Welcome to another blog post. Today’s blog post is going to be about taking lecture notes. Taking good lecture notes can really help you succeed in your university degree. I have certainly picked up some tips along the way and so I thought I would share them with you today. Let’s get to it.
Remember to keep it concise
When you first start taking lecture notes, you automatically think “I need to get everything down.” That’s not going to happen. Everything your lecturer says is not relevant. Everything that’s on the powerpoint slides is not relevant. It’s up to you to decide what is relevant enough to include in your lecture notes. Sometimes, lecturers will say something that makes it clear what they’ve just said is of importance. For example, they might literally say that or will give subtle hints here and there.
Leave gaps in your notes
You may be looking at this and thinking what on earth? However, there are two reasons why you should leave gaps in your notes. The first reason is for when you miss something the lecturer said. I used to try and think of something to write down whenever I missed something, and I would come back to it later only to realise it was next to useless. Leave that section aside, and either ask a friend if they managed to write down a particular section, utilise recordings of the lecture (providing they exist), or use your reading to fill in the gaps.
The other reason I like to leave a gap in my lecture notes is for sections I don’t understand. If something doesn’t make sense to me, there’s no point in writing it down because you can’t keep it concise. You’ll be prone to copying every single word on the powerpoint slide or everything your lecturer said. Do some of your own reading or speak to your lecturer before you add notes to a section you don’t understand.
Use abbreviations
Using abbreviations will make your life so much easier. It allows you to take notes at a quicker speed, but be sure to use abbreviations that you understand. I like to use w/o for without, bc for because etc. Use whatever works for you.
Utilise the powerpoint slides before the lecture
If your lecturer uploads the powerpoint slides before the lecture, make sure to use them. I like to input the slides onto notion and take notes on what the lecturer is saying underneath. This means I can concentrate on what they are saying fully without having to worry about what the slides say. This means I’m not copying them word for word which is a waste of my time. Of course, your lecturer may not do this, at which point I can only apologise that this tip is next to useless.
Utilise lecture recordings
I’ve touched on this already but lecture recordings are really valuable tools to use. Again, this all depends on if your lectures are recorded. If they’re not, I would recommend recording them yourselves. I utilise lecture recordings for certain topics I don’t understand, or if I’ve missed a lecture.
And that’s it! I hope these tips are helpful for you in some way. Thank you for reading and I will see you soon for another blog post.
Beth
Beth Olivia 