Need to create excellent examine notes however don’t know the place to begin? on this article, we’ll break down two detailed strategies for note-taking step-by-step. We additionally canvas different in style strategies earlier than explaining the most effective strategies for getting probably the most out of your exam-conquering notes!
Good notes make for good marks, excellent notes make for excellent marks (or near!). Making excellent notes is an funding in time and your future. In order for you that 99.95 ATAR or the A+ or Band 6 outcome, all of it begins with wonderful notes. And which means dedication.
If you wish to do nicely and wish the notes that can assist you get there, then there aren’t actually any short-cuts! There’s simply constant habits and grind.
This can be a good factor as a result of it means anyone can obtain nice marks, they simply must do the work! On this article, we’re going to interrupt down what goes into this.
Are there extra methods than one to make notes?
Sure!
If you happen to don’t need to need to commit to 1 model. Don’t fear, after we present you the processes, we’re going to take a look at a number of totally different types. as well as, we’ll have a look at loads of examples on the way in which.
Nonetheless, we do insist that while you do write notes you write them by hand. Analysis persistently reveals that handwritten notes encourage and assist recall and visualisation.
Let’s get began!
On this article, we’ll talk about,
- Writing excellent notes for various functions
- The best way to write excellent textual content, textbook, or supply notes step-by-step
- The best way to write excellent class and lecture notes step-by-step
- Different types
- Break up Web page
- Cornell Methodology
- Q/E/C – Query, Proof, Conclusion
- Stream Methodology
- The best way to utilise your excellent notes
- Memorisation
- Follow responses
- Quizzes
- Summarising
Writing excellent notes for various functions
Relying in your objective, the way you make your notes is clearly going to vary.
You’ll do one factor for texts and textbooks however one thing totally different for in-class or lecture notes.
Textual content summaries and textbook notes are usually extra polished and produced over a few hours and iterations.
Don’t want your notes have been clear, like these?
Class and lecture notes are sometimes messy and thrown collectively rapidly, requiring rewriting and organisation.
Let’s check out each strategies.
The best way to write excellent textual content, textbook, or supply notes
Writing notes isn’t one thing that occurs in a single step or one sitting. As a substitute, it is advisable to commit time to them. Let’s have a look at what’s concerned in writing notes from texts and textual content books.
Use this technique to make notes about texts or from textbooks!
OK. Now you’ve seen the method let’s have a look at it in additional element!
Step 1: Learn/watch the supply
Earlier than you write notes, it is advisable to have data. It’s essential to begin with some supply materials. This may be the novel set for examine, your Maths textbook, or your Science textbook.
Ideally, learn the textual content by means of as soon as, after which return by means of and browse once more to begin highlighting/underlining key information.
Step 2: Spotlight essential information
Spotlight related data and passages.
Realizing the content material broadly will show you how to resolve what it is advisable to give attention to.
It could be tempting to spotlight all the pieces. Nevertheless it’s not all key data. Concentrate on the important particulars. It will show you how to study data as you write notes.
Step 3: Summarise the content material
Now you need to begin creating notes. It helps to begin with headers and develop on headers with dot level summaries of data.
Completely different topics will warrant other ways of growing this.
Attempt to utilise note-taking strategies that go well with the content material. English notes might profit from tables for connecting data to textual content, methods, and Module considerations.
For instance, Maths notes may give attention to strategies and equations.
Step 4: Add extra notes (eg. issues I would like to recollect, evaluation, extra analysis)
Don’t depart your notes to sit down, add to them persistently. When including additional data, be sure you learn by means of your present notes.
Studying your present notes earlier than including extra notes helps entrench data!
Including your most up-to-date concepts, discoveries, or hacks to a set of notes retains it a dwell doc.
Step 5: Preserve including onto them all year long
Because the 12 months progresses, develop your notes additional with extra data and concepts. Notes are essential for learning and revision.
One technique Matrix college students discover helpful is attempting to condense notes right down to cheatsheets or abstract sheets.
These perform pretty much as good revision notes and are wonderful assets for revision.
It’s one factor to take notes a few textual content or novel or movie, however one thing else to make notes a few class or lecture!
