Tips on how to make the most effective notes

• Make a flowchart: Before you start making notes of a certain chapter, make a flowchart of all the headings and sub-headings of that chapter. This will give you a clear picture about the entire content of the chapter.

• Use a colour scheme: After making the flowchart, start reading the chapter line by line.
  • Every time you come across an important term write the term in your notebook in red colour.
  • When you come across an important concept write it in green colour.
  • Write the headings in black colour and the explanation in blue colour.
  • Using multiple colours help you remember concepts better and also make your notes look attractive.

Sr.No.	Specification	Colour
1	Headings and sub-headings	Black
2	Important terms and one word answers	Red
3	Important concepts	Green
4	Explanation or other details	Blue

• Use abbreviations: Abbreviations make your notes look short and easy to read.

• Write in points: It goes without saying that you must write all your notes in points to recall them faster..

• Make visuals: Make diagrams or doodles to make your notes fascinating to read. This also helps in remembering the notes effectively.

• Limit the content: Remember that the notes are meant to revise the concepts and not to replace the textbooks. Avoid writing definitions and other such content which are already available in the textbook. Instead you can add the page number of the textbook where the definition is available.

• Different notebooks: Last but not the least, maintain a separate notebook for each subject. Do not write notes of all the subjects in one single notebook as you will not be able to find the notes of a respective subject at one place.

Do let us know in the comments if we missed out on any points!

Bonus : Scientific Method for taking effective notes

SCIENTIFIC STUDIES HAVE ANALYSED NOTE TAKING METHODS ………

AND HERE IS WHAT THEY HAVE FOUND

RESEARCHERS COMPARED NOTETAKING METHODS FOR :

1. Comprehension
2. Accuracy
3. Mental Imagery
4. MetaCognition
5. Memory

AND ONE METHOD CAUSED AN “OVERALL” INCREASE IN ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND MADE THE WHOLE PROCESS A LOT “EASIER”

THE NON-LINEAR NOTE TAKING LEARNING STRATEGY

ITS ON A SINGLE SHEET : SO REVIEW WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS

NON-LINEAR BRANCHING : GIVES YOU MULTIPLE WAYS TO RE-READ OR INTERPRET INFORMATION

SELECTED , ENCODED ORGANISED INFO : WAY BETTER FOR LEARNING QUICKLY

PROCESS

1. MOST IMPORTANT INFO ON THE CENTRE AND DETAILS ON THE BORDER
2. START AT UPPER RIGHT HAND AND RECORD CLOCKWISE
3. INTEGRATE OR ADD NEW DETAILED INFO AS BRANCHES TO THE RELATED TOPICS

ESSENTIALS TO THE PROCESS

1. ADD DETAILS AFTER LEARNING THEM FROM MEMORY AND THEN ADD THE ONE YOU FORGOT IN DIFFERENT COLOUR .
2. MINIMISE(SMALL SIZE) GRAPHICS AND DIAGRAMS .
3. WORK IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION SO ITS EASY TO ENCODE .
4. REVIEW PERIODICALLY I.E AFTER EVERY FIXED AMOUNT OF TIME TO ENCODE THE INFO IN YOUR MEMORY
5. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE