There is a lot to this notetaking malarkey, especially when your lecturer is speeding through stuff a million times quicker than you can write it. Luckily, there are a couple of pointers that can really help speed the process up and make your study easier in the long run too. This probably works better on arts subjects, but it may work for science and maths based lectures too. See what you think and let me know if it works for you or if you’ve got any other tips of your own. Anyway, my suggestions for making notes more effectively are:

1. Only write down the stuff you don’t actually know – If you try and write everything down in the lecture for no reason other than because it’s just been said, you’ll be adding a lot of unnecessary words and you’ll waste time on facts that were in your head all along.

2. Read your finished notes within the next 24 hours and attempt to take the information in. On this basis, you can then do further background reading if it’s still unclear or if you want to cement your knowledge by viewing the bigger picture once more. When I worked this method out, the amount of time it saved me was amazing. Strangely enough, I also found the work to be a lot more interesting and easier to process as I went along. It’s funny how something that seems so inconsequential can become such an important everyday process. And it’s nice to know the old adage of ‘less is more’ can sometimes be true.

There are many different ways to study and take notes well. If this doesn’t work, there are plenty other ways to try and I’ll explain some more in-depth methods at a later date. But I just wanted to pass this quick tip over before the lectures begin again. Good luck!