How I do my notes

Hi,
Throughout my years in school I’ve made 1000’s of a4 pages with notes, and only recently (4th year of uni) have I felt like I’ve mastered (found my way atleast) to make good notes and remember them later on.

Starting of I’ll give you some general tips on how you can remember them easier regardless of what method you do.
Color text will help you remember what you write.

Speak your notes out loud:
I all the time do this with my girlfriend, it truly helps me memorize my notes.

Read them when you're home from school
This is why keeping it short and simple is key, you don't wanna read 10 pages when you come home exhausted from school. This is why I keep my notes as short as possible. I often read through them while I cook dinner or do my laundry.

Take 5 minute breaks when you study at home
Get some fresh air, and a mental break. It will keep you focused in the long run.

One thing I forgot to add which deadmou5e mentioned;

I use different colors when I make notes. For everything, I know each of my colors and I use them no matter which subject I have, it helps me read through my notes within a blink of an eye.
Let’s say you study biology:
Trigger of mechanisms= Red
Disease/Disorder= Pink
Genetics: Green
Etc.. You can pick any color, for anything you wish or deem useful.

I’ll show you a good example, let’s say you’re having a lecture about Epigenetics, and Liger is brought up.

========================================================================================================


Liger> Tiger Mom & Lion Dad> Tiger Mom has Gene X Disabled> Gene X Is the "Growth Gene" That Make Cats Huge > Which is why Ligers Are The Biggest Cat On Earth> Likely To Develop Neurological Disorders


========================================================================================================

This summary is short, it takes no time to read- so if you archive these notes, preparing for exams will be a lot easier.

Headlines
I'm old school, I print out my notes and archive them in a folder, so when I go through my folders (I have one for each subject) I need a good headline on the document so that I can easily find what I am looking for.

 

dude this is gonna be so helpful for my psych course honestly thank u

 

Even if this guide could help as much as one person out I’m happy I made it. Gl on your course man

 

This is helpful. I am notoriously bad at writing notes, always write too damn much. Adding colours would increase the time it takes to write the notes so much though, especially since i write notes on the PC. I'll give it a shot when i'm cutting down the stacks upon stacks of notes i've written haha. Appreciate it Hex

 

Glad I could help I usually add colors when I am home reading through it, not during class because the lecturer speaks too damn fast haha. You might wanna add them before you print the text document tho ^^

 

Oh light highlighting?

 

I rarely ever do notes for hand anymore, but yes, I guess you could use a highlighter aswell. I always read through it when I get home anyway, so idm adding color to the text. I print out my shit in bulk xD

 

You found that writing notes by hand are better for remembering them? A typer myself as its so much faster and easier.

 

I'm aware of that, handwriting trains your muscle memory which will actually help you memorize That being siad, its just hard to keep up with hand. Also its not as "clean" you might say :/ Laptops are just way too convenient today.

 

Definitely going to give this a try for my next exams. Do you think it matters if the notes are done on the computer as opposed to paper and pen?

edit: nvm just saw the answer in the comments

 

i use to playback my notes sometimes through a TTS, sometimes reading too much doesn't work for me, i like visuals and audo

 

Pen will 100% help you memorize it. And if you got awesome handwriting and you are able to keep it short why not? I don’t have the best handwriting

that is one tip I forgot to mention, thanks for adding that!
Edit: I’ll add that quote

 

@Hex , thank you for the mention! Great post

 

I needed this, thank you lmao

 

Happy I could help man!

 

I know you said you use your laptop to take notes but do you also write it down on paper to help you memorize or does it have minimal effect on you?

During lectures, do you take short notes of what the professor talks about then expand on it at home?

I'm going to give this a try next time, seems like a good idea.

 

Hi. Sorry for the delayed reply.

Its situational, I always try to shorten it as much as possible. Like let’s say the professor were talking about how a liger is made, I would of written it exactly like I did above. But sometimes I need to directly quote what the professor is saying.

TL;DR: It’s situational, but I always try keep it short else I cba reading it when I get home ^^

 

Thanks for your points, the 5 minutes break is shown in studies that its very effective.

My study goes like this:

-45minute focused studying (no interruptions / phone is not in hands reach)
-5min well earned break
-1 hour focused studying (no interruptions / phone is not in hands reach)
-30min well earned break (Dinner,relax etc)

For me this has been going very well and helps getting things done.

 

Breaks are important, you need to reward yourself one way or another else you'll get really fed up with it

 

Great guide. What I did while at uni was explain key concepts to my flatmates. There was a study, not sure of the exact numbers, but when teaching you retain 90+% of the information, compared to like 20% when reading and writing.