Combing textbook and lecture notes is fool-proof way to acing your exams. Not only do they support your basic learning, it also provides a better understanding of the whole topic.
Taking lecture notes helps your comprehension and retain. According to researchers, there was a 34% chance of remembering important information which was contained in notes. Only 5% chance of retaining information happened outside of lecture notes.
Huge content is given in textbooks. By shortening that content into notes we can understand quickly.
You should leave blank space while taking notes from textbook. Ideally, three or four line should be kept separate after all major content. Supplement your book notes with what the professor says in class and clarify anything else during the lecture.
Try using different color or highlighters or pen/pencil to distinguish which is which. Lecture notes are considered to be more important in most cases so it is important to differentiate between them.
What happens if the professor does not provide lecture notes before class?
What you have to do now is take notes during class and leave some space, about four to five lines. After your lecture is over, when you get home take textbook notes in the same copy.
Once both textbook notes and lecture notes are taken, combine both notes into one note by writing new notes in your own words.
One of the most effective note taking methods is mind-mapping. As defined, a mind map lets you organize your notes in a two-dimensional structure. It’s a visual diagram. Created on a blank piece of paper or canvas and is used in landscape mode instead of portrait.
Begin your mind map by writing the subject or headline in the center of the page. Then you add your notes in the form of branches that radiate outwards from the center.
Mind maps offer a range of benefits, especially if your goal is to retain information:
- Relationships, hierarchies and connections between individual pieces of information at a glance is shown in mind maps.
- Great overview of a topic that stores all your notes related to that topic on one single page.
- Fewer yet more meaningful notes are taken.
- Have mental triggers such as images, icons, colors and a two-dimensional structure that help you memorize their contents.
So, what’s wrong with linear notes?
They can be really monotonous, which makes it hard to memorize. The traditional note taking is quite laborious. Writing whole sentences is unnecessarily time-consuming and results in pages upon pages of information of which only a small percentage is actually important. It’s hard to add additional information in linear notes.
Lecture notes and textbook notes, when combined give a clearer idea of the whole topic. While collecting these notes begin each chapter or segment on a fresh new page. Notes provide an easier way to retain the whole information in shorter verses. Mind maps are an even more effective way to understand the subjects. So, go on, take those notes more carefully. And don’t forget to mind map to help memorize the topics in a better way.
