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4 Powerful Ways To Remember Everything Your Teacher Says
As a student, I can almost bet at one time or another you have had the experience of taking reams of notes, only to find you've left something important out or simply cannot find it in your notes later. Fortunately for you, there are some helpful tips in this article to help you remember everything your teacher says. Read on for some techniques sure to increase your ability to absorb and recall massive amounts of information, easily and effortlessly.
Use Color Extensively
Have a look at some notes you've taken in class. What is the common element in all of your notes? It's the color of your notes - no doubt all taken down in pencil or standard black / blue pen. When you've got this page after page , it's hard to scan your notes for the important points. Rather than always taking you notes like this, try colored pencils and different colored inks. If you make a habit of this, you'll find your notes MUCH easier to refer back to.
The more visual cues you can create, the easier it will be to recall information later. The use of colours is the simplest way to improve memory recall. As you begin experimenting with different colours, you may notice that some colours work better than others. You may even prefer some colours for specific uses.
I like to write the body of my text in a colour other than blue, usually black, with non-black highlights. I always correct it in red if necessary. This is due to the extreme contrast that black and red represent to one another. You'll end up being able to find it much easier on your pages cluttered with notes.
Underline and ACCENTUATE Key Points
While taking notes, it is extremely helpful to underline or otherwise emphasize certain items in your notes. Boxes, circles, whatever works best for you. However, you shouldn't overdo it; otherwise it will be difficult to tell what you meant to accentuate and what you didn't!
Include Charts, Figures and Graphs
Sometimes things just can't be communicated clearly using only words. Relationships, timelines, causality and exchanges are difficult to explain in writing. However, they are easy to illustrate even for the artistically challenged like me! These diagrams should include colours and other graphical representations such as bullets, arrows, shading and text of different colours.
Use Large Paper
I use large paper that is a little smaller than A3 or 11x17". I buy the continuous form in boxes of 5,000 sheets which cost around $25-$30. It's a great investment considering they have lasted over two years! I like the continuous nature of computer paper because I can "open it up" and get big diagrams on one sheet that can be easily folded.
With these large sheets, you can get all the important topics from a day's lectures onto a single sheet, or divide each page by subject or concept. Depending on the course, one or the other may work better for you.
For instance, I recently took a course where each lecture was reduced to one entire page. It consolidated 17 textbook chapters and 30 academic articles. The point is, it's a lot easier to review 15 pages as opposed to over 500. What would normally take several hours of searching is now formatted for easy access.
Taking notes can actually be fun. The best part is, when you take notes using these strategies, you can feel yourself remembering the information! Try it yourself - you'll find your confidence in your academic abilities grows by leaps and bounds and your grades are sure to reflect this.
About the Author About the author: Dr Marc R. Dussault can show you how to easily get better grades using proven "speed study" methods that anyone can master! Visit the "Get Better Grades" web site for more great tips on how to study.
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