Back-to-school tips: How to take notes effectively during lectures

The practice of taking notes during lectures is said to be an effective way to memorise what is being taught. As your professor gets into complex mathematical equations or explains social theories, it can be difficult to catch up and grasp everything on the whiteboard. Hence, taking notes offers an opportunity to recall the topics, especially when the lecture is not being recorded.

Note-taking is a skill you can master over time. Doing it effectively can help you remember your lectures and eventually get better grades. Below are some tips that can help:

Keep it concise

Taking notes doesn’t mean writing down everything that comes out of your professor’s mouth or everything written on the board. Your notes should consist of only the important things and the ones you think will be hard to recall once the lecture is over. This way, you can keep your notes short and concise so that it is easy to read and understand them later.

Don’t beautify

The purpose of taking notes should be to jot down the important points and not to fill your notebook with neatly written sentences and floral patterns. By spending time making your handwriting look pretty, you could be missing some crucial parts of the lecture. However, this also doesn’t mean that you would make your notes look like doodles.

Use abbreviations

Your professor could be using a host of lengthy words and phrases while delivering the lecture, but you must work smart and use abbreviations to make the notes concise. For instance, you could write ‘btw’ instead of ‘between’, ‘2’ in place of ‘two’, or ‘da’ for ‘the’.

Go with comfort

You may use a laptop or smartphone to take notes or go the old-fashioned way and opt for a notebook and pencil. It doesn’t matter what you choose as long as you are fast and accurate. For some, laptops can be distracting while others think that using a pencil or pen slow things down. But you should choose only what you are comfortable with.