Notes

[GuestFellow]

How do you take good notes? The teachers at college speak too fast and sometimes don't write anything on the interactive whiteboard sometimes. >_>

Anyone knows how to organise your work for preparation for revision? My course is going to involve a lot of note taking and consolidating huge amounts of information. :skeleton:

Oh the main problem I face when writing notes in the class that I can't read my work later onwards due to writing too quickly.

Any advice on how to overcome this?

[Woodrow]

It has been many years since I took notes in College. What I learned is that one of the purposes of taking notes is how to learn to sort relevant information from the unneeded rapidly.

You will never be able to keep up with the professor word for word, so don't worry about it. Listen intently to what is being said. Do not waste time in trying to write down material you already know. Concentrate on what is new to you. Listen for phrases you find to be significant in helping you recall that portion of the lecture and write those down.


Notes are a tool to help you remember new material. Keep that in mind and remember your notes should serve the purpose of being tools for you. Do not try to impress anybody with your notes, write what you find useful to you, not what you think the professor wants you to write.

[The Ruler]

Practice writing fast? I write faster when my handwriting is a little slanted as opposed to being straight. Because that way, I raise my pen from paper less often, saving more time.

[Mysterious Uk]

lol @ write faster.. N e hu a gud method for me has been NOT writing everything the teacher says but instead putting it into my own words (maybe through bullet points).. i draw pictures too if in a hurry and i know the picture would remind me of whatever the lecturer was saying. Good to note key words too. If the lecturer repeats himself or places emphasis on certain things- you know you have to write it down.

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[Hayaa]

:sl:

General Principles of Notetaking:

-Be Brief: use keywords/short phrases
-Be focused: ask questions, get answers
-Be organized: titles and headings, visual aids, etc.

Notetaking from Lectures

-key to taking notes during a lecture is to be intent
(average person forgets 80% of what they hear in two weeks)
(" " " 95% in 4 weeks.)

Active Listening-
-think ahead/activate prior knowledge [you think more than you write]

Main Idea Signals
-what info was repeated during class
-words like 'important', 'causes', and 'reasons' etc are essential
-gestures and voice may indicate importance

Recopy: organize through notes
-reorganizing is like 90% studying notes
-review notes within 24 hrs
-go over them weekly

Stream Lining Notes:
-use word beginnings and abbreviations
-don't punctuate
-use symbols (&, #, etc)
-personal shorthand: w/o, b4, etc (chat lingo comes in hand here :P)
-eliminate vowels: "cn u rd ths?"

key to mastery.. practice :hiding:

and then there are different notetaking templates.

Roman Numeral:

Landmark College two-column notes

Extreme Mapping

Cornell Two-Column Notes

Personally, I like Roman Numeral and Extreme Mapping the best; but you can use whatever you feel most comfortable with.


I actually took a required class on notetaking last semester, and copied down some of my notes on here . I hope it'll be of help inshaAllah. :ermm:

[GuestFellow]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

[Woodrow]

lol @ write faster.. N e hu a gud method for me has been NOT writing everything the teacher says but instead putting it into my own words (maybe through bullet points).. i draw pictures too if in a hurry and i know the picture would remind me of whatever the lecturer was saying. Good to note key words too. If the lecturer repeats himself or places emphasis on certain things- you know you have to write it down.

I also used to draw pictures. Little cartoon type doodles. They are helpful in jarring the memory when you reread your notes.

[GuestFellow]

I also used to draw pictures. Little cartoon type doodles. They are helpful in jarring the memory when you reread your notes.

I used to draw pictures all over my exercise books at school...gosh I got into so much trouble. ;_;

[Woodrow]

I used to draw pictures all over my exercise books at school...gosh I got into so much trouble. ;_;

A little trick that worked for me. At the start of each lecture I would do a little cartoon sketch of anything I thought was funny in the room. such as somebodies hat, something on the floor, a bug crawling etc. During the lecture I would watch that object but concentrate on what was being said and I found that later when I saw my cartoon I could actually remember much of what the professor said.

