Effectively preparing notes is an extremely crucial skill. This skill can become a student’s way success as it benefits in understanding and remembering concepts and ideas. The note-taking techniques presented in this article are relevant for students who intend to pursue their higher education or those who are looking for some effective AIIMS preparation tips. Even though coaching institutes like Aakash Institute provide students with amazingly helpful notes to help them score well in exams, students must how to effectively take notes in a classroom.
How to Effectively Take Notes In a Classroom
Here are some effective ways to take notes in a classroom.
- Getting the Basics Right
Preparing notes doesn’t mean writing down everything the faculty says during lectures. To make effective notes one should start preparing before the lecture begins. It is crucial to go through the material before attending the lecture or before attempting to study for a chapter. Reading the material in advance is the best way one can prepare for a class. This gives the student a vague idea about the topic, its contents and allows them to have a better understanding of the various concepts of a topic. Apart from that, one should always underline the sentences which they think are important and note down all the doubts that come to mind while reading the textbook.
- Reviewing your Notes in Advance
It is important to go through the reading material which the student has prepared in advance. This way they can revise all the major points and make sure that they don’t forget or miss out on any key points.
- Be A Good Listener
Since the student already has some idea about the content, it becomes quite easy for them to understand what is going to be taught. To prepare notes during the lecture, one needs to be a good listener. If someone is not a good listener, it’ll be difficult for them to take down notes while the faculty is explaining or while there is a discussion in the class. In case someone is unable to write quickly, they can record the session and make notes later with the help of the recordings.
- Focus on the Main Points
It is a good practice to understand the main objectives as well as all the critical points of the topic. It gives students the central area to focus while they are learning. While explaining a topic, the faculty members quote various examples which are not described in the study material. So, it becomes important to note these examples and use them as a reference for future readings.
- Clarifying the Doubts
During the classroom session, students should address all the doubts they had marked before the session began. It’s important for students to get the answers to all their questions and prepare notes on these.
- Preparing Notes after the Lecture
This step involves preparing useful notes after the session is over. This ensures that the concept is clear to the student and they get to know more about the content after they have understood the subject in a detailed manner.
- Review the Notes
This involves going through all the notes prepared before, during, and after the session and making the necessary changes. At this point, students can add, delete or modify anything they feel is not important.
- Merging the Notes
The primary objective of preparing notes after a classroom session is to summarize everything they learnt before and after the class. The final notes should include points written before the session and during the classroom session. Preparing notes doesn’t mean writing down everything the faculty member says during the lecture; instead, jotting down points that can enhance their knowledge.
Note making is the art of learning complex things easily and documenting it so that it could be used again in future. Preparing notes has nothing to do with a student’s writing skills, they just have put in the right effort, and they can become experts at it.
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Our Geography teacher in Class 8 used to insist that we keep our pens down and listen to her intently for the entire class . Then five minutes before the bell was to ring , she allowed us take down notes using the points she had written down on the board etc .
Listening to the lecture is more important than merely scribbling away as the teacher speaks .As you mentioned, note taking should be mindful and not a mindless, mechanical activity
Taking notes can be a tough exercise and you have effectively addressed issues that may come up like being a listener and writing. I think it’s important for a student to learn this art, preparing before hand and making own notes that can be emerged. I always took notes in class and made my own notes that prepares us. But, with time I tend to miss things out. Thanks for sharing Corinne.