Note-Taking to Accelerate Your Learning

Have you ever been lost in a class because a professor is dictating too quickly??Have you ever felt like you needed a translator to make sense of what you wrote in class? Are you one of those students that try to write down everything the teacher says?

If you answered yes to any of the previous questions this article was made just for you. One of the best strategies for retaining information is to take notes. It aids in building a solid knowledge base.?

Now, this begs the obvious question. So how do you ensure your notes are helpful and help you learn? Here are some techniques for improving note-taking to absorb more information quickly.

?Write in your own words?

?This first step is underrated. Many students and professionals believe that the key to note-taking is recording everything covered in a session. These intentions are noble but come with unrealised drawbacks. What are they?

First, the way you speak, understand and communicate will always be different to the person trying to teach you. Because they share it in ways different from your own, it will be difficult for you to fully understand it, if you try to take everything in. Reading another person's phrases, adjectives, and pronunciations can take someone longer to understand the material.

Secondly, recording everything in a class takes excessive focus, time, and energy. Thus, you have no mental energy left over to understand what you should be learning. As a result, instead of learning new material in class, you compete to see who can do an impractical for the longest time.?

So please don't copy what the teacher says; summarise it to make sense for yourself. If you do this, you'll be able to remember and understand your notes better. Add examples of what the teacher said in your own words so that it's easier for you to remember later. Your job is to avoid taking a detailed account of what is said but rather write notes so that when you re-read them, you can follow them, and they are easy to understand.?

It’s important to remember that note-taking isn’t just about listening—it’s also an exercise in creation! Emphasis should be placed on quality, not quantity. So from now, the competition is not who has the most notes. If others are playing that game, I want you to come dead last. However, I want you to go first in the quality of your notes because you made them from your own words.

?Ask more questions?

Questions are the best way to learn. A good question promotes thinking and sometimes leads to even more questions. Thinking back to times in your early life when you gained a greater understanding of a topic usually came after a question you wanted to answer. For some of us, this came when we asked our parents where babies come from. I asked other questions, such as why the sky is blue or even what happened to the dinosaurs, and subsequently got the information I desired. Therefore, asking questions is fundamental to gaining new knowledge. Hence, how can the power of asking questions improve your note-taking?

?The first step would be to use questions effectively in your note-taking. The way to go about that is straightforward. When you are taught a new topic or concept, write questions about what has just been considered instead of writing down all the notes that go with it. An example of this would be if you were just taught about the states of matter in history class. Ask questions such as:?

• What are the three states of matter?
• How does matter move between states?
• Which state of matter has the most energy?

Asking such questions in your notes is effective for two reasons. The first is that the few questions you have created can now serve as a review of the essential topics covered. Therefore, in reviewing your notes, you can test how much of the critical material you can recall. It is important to note that questions should be clear and manageable. You can keep it simple by asking how, why, what and when. Also, try to compare and contrast and ask questions that may lead to further questions. Some might ask, what if I take the time to make all these insightful questions and need help knowing the answers??

This brings us to our second benefit. The beautiful thing about the age we are living in is that we have access to textbooks, lecture notes, revision guides, videos and Google to find answers. This further highlights the futility of writing notes because by employing the internet or other resources, you can get access to all the notes you will ever need. By finding the answers to these questions, you will gain knowledge that will be even more reinforced in your mind.?

In addition, questions will enable you to get more out of lectures, discussions, and presentations by forcing yourself to think about what is being said or presented to answer those questions.

?Use a mind map?

?For those who don't know what a mind map is, it's simply a visual representation of the connections between the main topic, related subtopics, and keywords. A mind map is used to present, organise, and track information. So, as a note-taker, why would you use mind mapping?

• Mind maps are an excellent tool for helping you to remember things better and understand them better. They also help you think more creatively.
• They are easy to make and easy to use. You can create them on paper with a pen, pencil, or computer.
• Great for making connections between ideas

?So how do you do it?

Step 1

Start with the main topic or problem at hand. Next, you must specify the purpose of the mind map. It is similar to the exercises instructors would have students complete before writing essays. The first step is to plan what you want to write about.?

Step 2

The introduction, body, and conclusion are among the essay-writing exercises. Creating a mind map involves performing the same action. The image below serves as a good illustration.?

Step 3

Finally, you explore the topics and add more branches, and you keep doing that until you flesh out all the necessary points and ideas.

?To effectively utilise this method watch the video below for a more in-depth review.?

Conclusion

To level up your note-taking, you need to make your notes as understandable as possible to yourself, ask more questions, and utilise mind mapping. Refrain from rewriting notes as they provide no benefit in terms of learning. Thus, take your time and implement these tips as much as possible, and you will reap the rewards. One of those rewards ishe ability to take notes that accelerate your learning.

Author - Jared Thompson