Studying in college is truly its own art. A key to mastering the art of studying is by first taking good notes. If you take good notes, you can understand your class material better, study better, and ultimately make a great grade. However, note-taking is a skill that can be a bit tedious to learn.
Here is a list of some note-taking tips that can help you get ahead of the curve.
1. To Write or Type Your Notes?
There is a great debate in academia about whether it is better to write or type your notes. Which helps college students retain information better? Notes are key to getting through your college courses. Being effective in how you take notes will determine how well you can study from them. In my opinion, I always have preferred to handwrite my notes.
Studies agree that taking your notes by hand is better than typing your notes. The study shows that the group who took their notes with a pen (digital pens are included as well) showed better memorization than those who typed on a keyboard. However, that does not mean if you type your notes they are completely ineffective. Using what you are used to is just fine.
While most of the note-taking tips will be focused on handwritten notes, these methods can be translated to a keyboard. The best strategies will be what you find easiest and best for your courses. Depending on the course, sometimes you have to swap up how you take your notes.
2. Color Code
This is by far my favorite note-taking method, in any of my courses. Dividing up my information, headers, subtitles, and comments into their own colors helps me break down the information a lot easier. This strategy also helps me stay engaged while taking notes. The constant changing of pens and colors keeps my brain from getting bored.
Color coding is also a relatively simple strategy to learn, as you can get really creative, or simplistic, with it. For example, I put all my basic information in purple. This includes definitions and explanations. Anything extra I put in pink, so any information that may be under subheaders. All my examples are in red, and any comments from my peers that I find useful, I jot down in orange.
The only con to color coding is if you are taking a lecture with a very fast-speaking professor, this can be a bit time-consuming. This is where it may be helpful to type your notes and go through and change the font color later. Or, use color coding when you go back and study.
As you review your notes, you can color code how you highlight them. For example, information you do not yet understand, highlight in yellow. What you do understand, highlight in blue. That way as you go back over them, your eyes know where to focus.
3. Cornell Notes
Among all the note-taking tips, Cornell Notes might just be the oldest, and one with the most debate around it. It has probably helped countless college students make sense of their courses. Some students still use this method today and it may be just what you need.
Here’s how it works. When writing Cornell Notes, you will have three sections. First, is the largest area of your paper, which is where the actual notes go. Second, within a margin, you will write the main ideas, questions, and any keywords from the lecture. Then there is the summary section located at the bottom of the page. This can be especially helpful for students when they are reviewing their notes, and want to go over particular sections.
Now, this method is a bit dated. Cornell Notes were created around the 1950s by a college professor named Walter Pauk. However, just because the method is dated does not mean it is ineffective. These notes can be useful if you like summarizing your notes or decluttering all the writing you have to do.
4. Aesthetic Notes
On StudyTok, there has been a rise of wanting to take aesthetic notes. These notes usually feature beautiful calligraphy and specific color schemes. Sometimes it feels like the goal of these is to be the prettiest rather than helpful. However, aesthetic notes do have many useful qualities.
Aesthetic notes are very clean. Among note-taking tips, they are probably the cleanest. Nothing messy goes on, or it risks ruining the aesthetic of the page. Taking notes that are appealing to the eye can improve your focus when you are reviewing. We are all naturally more attentive to something that looks appealing to us.
Unfortunately, much like color coding, this note-taking method can be a bit time-consuming. These notes lend themselves better when you are not trying to rush.
5. Abbreviations
While discussing note-taking tips, we cannot overlook the challenge of the pace of your professor. Some college professors fly through their lectures to try and maximize the amount of content they can teach in one class period. If you have a professor like this, it can be difficult to keep up.
To try and remedy this, go with abbreviations. Taking notes does not always require full-length sentences. Using shorthand can help you keep up with your professor, and allow your notes to make sense later. Save yourself the time and stress.
This can be especially helpful in math lectures or discussing statistics. Why write out words like decreasing when you can just draw an arrow? Simplistic signs will make the same amount of sense as the words you would be writing out.
6. Work Smarter, Not Harder
In university, the key is to work smarter, not harder, no matter what you do. Whether you only use one of these tips or a combination, it all must be to make your note-taking easier.
Note-taking is an art. If you can get a handle on it, then studying in college will become a lot easier. The more productive you are with your notes, the more likely you are to succeed in college.
