Tips for note taking

[tdunks]

I am just wondering what methods you guys use for deciding what is important and might be tested from the textbook (other than specifics the prof tells you) and also how you decide what of the prof says is important. I have noticed a few of my profs ramble on about seemingly nothing, or stories of theirs for most of the lecture and most of what they say that I find important is almost exactly what is on their slides.

 

What do you guys do?

[CampingDelight]

Your university may have lots of workshop that can give you some tips as to how to write good notes. Also, having smart friends from upper years may help too, as they have all been in your situation. They may be able to answer your question more directly.

 

 

But here's my advice:

 

Reading the textbook before lecture will definitely help, if you are the type of person who likes to read the textbook after the lecture.

 

But then it all depends on which course it is. Some profs love to ramble and talk BS just to entertain the students. Most of them are lame... honestly. I had a prof for 2nd year bio and 50% of things he said appeared to be pure BS. He would include slides about complete nonsense... like kindergarten pictures that are very irrelevant. I thought I was in a sociology class.

 

For many life sciences courses, I find that most people do write down EVERYTHING the professor says. Then after the lecture, we listen to the lecture recording (if you're from U of T) to make sure that we do, indeed, have EVERYTHING written down in our notes. Some profs like to use silly examples and analogies, and we write them down too. Basically we write down anything that seems relevant to the topic we are going through in class. And side stories DO come up on exams, depending on which profs you have. Those are the really annoying ones. Be careful.

 

For organic chem courses, I write down anything that explains why certain reactions yield the products they produce, why the chemicals react that way, why why why...

 

For English, I don't find myself writing that much stuff, except for some important terms. English is pretty much all about discussion (isn't it?) and I write down professors' opinions.

 

For my social science courses, I just read the title of the prof's notes and their sub-titles. Usually those sub titles speak for themselves... what is the main issue? While the prof goes on and on talking, he will eventually say something that answers the question on the sub-title, which I write down.

 

Lol I'm just writing too much but I do want to emphasize the fact that the safest way to do good in life sciences is to write down every single word the prof says. If you can't distinguish what is important from what is not important, chances are, most of the things the prof says are important.

[tigars53]

For anything (class, reading, etc), if I can see a clinical use to it, it's usually important. If I read about something that's lethal, even if rare, that also usually important.

 

If I get lost in molecules names, pharmacodynamic, molecular biology, etc, I just skim over the text because I know chances of it being relevant or on the test are very slim...

[Corie]

The advice would vary from subject to subject. How you take notes for social science classes would be way different than for biol or even chemistry courses.

 

The teacher's style also is a factor - some of them quickly mention names of drugs they don't expect you to memorize but the important ones they dwell on. Many of mine tell us during the lecture "don't worry about this" on an topic they don't expect us to memorize.

 

My best advice is to see if you can get your hands on some of the old exams and just take a look at the depth of the questions asked. Were they conceptual? Or were they memorization based?

 

The other smart thing to do is to find upper year students and just ask them about their opinions on such a such teacher's style and test questions. Some teachers assign tens of pages of pointless reading per lecture. In fact, I wasted 500$ on textbooks last year and most of them I never opened... Some teachers just never test from textbooks. At McGill, it seems like the case - they only test from what was said in lecture. Hence, I usually take down notes for everything they say in class.

[Lost&Found]

Just out of curiosity, how long does it take you to read and make notes on 40 pages of text? I'm trying to figure out if it takes me too long :$

[Corie]

Ah I don't read textbooks. I'm a slow reader and mixed in with my mild dyslexia just doesn't help. I usually make notes from class lectures and study from whatever was said in class.

 

I would normally take ~1.5-2.5 hours to make notes on 40 pages of textbook reading when I'm forced to read the text.

[drkwhy]

Understand understand understand.

 

The most important thing I realized I MUST do was understand what the prof wanted us to know that week he/she taught it to us. In the past I put it off until test time and that didn't go so well.

 

Note-taking aside, when you learn the stuff in class, go back and LEARN the material to a point where you can give the same lecture you just heard(That isn't to say memorize everything the prof said. You should be able to talk about the material without referring to your notes). Use your textbook or wikipedia to supplement your notes or to get clarification.

 

I print out lecture slides and write on them as I go through lecture, come back and read textbook material relevant to the material, if I have time, to reinforce the material. Then, at the end of the week, I summarize out loud to my imaginary friend everything I learned that week:) He then tells me I'm so smart and I feel happy...until the midterms...

[Lost&Found]

HAHAHAHA! I do the same thing

[psychoswim]

I do the same thing too.. summarizing out loud lol.

[MedPen]

I never make notes. Just realized that that might be weird...

[psychoswim]

I never make notes. Just realized that that might be weird...

 

Not really.. I don't write much either, just details here and there that aren't in the slides or our course packs. Sometimes info I don't understand and research during review. I will do summary tables to help polish off the studying in anatomy and microbio for example but that's pretty much it.

[aaronjw]

Not really.. I don't write much either, just details here and there that aren't in the slides or our course packs. Sometimes info I don't understand and research during review. I will do summary tables to help polish off the studying in anatomy and microbio for example but that's pretty much it.

 

I am jealous of you and MedPen

[psychoswim]

I am jealous of you and MedPen

 

Don't be... it just depends on what works for you! It doesn't mean I move faster, just differently. For me reading through class notes/slides takes a while because I can't just read through it, I have to retain the material even if I don't have an exam close by. And I need to go through a few times too.

 

Also your method might evolve with time.. I know that when I was in cegep and my UG I wasn't doing things the way I am now. But when I went back to do bio courses last winter somehow it just felt right!

[drkwhy]

I do the same thing too.. summarizing out loud lol.

 

It's so fun lol. I pretend like I'm teaching a class. It's sort of embarrasing though when your parents walk into your room and you're waving your arms to resemble mRNA, trying to demonstrate how translation is regulated by eIF4E and eIF4G ...

[MedPen]

Don't be... it just depends on what works for you! It doesn't mean I move faster, just differently. For me reading through class notes/slides takes a while because I can't just read through it, I have to retain the material even if I don't have an exam close by. And I need to go through a few times too.

 

Also your method might evolve with time.. I know that when I was in cegep and my UG I wasn't doing things the way I am now. But when I went back to do bio courses last winter somehow it just felt right!

 

Psychoswim is right: it's not faster not to take notes. I still have to learn everything I'm reading. I didn't realize though before reading this thread that a lot people took notes when studying.