The best way to write excellent class and lecture notes
Making notes at school or lectures requires focus and the power to condense lots of data into manageable chunks. We have a tendency to write down far slower than different folks converse. This implies we have to be even handed when taking notes in order to not miss key factors or get slowed down and miss nice swathes of a category.
Folks converse at a median of 130-150 phrases a minute in comparison with handwriting notes at a median of 120-155.
So what does this technique appear like?
Use this step-by-step course of for taking in-class notes.
What we’ll do now’s describe this environment friendly and efficient course of for taking class notes.
Step 1: Write down key issues your trainer says in my first set of tough notes
When the trainer, or lecturer, is talking and describing issues or processes, give attention to writing key phrases and key statements, first.
Attempting to write down all the pieces will imply you miss most of it.
You need to make preliminary notes round key concepts. use the moments the place your speaker pauses to begin including additional data. You might discover that Cornell or movement techniques are the best methods to develop class notes.
Keep in mind, the important thing focus is masking the essential particulars, not all the knowledge. This is step one, so don’t get anxious or careworn in case you miss issues, there will likely be time to attempt to fill within the blanks.
Step 2: Spotlight a very powerful issues (eg. formulation). Attempt to do that at school, if in case you have time.
You need to spotlight a very powerful info, concepts, or items of knowledge whereas they’re recent in your thoughts.
Attempt to undergo your notes in-class and spotlight the salient factors.
If you happen to run out of time at school, attempt to discover a chance to spotlight issues at college whereas issues are recent. It will act as a set off while you transcribe and develop issues later!
Step 3: At residence, switch these notes into revision notes
Now you’ve received base notes, you’re ready to develop this data additional.
First, transcribe the key in-class data. Start with the key phrases you highlighted, copy that throughout after which add the encircling element out of your class notes.
Step 4: Solely extrapolate a very powerful information
When you’ve received the essential information down, fill within the blanks.
Use the lacking data as a launchpad to researching additional particulars. This may increasingly imply studying a textbook or novel and growing notes from that supply (see above). Keep targeted on the key phrases and concepts you highlighted when growing notes. If you happen to encounter an fascinating thought, make an observation and return to it later!
Don’t get distracted by fascinating rabbit holes while you’re attempting to provide notes and assets for later examine.
If you happen to discover you’ve questions that aren’t resolved as you transcribe your notes, write these down. You need to take these alongside to your subsequent class or contact your trainer or tutor about them for help.
It’s okay if in case you have questions after making notes up to now, it’s a key a part of the method. Not following up on these questions, although, is a crucial mistake!
Don’t attempt to cram all the pieces into one web page!
Depart house in your notes to incorporate the knowledge you’re lacking.
Step 5: Add any additional notes (eg. issues it is advisable to bear in mind, evaluation, or extra analysis)
Ensure you comply with up on the questions that you’ve! You need to add that data later.
You need to hold including to your notes:
- Questions you’ve
- Solutions to these questions
- Extra factors it is advisable to bear in mind
- Fascinating items of analysis
Keep in mind, each time you add to your notes, take the time to learn your present notes.
Different types of note-taking
The strategies above aren’t the one strategies for making notes. There are another in style and efficient strategies for taking and organising notes. Let’s have a gander at them.
Break up web page notes
Because the title suggests, these are notes the place the web page is break up in half.
- On the left aspect, embrace the key phrases or headers you should use as triggers
- On the proper aspect, embrace dot-point summaries and quotations
When you’ve accomplished your notes, you possibly can simply cowl the abstract aspect and tried to recall the knowledge prompted by the key phrase or header.
The very best structure for Break up Web page notes
Break up web page notes are nice for growing revision notes or summarising STEM textbooks.
Cornell Methodology – Notes, Key phrases, Abstract
The Cornell Methodology is known and it’s named after the college the place it was developed. It’s comparable in idea to the break up web page technique, above.
To make use of this technique, comply with the next steps:
- Divide the web page into three. Have a 1/4 width margin dividing left and proper sides of the web page and a separating the underside 1/6 of the web page
- Use the left of the web page for questions and headers
- Use the proper of the web page to summarise data
- Make use of the realm on the backside of the web page to summarise the knowledge above.
