Taking notes: 5 tips and recommendations

In order to study, it is not only enough to have a good memory or good retention, but it is also of vital importance taking notes in class. This also implies being attentive to the teacher’s explanation, to know how to synthesise and prepare your study material.

Therefore, here are some tips and recommendations that will help you to take good notes in class and avoid messy study material.

Define a structure

We understand that when taking notes by hand or while a teacher is explaining in class, it is not always easy to define a structure. However, it will be necessary when establishing the study material that it has a structure in order to make it easier to study the subject.

To achieve this structure, it is necessary to listen to everything he/she explains and while doing so, synthesise and summarise the explanation in your mind, put the ideas in order and then capture them. Afterwards, you can transfer these notes to a second notebook or a questionnaire to order the ideas captured in the first notes.

Summarise and synthesise

This point is related to the previous one, because in order to achieve a structure, it is necessary that you do not write down exactly everything the teacher says. Otherwise, you will only get tired and will not pay adequate attention to the explanation. This happens because you would not be able to grasp the main idea and you would miss the details of the subject.

To achieve an efficient summary and synthesis of the lecture, it is necessary that you first listen and understand what the teacher explains, and then write down the main idea. This way, when you read the notes again, you will also understand them. Moreover, it will be easier to structure them.

A little trick is to write down key words, short sentences and relevant facts. You can also take the main idea of the teacher’s explanation and write it down, as soon as you understand it.

By hand or by computer?

Both options are good and each has its advantages and disadvantages. If you write by hand, you may be quicker, but the ideas may be a bit messier. On the other hand, if you write from the computer, you may be slower and may even get lost while writing, but you will also have a more orderly and structured writing.

Choosing either of these options will depend on your personal preferences and which one you feel more comfortable with. However, you can also choose to record the lesson and take notes at home on the computer or by hand. The latter will also help you to review and better understand what the teacher is explaining.

Use of colours

It is vitally important to prioritise the information you write down in your notes, as it has been shown that the brain processes information better when visual resources and colours are used. This way, you will have your notes better structured and it will be easier for you to study and grasp the information. In fact, some tricks you can follow to do this are as follows:

Use headings and subheadings in each section of the topic and classify them by colour.
Highlight the information you consider most important with coloured pens or markers. You can also highlight any concepts that are not clear to you, so that you can remember to research them later.
Make colourful diagrams or mind maps to keep the information in order. This can also be a good idea for taking notes more quickly.
Avoid getting distracted and missing essential information

Try to pay as much attention as you can while you are in class, to avoid missing relevant information that the teacher is explaining. While it is normal for our minds to wander a little while we are in class, you should avoid this happening frequently during the lecturer’s lecture.

You will make the greatest effort at the beginning of the class, when the teacher starts his or her explanation. This is because once you get into the subject and start taking notes, it will be more difficult for you to get lost, as you will already be soaking in the subject.

Taking notes in class is one of the main activities to guarantee success and passing a subject. This is because it will be your study material for an exam, so it must be clear enough for you to study from them. So don’t hesitate to put all these tips into practice.