We all know note taking is a pain, but there are ways to take notes efficiently and make them easy to understand when you come back to them. But most importantly is committing the notes to memory. So here are a few ways on taking notes, and helping keep them in memory. Image from infomaniac
- Write what you hear – Unfortunately you probably won’t get the opportunity to go back and hear what was said unless you tape record; so go ahead and write whatever you heard. Or if you forgot just skip it and keep writing. Whatever you do don’t stop. Make sure your writing remains somewhat legible and that will still be good.
- Go Back- When you get the chance go back to your notes, review them and re-write them! Re-write them: Shorter, More concise, More Legibly. What this will do is this will let you commit them to memory while re-writing them. This goes for flash cards too, it’s not reading flash cards that helps it’s making them. The act of writing and going over what you have done once a second time, lets the information go from temporary memory to permanent memory.
- Read it Aloud – Go through your notes and read them aloud. Do they make sense to you, are they logical, and how much of it do you remember?
Note taking tends to be a skill, write them so you can understand them, and re-write them so you can remember them.
Good Luck!
