As a student, especially being in college, keeping notes of lectures is extremely necessary. There are some things, some additional information about the topic that the teacher will share and that specific information are not written on instruction manuals or books but they have the audacity to bring it up during exams, do you feel me?
Since I already established the importance of taking down notes during lectures, let me share with you some tips on how to keep efficient and neat notes. Of course you don’t think merely keeping notes is okay, right? You need to make sure that your notes can be easily understood and that it is well organize so you would not be confused while reviewing it. Always remember that notes are for your personal reference only (unless you decided to share it with some classmates) so keeping it organized will eradicate all the possible confusions and mix up of information.
How to take notes:
- Have different notebooks for each subjects – This is bit is very important. Keeping a separate notebook for each subject will help you find what you’re looking for easily. Also, it will avoid confusions between subjects like math and science.
- Mark each chapter – Make sure you can distinguish each chapter of a specific subject. That way, it’s easier to find the right material in reviewing for exams instead of going through a lot of notes and scanning page by page. I suggest color coding each chapter.
- Use colored pen or highlighter – Colored pens and highlighters are a big help especially in emphasizing important topics that has the potential to come out every exams and it makes the terms easier to find when reviewing your notes.
- Use Post-It notes – If you’re familiar with sticky notes, you may use it for writing down the teacher’s comment that you think add up to the information about the topic.
- Always draw colored diagrams – Some subjects like science tend to make you draw a lot of diagrams. Sometimes, diagrams are enough to understand the context of the topic so drawing them would make you remember them more clearly.