In apply, this may appear like this:
An instance of laying out Cornell notes
When summarising the knowledge, attempt to embrace key quotations and formulae whereas together with the key phrases. The Cornell technique is basically efficient for taking in-class or lecture notes.
QEC – Query, Proof, Conclusion
QEC notes develop data with a watch to assembling arguments or writing essays. The acronym, QEC stands for Query, Proof, Conclusion.
QEC notes start every part with a query. The knowledge that follows is there to assist a response to that query. The ultimate half is a concluding assertion. The conclusion ought to perform like both a abstract or thesis assertion in response to the query.
So, what’s the method for producing these?
- Divide the web page into two or three sections
- In every part, start with a query
- Under the query, write concise dot-point notes
- Embrace key quotations, info, and formulae (the place required)
- For the conclusion, write both,
- A press release summarising the knowledge above in response to the query
- A thesis assertion or matter sentence that could be a direct response to the preliminary query that encapsulates the knowledge above.
This technique will depart you with notes wanting like this:
An instance of Query/Proof/Conclusion (QEC) notes.
QEC notes are nice for arts topics – English, Historical past, Economics – and likewise STEM topics.
Stream technique
The Stream technique isn’t as neat and structured because the strategies above. As a substitute, it’s a method to create free-flowing notes on the go!
To provide movement notes, you need to take into consideration the method behind producing a mind-map. However slightly than making a mind-map, you need to create some flowing concepts.
How do you go about this?
The method for producing movement notes.
Okay, let’s develop on this course of:
- Start with a key phrase
- Increase on these concepts in a bubble across the key phrase
- Close by on the web page, in an space with some clean house, write down the subsequent key phrase
- Join it to the primary with an arrow
- Increase your notes across the second key phrase as you probably did the primary
- Rinse and repeat as you join and develop on subsequent notes.
This technique is nice for producing lecture notes, however as it isn’t as structured, the notes may be troublesome to comply with and develop later.
A major flaw with movement notes, nonetheless, is that they will get messy and disorganised.
Making probably the most out of your excellent examine notes
Having nice or fairly notes is one factor, studying easy methods to take advantage of them to ace your exams is one thing else fully. What we’ll have a look at now are the examine strategies you need to comply with to take advantage of your excellent examine notes to ace your assessments!
Memorisation
The important thing objective of notes is to memorise data. It’s best to put aside time every week to learn by means of your notes and attempt to commit issues to reminiscence.
Don’t do that in a single sitting, attempt to do it in smaller chunks!
The intention is to not memorise plenty of data in a single sitting, it’s to memorise all the important thing data precisely!
Memorisation is crucial for recalling data in examination circumstances, so you will need to discover the time for this.
Follow responses
Writing apply responses helps you develop your concepts and memorise data.
Due to how the mind is ‘plastic’, that’s, it’s malleable and may change to accommodate extra data, writing data down is an efficient means of cementing studying.
The act of writing responses and essays, particularly handwriting slightly than typing, capabilities as higher-order thought.
Writing essays is considering in addition to entrenching data – the extra responses you write, the extra you memorise and devlop your concepts.
As well as, due to the character of most HSC examination questions being developed to stop college students from memorising essays, writing a wide range of apply essays will show you how to put together extra successfully!
Quizzes
Cornell notes and break up web page notes are nice for quizzing your self. However even in case you use different strategies, you need to use your notes to quiz your self.
If you happen to use Cornell or break up web page notes, you possibly can merely cowl the detailed aspect of the notes after which use the key phrases or questions on the left to check your self.
In case you are utilizing different types of notes, you might need to write some inquiries to quiz your self with. In any other case, you possibly can all the time ask a member of the family or good friend that can assist you by quizzing your self.
Summarising
That is an important course of for all notes. You don’t need to have produced some excellent notes after which suppose – “I’m finished now!” That’s not how learning works!
As a substitute, you need to attempt to summarise your notes to make them extra concise and condensed.
Summarising notes will show you how to memorise the knowledge.
