Note-taking is an incredibly important and necessary skill everyone should have, but too many students through elementary school, highschool, and even university have completely neglected developing this skill. If you are one of these students, or you are just looking for a few ideas to adjust your note-taking style, you will have something to gain from reading this article.
Since note-taking has two main aspects: organization and speed, this article will be broken down into two main sections exploring each of them, and if you’re debating whether to take virtual or physical notes, there will be a short section at the end exploring just that.
The main goal of organizing your notes is so that you know where everything is. If you think you need beautiful hand-writing to have organized notes, you’d be surprised how much a little bit of segmentation can do.
Binders and lined paper are usually preferred since they promote easy reorganization and overall, allow for more freedom with organization.
Organize your notes by year, subject, unit, and date. Most courses are self-contained. If you will be tested on something, it will have been taught in that specific class; thus, you will almost never need notes from previous years or other subjects in any class. Separating your subjects by unit has the same idea. Generally, you won’t need the notes from previous units again until the final exam, and if you do end up needing them, you know exactly where they are. By creating separations, you have less information to sift through while looking for something. Your notes should also be dated in the upper left or right corner and sorted in the order they were taken so you can search for notes chronologically.
Headings and subheadings are the easiest way to keep your notes organized. If you’re taking notes on paper, put your heading in big writing at the top of your page. If you’re taking notes virtually, this will be the name of your file; name it something meaningful. You should only have one heading per note. If you feel the need to use another heading, you should be using a new piece of paper or document instead. Subheadings for both online and paper notes should be used liberally to separate subtopics for the note.
If you’re taking your notes on paper, the margins are a great place to write things so that they stand out. Use the margins for definitions, subheadings, or any other important details you want to emphasize.
If you encounter a new word, write down the definition somewhere on the same note (this a great time to use the margin!). It takes more than hearing a definition once to remember it, and when reviewing your notes, if you forget the word, you will have the definition on hand.
Always write the question along with your answer. This will save you a lot of time when reviewing notes, and will give you a much more complete note. If you’re writing on paper, writing long questions may be tedious, so copying the key details or at least writing where the question came from will suffice. If you’re doing your homework online, copying the question only takes a few seconds, so you should always do it where you can.
With virtual notes, if your teacher provides you with answers or notes, even if you don’t use them immediately, you should make a copy of them. Make sure to note in the title of your document that these are the teacher’s answers (I usually add “[A]” in the front of my notes). If you’re correcting your notes or answers on a piece of paper, make sure to use a different color, so you can see both your answer and the correct answer!