Tips on Note Taking

Is this note taking practice working for you? Are you doing well on the quizes/tests? If so then I wouldn't change a thing. I know it takes a lot of time. I don't have a recorder and sometimes I wish I did because my professor talks so fast that sometimes I do miss what he says. Because of this after I get home from class I re-read the book and put the notes I got from lecture and the notes from the book onto note cards. I spend around 3 hours a day just going over my in-class notes and adding to them from the book. Unfortunately you will have to spend a lot of out-of-class time with the material.

If this isn't working for you and you are spending too much time on note taking that isn't producing a good result then forget taking notes while in-class and just focuss on the lecture from the recorder. Go over it and take down notes from that. Follow along with the text and possibly add more notes from that.

Everyone has their own studying/note taking practice. What works for me might not work for you and vise versa.

Good luck!

I record lectures too and what helps me is this: I read the chapters that are going to be discussed before class. I look over the course objectives in the syllabus, do the chapter reviews sometimes, and try to absorb as much information I can take before going to the class. I take very few notes if at all during class...I just pay attention and focus on what is being discussed. When I get back home, I listen to lectures and take notes. It can be a little time consuming depending on the class, but if you are thorough, then you are most likely going to get a good grade.

Or sometimes, I simply read the book and write my own notes that I think are important and make sure that I highlight the lectures discussed in class that are emphasized. If I understand the information quickly, then that's all it takes. If not, I find additional information from the Internet that discusses topics in a better way for me to understand it. These are just a few things I do :)

I found that I do better and stay focused more if I prepared before lecture. Even if it's brief skimming of the text/material. I also record lectures. After lecture, I read the material thoroughly, adding onto my lecture notes (or I start my own set of notes) and then go through the recorded lecture again after studying the material more in-depth. I find it quicker to type my notes on my laptop (however, I'm a very fast typer and a slow writer by hand). It may seem time consuming but that's what's worked for me. I guess I should be looking forward to long hours of studying once I begin nursing school. lol