The studyblr community has pooled in a lot of amazing, aesthetically pleasing, efficient, and fun ways to take notes and study. However, over the past few years, especially last semester when I took college classes, I realized that having one system really wasn’t helpful because I would have to scramble for different strategies when the classes drastically differed from one another. So, I made strategies for certain types of classes that were created specifically for those characteristics but flexible enough to adjust a bit if needed. Here is how I study:
I want to start off by saying ALL strategies including reading. DO NOT SKIP IT. It’s hard, it’s boring, and it’s slow, but in the end you learn and create a strong foundation for yourself.
I do not skip a word. I use three different colored post its, some page flags, and a writing utensil. I abhor highlighting on textbooks and books with a passion so I use post its instead: one for writing notes and key concepts, another for terminology, and the last color for any questions I have. As I read, I write all of my notes and then stick them in my textbooks in the corresponding area. The flags are for when I feel like I just couldn’t get the information completely and I want to come back and double review. Finally, after I go through a chapter, I get my notebook and from the beginning of the chapter, I rewrite my post its into notes with the same color coding system.
For the classrooms with power points: This is pretty simple. I print them before hand into handouts if they’re available before lecture and write everything that the teacher says in margins or highlight information. if they’re not available before hand, I still take notes from what the teacher is saying and writing and I make tiny notes of which slide it corresponds with. Then, I print the powerpoint later and write it into the powerpoint slides. To study, I just read over them.
When the teacher usually writes on the board, speaks all the time, and doesn’t use pp: This is where reading the textbook becomes your best friend. You won’t get as much details in lecture since a person can only talk and write so much in an allotted time period. Instead, I copy everything off of the board and don’t miss anything. At the same time I try to get everything he says onto my notebook also. As a back up, I have a voice recorder going on at the same time. Once I get home, I IMMEDIATELY and ALWAYS rewrite those class notes since they probably look terrifying. After all, people speak faster than they can write.
Finally, online classes. Most of it is learning by yourself so stay motivated and determined and you can do it! First, video transcripts are not your notes. Take notes from the video themselves while you’re watching them. For all of those online resources, write notes in every way you can. Print out all of your assignments that you do or put them somewhere where you can print them later to read over. Any reading excerpts? Print those and highlight all you want. Finally, READ THAT TEXTBOOK.
The last part of my studying strategy is really only useful when it comes to tests. Do any and all practice questions that you can get your hands on. I don’t care if it says there’s 100 questions. Do them!! If anything got me through my classes, it would be all of those damn practice tests and textbook questions (Do every problem in the back of your book. Do them. When you do them, your teachers can throw anything at you and you’ll be able to do any scenario.).
All classes are different. Some are a mixture of the traditional powerpoint and traditional lectures. That’s why I really like my strategies because they’re at like two different extremes and I can use them at different amounts to meet that perfect spot where my class is.
Finally, I will say that my study strategies do rely on my organizational systems. I have different notebooks for different things, different binder arrangements for different classes, and so on. If you want a master post on that just give me a message (it’ll probably come at some point but i’m also really lazy and forgetful).
Good luck with studying. Just remember to stay healthy no matter what you’re doing <3
