of not understanding your notes again.
So in this video, I’m going to talk about a few things and give some advices that might help you to take your notes more effectively. I’m going to talk about what to write down, how to organize your notes and how to make your notes look neat. Without further ado, let’s get started!
1. Structuring your notes – Structuring your notes is very important. Make a system so you can find your notes back easily. Also, use the content table in your book as a guide to create a structure in your notes that follow your book.
2. Don’t just write down key words – write down whole sentences. I know a lot of people who write in key words, which is an quick way to write down things during the lecture, but it is a lot harder to follow when you’re studying for the exam a few weeks later. It is a lot harder to follow your train of thoughts at a later point. That is why I recommend writing in whole sentences as much as you can. It will be easier to understand later on and it’s a lot quicker to read.
3. Additionally, make sure your notes aren’t an exact copy of the PowerPoint – it’s supposed to be an addition to the material in your books and PowerPoint. The PowerPoint usually contains an overview of the most important things and only writing down the things that are in the PowerPoint without adding any additional information is kind of pointless if the PowerPoint will be available online. So make sure to add things.
4. Use symbols to create an overview. Your notes will be a lot more easily understandable if you use symbols, like arrows, in your notes. It’s easier to read than having one chunk of text without any space or symbols that order the material.
5. What to write down? Everything important. If you’ve done proper preparation of the class, you’ll probably have a good idea on what is important and what is going to be discussed. Some indication of things that are important to take notes of:
– If the professor repeats a certain things a few times or if they are really emphasizing it or if they are literally saying that it is important, you should write it down.
– Sometimes, there are things that are relatively new, so the book does not mention it. For example, as a law student, our law books are never entirely up to date, because new law and cases are created as we speak. If there is a new important case, it’s important to take notes of that.
– If there is anything that is not in the book, but the professor talks about it as extra study material, take notes.
– Don’t take notes of examples that are really elaborate. A few sentences is usually enough for you to understand what the professor is discussing for 10 minutes long.
6. Use a separate highlighter for anything exam-related. I use a bright yellow highlighter to make anything my professor tells us about the exam jumps out. I highlight example exam questions, tips for the exam, tips for studying for the exam and every time the professor says something is important material for the exam. When I’m studying, these notes really jump out, so I never forget to pay extra attention to those notes.
7. I know a lot of you guys clicked on this video for taking aesthetic notes so I’m also going to give some easy tips for taking pretty notes. I don’t think having pretty notes will be very helpful for studying, but it can make studying more fun and it’s nicer to look at, especially for the visual learners out there.
– I always try to stick to using one color. So if I choose pink, I will use highlighters and pens in different shades of pink. If all of my notes are in one color, it is aesthetically more pleasing to the eye than using different colors.
– I add a sticky note in the same color as note colors to write down the study material that goes with the notes. So if I’m using a purple theme for the notes of a certain lecture, I’ll add a sticky note with the mandatory reading material for that lecture. When I’m studying for my exam, it will be easier to find the relevant study material in my books that go with my notes.
– I always write down the subject at the top of the page. If you do this in your nicest handwriting or create a pretty header, it doesn’t really matter what the rest of your notes look like, because your eyes are kind of drawn to the header, which will compensate quickly written notes.
– I also write down the lecture number at the top and the subject of that lecture so it’s easier to organize your notes later on.
I hope you enjoyed this video about my tips and advices for taking notes efficiently. If you liked this video, you can let me know by giving this video a thumbs up and if you want to see more student related videos, be sure to subscribe to my channel so you won’t miss any of my future videos. I’ll see you in my next video, bye!
