The exact strategies you need to improve your grades!
This post is all about methods of note taking.
Let’s be real: Note-taking is one of the most important skills you need to develop in college. And the best way to improve your note-taking skills is to learn some different methods of note taking so that you can test them out and figure out which one is most effective for you!
Let’s set one thing straight:
Note taking does NOT have to be boring.
It’s just about figuring out what college note taking strategies work best for you – so I’m going to give you a bunch of options so you can do just that 🙂
This post is all about methods of note taking.
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BEST NOTE TAKING METHODS TO USE IN COLLEGE:
1. Cornell Note Taking Method
The Cornell method of note taking is one of the most popular note taking strategies for university because it makes reviewing and learning new information super efficient.
It looks a little confusing when you first see it, but it seriously is such an easy note taking strategy and not nearly as complicated as it looks.
The biggest section is for taking notes during lectures, while the side column and bottom column are for things like questions, main ideas, study prompts, and quick reference. This makes it really easy to divide up the work you do in-class (the main note taking section) and the work you do after class (filling in the columns with review).
If you’re still a little confused, take a look at this picture of this college note taking template where I’ve laid out specifically how to do the Cornell note taking method!
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2. Outlining Method of Note Taking
The outlining method basically uses indentation as a way to visually represent hierarchies, headings, and topics.
Rather than just writing your bullet points in one continuous column, you ‘indent’ sub-bullets and put spaces between new topics to make it really organized and easy to read.
If that sounded confusing, don’t worry. It’s not.
This is the method of note taking that I use most frequently because it’s the way my mind naturally works. It makes it super easy to divide the lecture notes into different topics so you can compartmentalize the content in your head and think of it in smaller chunks at a time, making it a bit easier to digest.
Here’s a screenshot of some lecture notes on Microsoft OneNote from one of my classes so you can see what it looks like in practice:
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3. Charting or Table Method of Note Taking
The charting method works best when it comes to taking notes on chronological information, or information that is easily divided into different categories.
It involves creating a table with different columns that you can use to divide information. Of course, it’s not just limited to tables; it’s basically just the idea of using whatever type of organizational charts or graphs the information lends itself to.
Here is an example of this from some of my own notes:
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4. Mind Mapping Method
Mind mapping is a really fun method of note taking, if you ask me.
This note taking strategy works best if you’re studying something that has more to do with concepts than memorization, because it will help you organize your thoughts and make connections between different aspects of the material.
In my opinion, this method isn’t quite as effective for during lectures but it’s insanely effective for studying and review – especially if you’re a visual learner.
I did tons of mind mapping in a couple courses I took in freshman year, but unfortunately I can’t find the notebook I used ? so here’s a great example I found on Pinterest:
Disclaimer: my mind maps are NEVER this aesthetically pleasing, so don’t get scared away from this type of note taking if you’re not a pro artist ? it doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be effective! ??♀️
5. Boxing Method
The boxing method is a great option if you love bullet journalling or using your iPad to take aesthetically pleasing notes.
It basically helps you separate information so it’s easier to locate details that are relevant to the topic you’re studying. Ideas, concepts, facts, and details will be separated into different boxes above, below, and beside each other.
Ultimately, this creates a visually appealing set of notes where it’s easy to locate information and break course concepts into manageable chunks.
This method of note-taking actually started when iPads started becoming more and more popular, because it naturally lends itself to technology like that. So, if you’re an iPad-lover, this note taking method might just be for you!
This method is not my cup of tea (I’m not really an iPad-user for note taking) so here’s an example I pulled from Pinterest:
6. Summary Notes Method (AKA Sentence Method)
If you’re looking for effective note-taking methods that will help you actually remember information in a meaningful way, this is a great option for you.
The sentence method or summary method is basically exactly what it sounds like.
It pretty much just means that you note down any thoughts and connections you’re making, in sentence form, as the lecure progresses.
This helps you focus on important information and main ideas. Since you’re focused on making notes of your thoughts, it also helps you make more meaningful connections to the material being discussed.
If you like taking notes digitally, you can incorporate the sentence method by making notes in the ‘comment’ features of Word/Google docs in real-time as you make other point-form notes.
7. Bullet Method
The bullet method is also exactly what it sounds like:
Making bullet points of the most important information.
I think this is the method that we mostly think of immediately when we think of effective note taking methods, because it’s taught in elementary school and is what we tend to see most often (at least in my experience).
It’s reliable, easy, and doesn’t require too much additional effort.
But….
It might not be quite as effective for remembering concepts and organizing information.
If you like doing simple bullet points but just want to step it up a little to make your notes a little more organized, try methods #1 or #2 (outlining or Cornell methods) that I described earlier. Those might just work really well for you!
I guess it all depends on your style, though!
8. Color Coded Notes
This isn’t exactly a “method” in itself – rather, you can kind of incorporate it into any other method you’re using.
If you’re a visual learner, color-coding course material will be a really helpful way for you to remember information more easily.
You can either do this in real-time during your lecture, or go in after and color-code with highlighters as you review (this is my preferred method).
I mean, seriously, having beautiful pastel highlighters like these make me want to colour code everything ?
9. Bullet Journaling
Once again, you can basically use any of these other note-taking methods and pair it with the bullet journaling idea.
Bullet journaling essentially just means that you’re making your notes more visually appealing.
I wish I had the patience (and artistic skill) to master bullet journaling, but I’m more of a simple digital note-taker. If you love bullet journaling, though… Wow, I’m jealous!!
10. Writing on Slides
If your professors give you access to the slides document that you can save directly, use that tool!
Writing on the slides is a great option because it means you can make notes specifically on the different slides as the lecturer goes through them, so you’ll always know what information went with which slides.
This is especially helpful if your professors or courses tend to be image-heavy, where a lot of the content on the slides are images, graphs, or charts that aren’t exactly easy to copy into your own notes.
What else?
This method of note taking also lends itself to the sentence method/summary method that I mentioned in #6, because you can easily make notes about your thoughts in sentence-form directly on the slides.
Don’t like digital notes?
Printing the slides and making notes directly on them is also an option, too. That could be a really great way to study, if you like writing by hand!
Which methods of note-taking are you going to try?
This post was all about methods of note taking.
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