{"id":64,"date":"2016-07-09T13:35:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T13:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.europace.org\/?p=64"},"modified":"2016-07-10T08:56:47","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T08:56:47","slug":"how-to-take-notes-5-ways-to-improve-your-note-taking-skills-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/how-to-take-notes-5-ways-to-improve-your-note-taking-skills-today\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Take Notes: 5 Ways to Improve Your Note Taking Skills Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Text&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; use_border_color=&#8221;off&#8221; border_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>Taking notes seems easy. Sure, you may have mastered the art of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.europace.org\/3-critical-reading-techniques-to-boost-your-learning\/\">critical reading<\/a>, but when it comes to learning, notes can make or break your semester. The key ingredient that differentiates a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.criticalthinking.org\/pages\/defining-critical-thinking\/766\">critical thinker<\/a> from a person that aces the class is their note taking ability.<\/p>\n<p>You need to know how to take notes efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>And taking notes effectively doesn\u2019t need to be an arduous task \u2013 you can learn in just one day.<\/p>\n<p>These five methods will help you master the art of note taking:<\/p>\n<h3>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Main Points Come First<\/h3>\n<p>Write down your main points first. These points will act as a point of reference and will help you jog your memory quickly to go back to earlier subject matter.<\/p>\n<h3>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Summarise, Organise and Condense<\/h3>\n<p>Now comes the tedious part. After you\u2019ve written down all of your main points, you need to <a href=\"http:\/\/grammar.yourdictionary.com\/style-and-usage\/strategies-to-improve-summary-writing.html\">summarise<\/a> them, organise them and remove anything that is not necessary. Condensing your notes in this way will allow you to revise for exams and use your notes for future work.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t take this step when note taking, you\u2019re wasting valuable time when referring back to your notes.<\/p>\n<h3>3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Think About Your Notes<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/student.unsw.edu.au\/note-taking-skills\">Notes<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be a complete rewrite of the material learned. When it comes to notes, you need to know:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What the assignment entails<\/li>\n<li>How you learn best<\/li>\n<li>The desired outcome from the course material<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re taking notes for vocabulary, your notes may be wordier than taking notes on a historical event. And don\u2019t be afraid to use shorthand or even make pictures or diagrams to make your notes clearer for you.<\/p>\n<h3>4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Review Your Notes Often<\/h3>\n<p>While not related to actually taking notes, it\u2019s essential for you to review your notes often to make the information \u201cstick\u201d in your memory. Spaced repetition has been shown to help students remember information faster and more efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t take time to review your notes often, you\u2019re not going to achieve optimal results in the process.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-66\" src=\"http:\/\/www.europace.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/quote-note-300x291.jpg\" alt=\"quote note\" width=\"300\" height=\"291\" srcset=\"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/quote-note-300x291.jpg 300w, http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/quote-note-768x746.jpg 768w, http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/quote-note-1024x994.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/quote-note-1080x1049.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Avoid These Common Mistakes<\/h3>\n<p>Stupid, little mistakes can cause you to not take notes properly. A few of the biggest mistakes that people make when taking notes are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trying to write down everything and not just the main points<\/li>\n<li>Losing focus when taking notes<\/li>\n<li>Trying to remember everything<\/li>\n<li>Failing to revise and organize your notes<\/li>\n<li>Leaving out lists, colors, drawings, graphs and other cues which can help make notes more robust<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you correct the mistakes above, you\u2019ll quickly find that your note taking will improve.<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Text&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; use_border_color=&#8221;off&#8221; border_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;] Taking notes seems easy. Sure, you may have mastered the art of critical reading, but when it comes to learning, notes can make or break your semester. The key ingredient that differentiates a critical thinker from a person that aces the class is their note [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/67"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/europace.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}