[cat eyes]

ohhhhhh guys you are not helping him at all:giggling: bring a tape recorder with you at every lecture

[Woodrow]

ohhhhhh guys you are not helping him at all:giggling: bring a tape recorder with you at every lecture

I believe you intended that as humour. ;D

Lots of people do try that at schools that permit it. But it deprives the student of learning to evaluate information and how to concentrate through active listening. No matter how good of hearing a person has, listening properly has to be taught. Note taking is a very effective method of being taught active listening skills.

Learning the skill of active listening is one of the most important things a college student will ever learn.

[cat eyes]

I believe you intended that as humour. ;D

Lots of people do try that at schools that permit it. But it deprives the student of learning to evaluate information and how to concentrate through active listening. No matter how good of hearing a person has, listening properly has to be taught. Note taking is a very effective method of being taught active listening skills.

Learning the skill of active listening is one of the most important things a college student will ever learn.

yeah i suppose they will become dependent on it right? but they could use it sometimes not always just to get through there exams i am not a good listener and never have been. i think some people are just born with the talent of listening and picking things up quick.:statisfie i know students who drop out of colege because of the problem the brother has. they were failing there exams, they had no other choice but to go to a much better college and they are geting alot of support there now not none of this fast crap. i hate that. it just because the teacher wants to get home and its not fair. so i would use tape recorder myself when coming up to exams:D

[GuestFellow]

ohhhhhh guys you are not helping him at all:giggling: bring a tape recorder with you at every lecture

I actually considered taking my laptop o_o...

[cat eyes]

I actually considered taking my laptop o_o...

yeah actually you really should be allowed your laptop. you will probably find it easier to type the words then write.

[GuestFellow]

yeah actually you really should be allowed your laptop. you will probably find it easier to type the words then write.

It would be weird if I'm the only one in the class using a laptop...plus I tend to concentrate better when I'm writing on paper than typing.

[cat eyes]

It would be weird if I'm the only one in the class using a laptop...plus I tend to concentrate better when I'm writing on paper than typing.

haha why it would be weird.. people in your class never seen a laptop b4?;D

[Woodrow]

yeah i suppose they will become dependent on it right? but they could use it sometimes not always just to get through there exams i am not a good listener and never have been. i think some people are just born with the talent of listening and picking things up quick.:statisfie i know students who drop out of colege because of the problem the brother has. they were failing there exams, they had no other choice but to go to a much better college and they are geting alot of support there now not none of this fast crap. i hate that. it just because the teacher wants to get home and its not fair. so i would use tape recorder myself when coming up to exams:D

Just my opinion in reply to this much of your post.

i know students who drop out of colege because of the problem the brother has. they were failing there exams, they had no other choice but to go to a much better college and they are geting alot of support there now not none of this fast crap.

College is not supposed to be easy. It is or should be a swim or sink experience. Recalling my undergraduate days of something like 50 years ago. I was fortunate to have had the luxury of attending one of the finest Colleges in the world. The classes were small, all of the faculty was Full professors. No classes had over 10 students, in some classes I was the only student.

Yet the lectures were machine gun fast with no repetition and no asking questions. The professor came in at the exact moment the lecture was to begin and left at the exact second it was to end.
Some even bent over backwards to make the lectures as difficult as possible. I had a Sociology professor that wrote his black board notes in Hebrew and Lectured in German.

It was difficult and often I wanted to quit. But, it did prepare me very well for my later post Graduate and post Doctorate work.

Effective note taking while under pressure proved to be the most valuable thing I ever learned.

[GuestFellow]

haha why it would be weird.. people in your class never seen a laptop b4?;D

idk....at college no one uses a laptop. =/

Probably it is just me. ._.

[Mujahidah4Allah]

write fast, make bullet points but like brother Woodrow said listen attentively!, no point making posh notes if you don't understand what you've written...

wa/salam

[Hidaya]

....voice recorder. haha. :]

not sure if it's allowed though.

[Ummu Sufyaan]

:sl:

How do you take good notes? The teachers at college speak too fast and sometimes don't write anything on the interactive whiteboard sometimes. >_>

Anyone knows how to organise your work for preparation for revision? My course is going to involve a lot of note taking and consolidating huge amounts of information. :skeleton:

Oh the main problem I face when writing notes in the class that I can't read my work later onwards due to writing too quickly.

