How to Write Down and Remember Everything Your Teacher Says

If you're like most students, you often have the experience of having taken extensive notes yet still failing to remember everything your teacher says. Well, there's some good news in store for you - I've developed some techniques which will help you to remember everything your teacher says so you can be well prepared for the tests ahead of you. Ready? Lets go!

Use Coloured Pens and Pencils

Take out some of your notes right now. What is the same throughout all of them? The pen and pencil colour. When something is one dimensional like this on an entire page, it is hard to take away certain notes from each area. Instead, try using coloured pens and pencils with which to take notes. Remember, make this a routine and positive results will soon follow.

Remember that most people find it easier to recall facts when they have a visual cue to work from. This is why using different colors in your notes is so effective. When you try this technique, you'll find that some colors work better for you than others. You might find that some colors work better for specific types of notes.

I like to write the body of my text in a colour other than blue, usually black, with non-black highlights. I always correct it in red if necessary. This is due to the extreme contrast that black and red represent to one another. You'll end up being able to find it much easier on your pages cluttered with notes.

Accentuate and Underline Important Points

While taking notes, it is extremely helpful to underline or otherwise emphasize certain items in your notes. Boxes, circles, whatever works best for you. However, you shouldn't overdo it; otherwise it will be difficult to tell what you meant to accentuate and what you didn't!

Include Charts, Figures and Graphs

Charts, drawings and diagrams make things like timelines and relationships (which are very difficult to get across in writing) readily understood. Using different colors for your text in diagrams, shading and the like will make these items even easier to follow.

Use Oversized Paper

I use large paper that is a little smaller than A3 or 11x17". I buy the continuous form in boxes of 5,000 sheets which cost around $25-$30. It's a great investment considering they have lasted over two years! I like the continuous nature of computer paper because I can "open it up" and get big diagrams on one sheet that can be easily folded.

There are one or two different things I do with these large sheets. Either I get all the main points of a course on one sheet or I section each page into a subject, topic or idea. It really just depends on the course that is being taken. Regardless, they are both great ways to get the proper information you need.

As an example, not long ago I took a course where I placed my notes for each lecture on a single page. This allowed me to condense my notes for 17 chapters of textbooks and 30 articles into a dozen or so pages. It's a lot simpler to read through a dozen pages than a thousand. This cuts down many hours of pre-test revision to less than one.

Taking notes can actually be fun. The best part is, when you take notes using these strategies, you can feel yourself remembering the information! Try it yourself - you'll find your confidence in your academic abilities grows by leaps and bounds and your grades are sure to reflect this.

Article Source: http://www.articlegoldmine.com

Author Dr Marc R. Dussault can show you how to easily boost your test scores using simple, effective speed learning techniques that anyone can learn. Visit the "Get Better Grades" web site for more great tips on speed learning.

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