How Do I Take Good Notes?!?!

 

Taking good notes requires you to evaluate, organize and summarize information.  It's a key skill you will need throughout high school and beyond, so let’s master it now!

 

When you take notes during class, you want to create an organized, written record of the important concepts and ideas learned in class.  You should be able to look back at your notes later and remember what you learned in class that day.

 

The 3 skills required for good note taking:

 

1: Evaluation:  You will not be able to write down everything the teacher says, so how do you decide what’s important to put in your notes?

h  If I write it on the board, that means I think it’s important (and you should too!)  So, if I write it on the board, you should write it in your notes.

h  When something is very important, I will often repeat it multiple times throughout the course of the class.  If I keep repeating something, you should write it in your notes.

h  After you have taken your notes for the day, look at them in the evening to see if you still understand what you have written.  Does it still make sense to you later in the day?  If not, you may not be putting enough detail into your notes to jog your memory.  Try putting in more detail from the lecture the next day, and see if your “evening understanding” improves.

 

2: Organization:  If you can’t find the information in your notes, they’re not going to help you!

h  Separate daily entries clearly.  A good way to do this is to start a new page each day.

h  Leave space between different topics and ideas.  This way, when you scan through your notes for a particular topic, you will find it easily.  Also, leaving space allows you to go back in later and add extra information should you need to clarify something.

h  Make a separate heading for each topic within a daily entry.  This will also allow you to find topics easily at a later date.

 

3: Summarizing:  Since you will not be able to write down everything that is said, you will have to summarize the important ideas for yourself.

h  Take down key concepts and ideas.  Don’t try to write down entire sentences.

h  That evening, before you do your homework, read through your notes again.  There may be gaps where you did not have enough time during class to write down everything you wanted to.  Since it is still fresh in your head, you can fill in those gaps that evening.