Shorthand, Speedwriting, Speedreading-Help!

stpauligirl · Nov 17, 2006

I've been looking for books or dvds that teach speedwriting and speedreading techniques but it seems most of these are the old versions of shorthand which would take long to learn.
Has anyone learned shorthand, speedwriting or speedreading and what resources did you use?
Have these skills been helpful with taking notes in class and from textbook readings?
Any info would help, since I'm having a hard time taking my lecture notes in longhand. Thanks

I tape the lectures, I have a digital recorder

reebok · Nov 17, 2006

Some professors don't allow tape recording.

Dont worry b/c eventually you will develop your own shorthand style of taking notes.

Just don't write stuff down. Try to understand what you are writing down along with what the professor is saying. If its too demanding?

1rst: tell professor to repeat or could you slow down please!

2nd: Ask questions and verify.

3rd: Always get at least 3 other students numbers so you all can compare

notes or get information from one another if one fails to show up to

class.

Most times just listen to the professor & write only necessary stuff. Like things the professor stress will more than likely be on the test.

stpauligirl · Nov 17, 2006

I tape the lectures, I have a digital recorder

May I add that if you are not allowed to tape the lecture you could also request a note taker if you have a hard time keeping up....I was offered that position for monetary compensation, but it may also be offered free of charge, please contact your student services. You don't want to wait t'ill its too late and do poorly in your class if there is help out there.

stpauligirl · Nov 17, 2006

Some professors don't allow tape recording.
Dont worry b/c eventually you will develop your own shorthand style of taking notes.
Just don't write stuff down. Try to understand what you are writing down along with what the professor is saying. If its too demanding?
1rst: tell professor to repeat or could you slow down please!
2nd: Ask questions and verify.
3rd: Always get at least 3 other students numbers so you all can compare
notes or get information from one another if one fails to show up to
class.
Most times just listen to the professor & write only necessary stuff. Like things the professor stress will more than likely be on the test.

I have never had a professor who didn't allow tape recording. Sounds like the poster needs immediate remedy. You cant expect the entire class to have to slow down for someone who can't keep up....constant questions and varifications would be way to disruptive. I have never had a slow professor...especially in the nursing prerequiste classes where they jam an enourmous amount of information into one class and literally throw it at you with rocket speed. It's the nature of these classes, it goes Boom Boom boom.....our professor talks so fast he trips over his own words, taping saves the day :roll

BSNtobe2009 · Nov 17, 2006

I have never had a professor who didn't allow tape recording. Sounds like the poster needs immediate remedy. You cant expect the entire class to have to slow down for someone who can't keep up....constant questions and varifications would be way to disruptive. I have never had a slow professor...especially in the nursing prerequiste classes where they jam an enourmous amount of information into one class and literally throw it at you with rocket speed. It's the nature of these classes, it goes Boom Boom boom.....our professor talks so fast he trips over his own words, taping saves the day :roll

I had a a couple of professors that were big on not allowing tape recording...to me, it's ridiculous b/c you are there to learn, and not everyone is a rapid note taker.

Some professors, have a "potty mouth" and are afraid they'll get into trouble if the higher ups know certain jokes they tell, whatever. I could care less about that sort of thing. I just need to be able to review the material.

I have always kept a bookbag that has a mesh pocket in front. I use that pocket for tape recordings...I keep it entirely to myself and I don't share it with anyone. I don't see anything wrong with that as long as you don't share the tapes.

The last straw for me was a class I had to drop from a foreign professor that had a heavy accent that would not permit questions to be asked in class and would not allow you to open your textbook to follow along. College is too expensive to cater to that kind of nuttiness.

JentheRN05, RN · Nov 17, 2006

I had an instructor that got down right PO'd when I pulled out a tape recorder. Which really sucked. It was the hardest class in nursing school, and they all knew it. I was trying to better my understanding in a review class. Boy did that go wrong.

stpauligirl · Nov 17, 2006

I had a a couple of professors that were big on not allowing tape recording...to me, it's ridiculous b/c you are there to learn, and not everyone is a rapid note taker.
Some professors, have a "potty mouth" and are afraid they'll get into trouble if the higher ups know certain jokes they tell, whatever. I could care less about that sort of thing. I just need to be able to review the material.
I have always kept a bookbag that has a mesh pocket in front. I use that pocket for tape recordings...I keep it entirely to myself and I don't share it with anyone. I don't see anything wrong with that as long as you don't share the tapes.
The last straw for me was a class I had to drop from a foreign professor that had a heavy accent that would not permit questions to be asked in class and would not allow you to open your textbook to follow along. College is too expensive to cater to that kind of nuttiness.

How terrible about that foreign professor!

Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do....luckily nobody at my school has a problem with tape recording. We have quite a large number of students with disabilities, including me....taping is actually one of the recommendations in my situation. Good luck to you :)

I already see the replies why someone "retarded" like me should even try to get into nursing school.....bring it on!

MB37 · Nov 17, 2006

A couple of hints from a fast writer, although I never took a speedwriting class: make up abbreviations and/or symbols - you should never write out filler words like and or with, and a lot of common words in class can be shortened as well - function = fx, for change I draw a triangle, etc. I don't mean sit down and make up a language, but abbreviate what you can. In some classes as well, if your prof is speeding like crazy, don't write down all the info that he gives you. Just write down what sound like the key words. Make sure you know what topics he covered even if you don't know every piece of info he gave you on them. Then you know what areas to focus on when you go back to your book and study. Also, some people are much faster typers than writers - you might look into taking a laptop to class if it's allowed. Good luck!

BSNtobe2009 · Nov 17, 2006

How terrible about that foreign professor!
Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do....luckily nobody at my school has a problem with tape recording. We have quite a large number of students with disabilities, including me....taping is actually one of the recommendations in my situation. Good luck to you :)
I already see the replies why someone "retarded" like me should even try to get into nursing school.....bring it on!

HA! I know what you mean! I just have a short fuse when it comes to eccentric professors, and have never thought any of it is "cute". I've had professors that have got so mad they have thrown chalk at students (no different from assault), one that if you coughed or sneezed he would order you out of class (I think he was a secretly undiagnosed OCD), another that told us to read the weather report every morning (hard in the days when hardly any students had computers and most of us didn't have TV's) and if it was 20 degrees above the norm for the day, class was automatically cancelled. I could go on and on.

What other employer would allow an employee to require it's clients and customers to cater to them? They wouldn't.