6 tips for note-taking

1. Before you start taking notes from any source, just quickly skim read the content to get a general gist of the information. It helps create a general context before you deep dive into the note-taking on any section. 

2. Before you start taking any notes, circle or highlight keywords in the content. Try not to highlight full sentences. Less is better, so you are really focusing on the key headings for your notes. 

3. Create a question heading around these key words that you just circled. (hint: think like a teacher when you create these question headings). Then write your notes to answer these key questions, but omit the little small words such as conjunctions and prepositions. e.g. ‘at’, ‘and’ etc. Only write 3-5 word phrases to answer these, NOT full sentences.

4. Chunk the notes in sections on the paper. Don’t write from the left of the page to the right in a traditional manner. Chunking helps when studying the stuff  later. It helps to lessen brain fog and that nasty overwhelming feeling when you’re studying. 

5. Use colour to symbolise headings, or sections or type of info or anything that makes sense to you. Attractive notes are also soooooo much nicer to study from. :)

6. Create diagrams around your notes to help with the visual learning needs and memory recall.