Ah note taking – an essential university survival skill. Most of you will find that you are faced with 1 – 2 hour (heaven forbid 3 hour!) lectures which you are required to attend, pay attention to AND take notes on – don’t want much do they haha? Nobody panic – my note taking tips will have you writing fast and perfectly precise lecture notes in no time!

note taking tips

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Reasons why you need to learn note taking:

  • Not ALL lectures are recorded – it is standard university practice that lectures be recorded and posted online, especially for units with a large number of students and units with students in remote areas – if the class is too small the lecturer will not record it
  • Sometimes due to technical glitches lectures fail to record
  • Your lecturer may be an old fashioned poop-head who likes to have perfect attendance
  • You will also attend tutorials/practicals/labs – these are never recorded and you always have to take notes – pro tip: don’t miss these

Note taking tips:

Note taking is all about transcribing a large amount of information as quickly and succinctly as possible. To develop speedy note taking skills ensure that you:

  • Organise using headings – use headings and subheadings to organise your notes into topics/chunks, this makes it easier to find stuff later
  • Space out your notes – you have pages and pages of book, use it, spread your notes out! Put each new heading (centred) on a new line and every dot point on it’s own line
  • Use dot points – forget full sentences, dot points are now your best friend, omit all unnecessary words and keep it short
  • Use key words and phrases only – again use short phrases and sayings that summarise and explain the information
  • Abbreviate – save time by abbreviating words use e.g. (example), bio (biology), psych (psychology) and make up others as you go along (write what they mean at the top of the page if it is not an abbreviation you use often)
  • Use symbols – use symbols instead of words where ever possible like: and &, equals or same as =, therefore ∴, positive +ve, negative –ve, increase ↑, decrease ↓, approximately ~
  • Write eligibly/neatly – no one expects you to take notes in elegant Calligraphy, but hey it helps if you can actually read it

Do all these things and you will be a super-fast note taker in no time! Now remember these skills take time to learn and perfect – practice makes perfect.

To keep you warm and snug on those cold study nights in, you will also need your very own personalised study bomber jacket! Nickname ideas for it: #UniLife #StudyisLife #SchoolisLife #Graduate #Postgrad

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