This is one of the hardest things to do well! It is important to note that taking notes for an essay based course is markedly different than taking notes for an exam based course. In this post, I will talk exclusively on taking notes for an exam based course, where you a trying to tailor your notes to your next exam.

I highly recommend to do the readings for the class prior to getting into class. Reading the assigned reading material ensures that you have earlier exposure to the material. This makes taking notes easier because you have the general landscape down. For me, I read the materials and take notes on a separate google doc that is split screened during lecture (and discussion, when applicable).

Write It ALLL Down…Literally Type at the Speed of Light (if possible)

I know that sounds like a crazy thing to do but this gives you a guide to the course. You need all the information, an overloading amount of information, so that you can comb through, see what the professor emphasized, and see where the class reading can help you fill in the gaps. The lectures should serve as a general map to the course material.

I am currently enrolled in an Abnormal Psychology course. This course has three exams in six weeks and therefore there isn’t a second that I can be off my game. When I am in class, I try to type out as much as a I can. I not only write out the definitions and concepts but also make sure to include the examples that my professor is using in explaining those concepts. Examples are a good thing to have when you are trying to study the material but they will also show you the way the professors thinks of the material and what type of example may be on the exam.

Clean up and Cross Reference

Here is where your class notes become your exam study guide. After your class, you have a notes vomit of sorts. Little is labeled and it seems like you have never ending lists of bullets.

After class, I go through my notes, rewrite things that need more clarify, reformat to make reading and learning the information easier. While I do this, I have my reading notes right beside me so that I can reference them to add in clarifying material or concepts that align with what the professor said but were not mentioned or heavily covered in class. Here I also google terms and concepts to make sure that I understand the material.

Teach Yourself the Material

Before I really work with the material, I ready through my now study guide twice. Here I highlight concepts or terms that I need clarity on and want to discuss in office hours (usually in light orange) and concepts that I’m pretty sure I understand but want to review to make sure I am on the right track/learning the information correctly (in light green).

After reading through the material I use an index card and cover up some of my notes and try to quiz myself. For instance, I might have a heading that says “Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development.” Under this heading will be the stages of development and an explanation if each. When going through my notes I will cover up the bullets and try to remember the stages of development, provide a description of each, and any other important infortunio that relates to Freud’s theory.