Study Your Notes: How To and Why

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Now that you've taken awesome notes, what next? How do you actually use the notes?

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Why study your notes?

• Repitition is one of the best ways to remember anything! Therefore, reading your notes over and over and using the studying strategies below helps you to repeat and repeat the information in your notes. Your notes give you a single reference for the most important things you need to know in a class.

• However, there is a catch. You must have a purpose for repeating, for practicing, for memorizing. In Transfer of Learning: Cognition, Instruction, and Reasoning Robert E. Haskell writes, "[P]ractice makes perfect, right? Wrong. Practice doesn't necessarily make perfect. Practice makes perfect only if done appropriately. The quesiton is, then, what does appropriate practice mean? The short answer is: reflective pracitce, not the mindless rote drill that was often standard in the days of the one-room schoolhouse. The longer answer is more complex. For example, the nature of practice cannot be merely defined in terms of repition. The purpose for which the repetitive practie takes place must be specificed. Is it the job of rote drill to render the activity automtic, or is it the job of practice to create refinement of learning?" (176-7).

• Therefore, when it comes to studying your notes, you must have a purpose--a quiz, an exam, a project, or even curiosity--because the purpose of your practice determines the type of practice you should do. Studying your notes with no end-game in mind only lead towards disaster.

  • For example, if your teacher told you that she planned to give a test over the name of each of Jane Austen's novels on Monday, you would know you must simply memorize by rote memory the name of each of the novels. On the other hand, if your teacher told you there will be a quiz on the thematic elements and plot lines of Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, your studying would necessarily take a much more in-depth and functional form.

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Below are some tips for using your notes to study.

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• Read notes silently or aloud to yourself

• Quiz your classmates based on the notes

• Create a quiz based on the notes

• Make flashcards based on the most important points in your notes

• Before a test, do a quick-read of your notes, focusing only on the higlighted sections

• Keep your notes filed in a notebook or other storage location so you can access them when final exams come!

• Read your notes as a story, making sure you can fill in the blanks if one sheet of notes is removed

• Try repeating your notes to yourself, checking to see which parts you missed

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You can also check out this link for additional tips for studying notes! 4 Ways to Study Lecture Notes

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