09 Dec Seven ways to perfect your revision note-taking strategy

Effective note-taking can be essential to your academic success – especially when it comes down to revising for important exams. Note-taking helps you to focus on what is important, allowing you to understand and retain information, whilst also creating subconscious links with related content.

1. Make your notes accurate

When note-taking, it is important that you are meticulous and concise. Accuracy is an important part of any academic discipline; taking carefully thought-out notes will ensure that you retain precision, whilst also avoiding accidental plagiarism. This accuracy can be achieved by having a clear system of note-taking, which works towards your own personal preferences.

2. Take notes actively not passively

The most effective type of note-taking is active rather than passive. This means that you engage with your notes; actively thinking about how what you are writing will be useful, and looking for connections with other topics you’ve been studying. You are less likely to learn or retain things passively, as you might not take any meaning from the information you are writing down. Active note-takers interpret information in their own words, rather than just copying out of a text book word for word.

3. Make your notes user friendly

Your notes should be selective. It’s no good writing down everything you know about a topic – you need to think about the key points and how these can be used to formulate an argument or answer a question. Don’t waste your time writing pages and pages of notes copied directly from a textbook. Instead, write down only the key information in your own words, as this will lead to a greater rate of retention.

4. Presentation is everything

In terms of the presentation of your notes, this is completely down to the individual note-taker. Some find it beneficial to use different colours, highlight, circle or underline key points. This can be useful if there is a particular point that you want to remember – it makes it stand out more clearly on the page. Using headings to organise your notes is very important. This will allow you to separate the content into sizeable chunks, increasing the chance that you will remember them.

5. Open your mind to mind maps

When thinking about presentation, you might wish to consider creating mind maps to display your content instead of the more traditional linear method. Mind maps are not for everyone, but they provide you with the opportunity to present your notes in a more visual form. They can be used to create links between content, often essential within exams to get the top marks. They can be useful when whittling down your extensive notes to just the vital information and key points. While some people find mind maps useful, linear notes can be just as helpful in striving towards academic success – it’s all just a personal choice!

6. Rewrite, rewrite and rewrite again

Once you’ve written one set of notes it is important to then cut these down, and keep doing so until you have a more approachable set of information. Rewriting your notes will help you to retain the information, and rewording them will further ensure a greater understanding. Once you have concise notes, you will be able to look at these and attempt to expand on what is written. This allows for self-evaluation, as it will enable you to see how much you know about certain topics and if you need to work more on a particular section.

7. Work hard, play not-quite-as-hard

When revising, it’s important to have frequent breaks. Don’t spend the whole day staring at your paper, furiously taking pages and pages of notes. You should have regular time away from your notepad, whether that’s going on a short stroll outside or walking to the fridge for a bite to eat. Research has shown that the best revision is conducted in 20-30 minute chunks, because your concentration remains much higher. Drawing up a revision timetable will help you to keep track of how long you should be spending on a certain topic.

You should try and reward yourself by having something to look forward to after a long day of revision and note-taking. The motto here is: work hard, play not-quite-as-hard.

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