Taking notes is something that every college student needs to know how to do, because when you're sitting in class and the professor is speaking at 10,000 words per minute, blazing through PowerPoint slides, and at the end of the class you are paralyzed when the professor says "Make sure you took notes today, this stuff will be on the exam" because you didn't know how to take good notes. So pay attention, and be prepared to have your mind blown with these simple and amazing note-taking techniques!
1. Write in red ink. Writing in red ink will imprint the knowledge of what you are writing down in your brain far more easily than writing in black, blue, or any other kind of ink. This a proven psychological fact, because red is the color that our eyes most see and remember naturally. One of the first colors that newborns can see is the color red. Don't believe me? Go grab something red and visit your little niece or nephew, and wave that thing in front of their eyes. Watch as they track the red object intensely. Trust me, writing in red ink will save your brain a lot of effort in remembering these things you write down. Why do you think teachers mark papers and tests in red ink? So you'll see what they wrote and remember it of course!
2. Know what to take notes on, and what not to take notes on. One of the hardest thing to do in note taking is to differentiate between what is important, and what is not important. What is important are things like formulas, dates, names, theories, new information, questions, definitions, and anything that is bolded or underlined on the PowerPoint or board that your teacher is using. Don't write down things you already know, and don't try to copy what is on the PowerPoint or what your teacher is saying verbatim, because you will just fall behind and have no idea if you missed anything important. Just focus on the list of important things above, and remember to only write down when necessary.
3. Take notes in a structured method. Don't just scribble everything important down haphazardly across your notebook or iPad or whatever. Divide your paper into thirds, use bullet points or Roman numerals, use subpoints, etc. Writing without structure is like driving without lane dividers or road signs: you'll crash and burn within minutes. If you have to, take a bit of time before class and just divide/bullet point/structure your notebook pages so that you won't have to do that in class. Trust me, this will keep your notebook looking clean and it will make it easier for you to go back and underline or highlight whatever you write down. Don't be that note taking guy who's notebook pages look like a blind chicken wrote them.
And there you have it folks! 3 easy steps to make your note taking life much simpler, and much easier. Don't sweat note-taking, it's just writing down information people. Take a breath, pay attention, and take notes!
-M
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