Knowing how to take notes in class means saving a lot of time in the Study phase! The system that I have been using for years and which I would never do without is the Cornell Method. In this article, I show you how it works and how you can best use it.
Invented by a professor from the University of the same name, this method has proved effective for taking notes while listening to lectures, reading books, and during the subsequent phases of study, memorization, and review.
Notes Area (A)
The largest area of ??the sheet is dedicated to the notes. Here you have to write everything that is important and that you want to take away, but try to use short sentences, symbols, arrows, and any other solution useful to write concisely. Of course, be careful not to overdo it on the other side: what you write will have to be clear to you even after some time, so I advise you to use short sentences and not just keywords.
Three other important things to keep in mind are:
- Use an indentation process. Here’s how it works: the more generic the topic (e.g. title of a topic), the more it has to be moved to the left in the clipboard area, and vice versa, the more detailed the topic is (e.g. particular info of that topic) more will be moved to the right.
- Leave space while you write: it is important to be able to read your notes better and above all to be able to make subsequent additions, in case the professor has to go back or when you find yourself having to write down any considerations during the study phase.
- Avoid wanting beautiful notes: the purpose of the notes is to capture the key concepts and the links between them to facilitate the next phase of the study. To be effective, therefore, these must be clear and not necessarily “beautiful to look at”. So: pay attention to substance rather than form!
Keyword Area (B)
Once at home, or in any case when you have finished taking notes, it is time to use area A to facilitate the memorization process.
In this space, enter the keywords necessary to remind you of the concepts that are pinned in the area on the right A.
How many keywords to use? There is no precise formula, just keep in mind that the less you know about the topic the more keywords you will need to be able to memorize it.
NB. Do you want to know if you did your job well and found the right keywords? Cover the notes area with a piece of paper and try to repeat the concepts using only the words in column B. If you don’t remember, try changing the keyword or reviewing the notes you have taken.
Summary Area + Notes (C)
In this area you can write down notes, questions to ask the professor, links with external information, or any other useful information you want to have an eye on and not confused with the text of the notes.
In addition, you can insert a small summary of what is written on the page, so as to facilitate a re-analysis of the notes after some time.
Using this system, over time, you will create effective notes that will save you a lot of time in studying and reviewing.
Personalized Notes with the Cornell Method
Do you like the idea of ??starting to take notes this way? If the answer is “Yes”, then don’t postpone what you can do today until tomorrow: start now!
You will see, that by following the Cornell Method you will be able to greatly simplify the home study phase, precisely because you will have effectively used the time dedicated to following the lessons.
Of course, in order to get the most out of your notes, youll have to come back and re-read them (otherwise, for whom you were writing them in the first place?). However, when the exams are upcoming and you must study your notes carefully, youre also usually under many pressing deadlines.
How could you possibly go through your well-written notes under such circumstances? Unless you delegate some of those assignments to an online essay writer, you wont benefit much from having excellent notes. So, remember to make use of the Cornell method to optimize your notes and allocate time to actually work through them before the exams.
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