Any advice on how to overcome this?

it can be a bit daunting having someone speak fast and catching up with them, but soon, inshallah, you shouldn't have a problem getting around it as you will get used to it.
some tips in the meantime:
*record the lecture on your phone
*as someone else said, learn how to write faster
*nick/share someone else's notes

[*charisma*]

Assalamu Alaikum

Ask the teacher to slow down...if s/he's that fast, then you're probably not the only one who has trouble writing down all the notes. Sometimes after you take the first exam, you realize what kind of notes are relevant to write and what to leave out. Also, if you can bring in a tape recorder, than record as you type, and after class you can go over the tape and insert what you missed.

fi aman Allah
wsalaam

[Far7an]

It would be weird if I'm the only one in the class using a laptop...plus I tend to concentrate better when I'm writing on paper than typing.

If you're allowed to use it, take it.. Start the trend, everyone else will follow!

Assalamu Alaikum

Ask the teacher to slow down..

I wouldn't recommend that. Depends on what kind of a teacher you have, I tried that with one of my lecturers and every 15-20 mins he would look at me and say... "Is- That- Slow- Enough- For- You"

:hmm:


Always check your notes with those of your classmates. You may have missed something he has, or vice versa.

[Woodrow]

Assalamu Alaikum

Ask the teacher to slow down...

I can imagine what would have happened if I asked any of my Professors to slow down. At the least I would have been told that I am not college material if I can't keep up.

[Al-Zaara]

Check other students' notes and use a laptop if you can. Otherwise, simply concentrate extra much and try your best to catch the keywords or sentences of what he/she is saying.

I wouldn't recommend that. Depends on what kind of a teacher you have, I tried that with one of my lecturers and every 15-20 mins he would look at me and say... "Is- That- Slow- Enough- For- You"

:hmm:

A guy in my class asked that a teacher and she had a huuuge lecture at him about him not having the potential for studying at Uni and further education. I ended up defending the guy, telling her off to misuse our precious time because of something for a slight moment to get "fixed". Gosh, did she annoy me.

[Hugo]

There is no easy way to take notes in lectures because often its the first time you have been exposed to the learning material so its a struggle to know what to make a note about and sadly some lecturers go so fast its a job to keep up. On the other hand, one cannot and should not expect to be able to grasp it all in one lecturer and often it will take a real effort of study afterwards to get any sort of understanding. So I suggest:

1. Listen out for the main points and note them down. If you try to copy everything you may miss entirely what is being said.

2. As you listen note down any questions you have (or that anyone else voices) because you can ask them in class (although usually there is not enough time to answer all your questions) but more importantly those questions can guide your study afterwards.

Asking questions is always a good thing and there are no foolish questions and you only become a fool when you stop asking questions. But answer those questions yourself that way you will gain maximum learning, don't give up and try to short cut the work by asking someone else all that will do is delay your learning and in any case in the examination there will be no one to ask.

3. Be on the look out all the time for points of interest and make a note of them - believe me learning does not just occur in a classroom it can be done anywhere at any time and often if you miss these tiny opportunities that occur during your day they will be gone forever.

4. You can make a note with you Ipod or iTouch or your phone either by writing or dictation and it can be really useful to take a picture of a page in a book or journal or newspapers or a situation or whatever as soon as you see something you want - if you delay it will be gone, usually for good.

5. There is no easy way to learn, its takes time and it takes effort and there is good statistical evidence that you need to put in at least 20 hours study a week, every week if you want to do well; some in class rooms, some in the library, some in groups, some on your own but when you add it all up it needs to be at least 20 hours.

6. One final caution. Most learning rest on you knowing the BASICS because unless you know those you have nothing to build on and you will NOT be able to learn. The implication here is the you must be persistent and stick to the schedule of at least 20 hours a week because otherwise you will fall behind. Of course you must take breaks regularly but that does not mean taking a break for several weeks and hope you can cram it all at the end - that is a route to disaster.

[zakirs]

Best advice would be to stop copying and listen carefully to lecture.When you need to study just photocopy the notes of a good student in class.IT will also save you the effort ;) :D

[*charisma*]

Assalamu Alaikum

My professors usually tell the students at the beginning of the course to notify them if they are lecturing too fast or if they need something to be clarified. Other professors would rather you talk to them after class or to schedule an appointment. I guess it just depends.

fi aman allah
w'salaam