Effective Note Taking

In my opinon good note taking skills are very important if you want to do well at college. I personalise the information in a way that's clear and makes sense to me so that I am more likely to remember it. I have a folder with coloured dividers for each subject. I find this is a great way to store notes as they're easier to find and you're not wasting time rummaging through loads of pages.

Ideally you should do some preperation before each lecture maybe by going onto moodle and checking if the lecturer has put the lecture up. Nine times out of ten I don't do that but it would really help if I did so I could pay more attention on the lecturer talking and not just copying from the screen. I listen for key information in the lecture and then  write it in my own words. I also highlight the key points so I know what's important when looking back over them.

There are four different note taking formats: Cornell Format, Outline Format, Sentence Format and Mind Mapping. Mind mapping is the most effective note taking format for me as I am a visual learner. Mind mapping is all about key words, symbols or images. You place the key concept in the centre of the mind map and circle it and then link words or images that are relevant and you continue growing your map by branching off from each word, symbol or image linking them to the key concept.

Poor, incomplete, incomprehensive notes are worthless!!