Have you ever found yourself in this situation? Midterms or finals are approaching, and you sit down to study. When open up your notes, they appear to be written in hieroglyphics. As you wade through pages and pages of this foreign text, you can barely recall the topics that the professor addressed in lectures. And then there were those days when you showed up for class but studied for your French quizzes. Dismissing the notes that you have taken as useless, you abandon them for the clear prose of your textbook. This midterm will cover eight chapters from the book, four of which you haven’t read. Where will you find the time to read and reread these chapters? How will you mine these pages to find out which ideas are significant? You know you are in trouble!

To avoid a panic when it comes time to study for midterms and finals, you must read the material, attend lectures, and take effective notes throughout the term. In addition, in order to remember the information when it is needed, you must have effective review strategies. One of the most effective approaches is to take notes that are designed for easy review. That makes it easier to learn and remember the information. No matter how good a student you are, there are techniques that can help you do better.

Class notes provide more than a record of what the professor said in a lecture; the act of taking notes actually helps you to learn the material that a professor is presenting. Taking notes:

1)       Helps you to organize information.

         Studies suggest that you will learn new material easier if you have a framework for structuring and  relating concepts (American Psychological Association 1992)

2)       Promotes active learning, critical thinking, and comprehension.

        According to Barbara Gross Davis, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at UC Berkeley, taking notes increases students’ attention in class and promotes reflection and critical thinking.

3)       Saves time when you are studying.

        Your notes serve as a ready-made study guide when you begin to review for an exam.

Preparing to take notes

You need to come to class having read the assigned materials. The reading will introduce you to key terms and concepts that will likely be covered in the lecture. Some lectures present information from the assigned reading. Other lectures build on what you are supposed to have read. If you do the reading before the lecture, you will have an easier time understanding the lecture and picking out significant ideas.

Before class, be sure to review your notes from the previous lecture. This will not only help you retain the material you have covered, it will also help you contextualize the day’s lessons. Because lectures often build on concepts that you have covered in previous lectures, your comprehension of new lecture material will often depend on your understanding and recollection of material covered previously. Moreover, your professors will expect you to be able to synthesize the material that you cover in class, to connect ideas from lecture to lecture. Reviewing earlier material will facilitate such connections.

Note-taking strategies

While there are a number of different note-taking strategies, the most comprehensive system is known as the Cornell method. This method is based on research regarding learning and memory, and the special demands of university courses.

There are a number of advantages to using the Cornell Method. First, this method does not require much rewriting or additional work to be effective. Second, the Cornell Method works for students regardless of their learning style. Third, this method encourages critical engagement, not simply memorization.

The Cornell Method involves 5 Basic Steps: Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, Review.

1)       Record

         Before class begins, take out a piece of loose-leaf paper and draw a line from the top of the page to bottom of the page, about 2.5 inches from the left margin. Take your class notes in the larger column on the right. The column on the left is your recall column and should remain blank during the lecture.

As you take notes in class, try to accurately and faithfully record the information that your professor presents, in a way that reflects how he/she presents it. In general, it is wise to listen for and record important ideas and concepts. Fill in specific details or examples later.

Listen for cues that an idea is important. Specifically, take note of key words that signal that significant information will follow. These key words generally come in three varieties.

a.       Content Related Key Words: Words that are related to the subject that a professor is addressing. For example, in a physics lecture, content words might include the component parts of an atom or Newton’s laws.

b.       Directional Key Words: Words that indicate that students should do something. For example, directional words or phrases might include “The test will cover material from the first and second week of the quarter.” Now you know what to study.

c.       Clue Words: Words that signal that important information is going to follow. For example, some common clue words include: above all, significantly, in contrast, similarities, differences, reasons, types.

Pay attention to the questions that a professor asks. Often you will see these questions again on an exam or quiz. Also, note when a professor emphasized a point through facial expression or intonation, or when he or she writes something on the board.

Do not worry about constructing elaborate outlines. Skip spaces between major ideas and note subordinate ideas or examples by indenting. Do not worry about writing in complete sentences, but don’t rely on short-hand that will seem unfamiliar to you when you return to your notes at a later time.

2)       Reduce

        The concept of reducing notes is essential to the Cornell Method of note taking. According to several studies focusing on memory, after 48 hours you forget approximately 70% of the material that was presented in a lecture. To promote retention of information, you should reduce your notes within two days of attending the lecture.

To reduce your notes, first read over the information that you have copied down in the right column of your notes. Fill in any blanks, clarify any confusing points, highlight any key terms or ideas. Then, in the left-hand column of the page, try and reduce the ideas that you cover in your notes to key words or short phrases. Note any connections that you can make between the material presented in this lecture and in previous lectures or in the textbook. Record potential test questions based on the information covered in you notes. Then, at the bottom of the page or on the back of the page, summarize the lecture in your own words.

3)       Recite

        Recitation is instrumental in transferring knowledge from short-term to long-term memory and is both aural and kinesthetic. (You both hear and speak the material.) As you recite your notes, cover the right hand-column and from the cues in the left-hand column try to say out loud to yourself what you have written in your notes.

4)       Reflect

        When you reflect on your notes, you connect the new knowledge that you have gained with the knowledge that you already possess and explore how you feel about the topic at hand.

Look back over your notes and use your text book along with your notes to chart cause and effect relationships, define terms, relate concepts, draw conclusions, connect the material from the class with the knowledge you had about the subject before entering the class, and otherwise do the work of thinking critically about what you have learned. You should keep reflections separate from your notes or at least designate them as your thoughts by writing them in a different color of ink than your class notes.

5)       Review

        According to research, if you have not reduced your notes and reviewed them on a regular basis within 20 days after being exposed to material in a lecture, you will actually need to relearn the material rather than simply review it. To increase your retention and save time studying for exams, look over your notes several times each week. This strategy of studying is more effective than last-minute cramming because it does not require you to relearn class material nor does it produce as much mental and physical fatigue as cramming does.

To review, simply cover up the right-hand column and recite your notes based on the key words and phrases in the left-hand column.

Conclusion

By taking effective class notes and using these notes to guide your learning throughout the semester, you will avoid some of the major pitfalls of exam preparation, save time, and reduce anxiety.

Get more help with the medical school application process by calling Don Osborne at 949-417-1295 x. 211 or emailing info@inquarta.com.