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How to Improve Note Taking Techniques
Good note-taking is an art form. There are two types of people in this world--those that actually read the notes that they take in class and those that take notes because they think they should but can't decipher them at all when the time comes to study. This second group of people needs some guidance.
The best way to take notes that will provide value to you down the road is to come up with a strategy before the lecture starts. Too often, poor note-takers get bogged down with information that they don't really need. In a lecture, it's often impossible to write down every piece of information given to you. If you go into the lecture with an idea of the themes and topics that are being developed in the class, you may be able to focus on the parts that are most important to those growing concepts, instead of racing to catch everything.
To help you determine your note-taking priorities, take a look at your syllabus and do the required reading before the lecture. Often, the instructor will give you a sense of what the lecture will be about on a syllabus, and the lecture will often have something to do with the reading for that week. If you've done the reading, you'll be able to better pinpoint new information in the lecture that you didn't catch during the reading, and thus capture that info in your notes.
