Tips For Effective Note Taking In Class

Taking notes in class is so important because it will help you to retain the information and act as a study guide for when you may be quizzed or tested on that particular information in the future. Some people find it hard to take notes because they are worried they are not writing down the proper information, or maybe the teacher is moving too quickly, or you are just a bad note taker in general…that changes today! I have a few tips and tricks that will make effective note taking a breeze and you will get some really effective notes to use for your future assignments.

When it comes to taking notes, obviously you are going to be getting your information based on what your teacher is talking about in the class that day but even more than just listening to what your teacher is saying, you will also want to watch their mannerisms and how they are referring to certain information. Chances are if your teacher puts and emphasis on a certain word or piece of information, you will want to write that down it’s probably important or maybe they have repeated a certain line multiple times, you will probably want to write that down.

Illustrations, graphics, charts, graphs…all of these things tend to help out those are more visual learners when it comes to taking notes as well. If you are able to add in these types of illustrations to your notes I would highly recommend it because then you have two forms of “notes” to help you to retain that information you need.

It is important that you know what information is important to write down and what is not. I would not recommend writing down anything and everything that your teacher says, you will overwhelm  yourself with information and be stuck in a rut. Instead, summarize key points and create key words for important information that you think you will need to know in the future.

Make your notes effective and useful. This goes back to knowing what is important to write down and what is not. You want to make your notes into something that you can use as tool later on when you need them for a test or quiz so be sure that you are making quality notes and that you are actually using them when you need them.

If you had trouble taking notes in class before because you were just completely lost, or maybe you weren’t sure how to take good notes or what you should write down and what you shouldn’t, I hope these tips have helped you. Note taking is hard and it’s not something you are just great at right away, it takes practice just like any other skill!