Happy Sunday Babes!
Congratulations on finishing your second (or third) week of school! Now that you've gotten your groove going and experienced all that lectures and labs have to offer, it's time to start getting down to business. If you're a first year you probably feel super overwhelmed and soon maybe you'll realize that your study methods in high-school may not work for you in college. As far as second/third/fourth years, if you haven't found your rhythm and what does and doesn't work for you as far as studying and notes- then I wanna help. What works for me may not work or appeal to someone else, but I've noticed it's really helped me in the last year. I hope you try my method and branch out from there!
My Favorite Journals...
→Greenroom Notepads: The first two I use are Greenroom Journals. These journals are completely recycled and they're incredibly affordable. I love the sleek look of them. They come with about 200 pages (for the small one) and 100 pages (for the legal pad). I couldn't find the exact link for the ones I own but I found very similar ones at Target. ( you can find this HERE Greenroom Journals)
→ Cambridge Journals: This has been my favorite brand for journals since high school. I love the structure of the pages, how it's college-ruled spaced lines, and that it usually lasts me for the whole year. This time I bought a smaller journaling-type notes book just because they CAN get kind of pricey. If you're willing to/can spend the money, I definitely recommend these! (you can find this HERE Cambridge Journals )
Add Color...
A HUGE difference I've noticed when taking notes is how adding a bit of color, creativity and design can definitely make the material more interesting. We've all heard the old saying in reference to highlighting-"highlighting your notes can make the material stand out and will be more easily remembered." Why not apply the same concept to our note-taking in general? To explain what I mean further, when it's time for me to take notes I pull out my colored pens, highlighters, markers, colored pencils and my notebooks. I create cool titles and take time to draw animations of what my notes mean so I can gain a better understanding of it (almost crucial to do when studying for science classes.) I find that if I make my notes "pretty" and if I make them interesting to look at it makes me want to, well, LOOK at them. (some examples below)
Record Your Lectures...
If your lecture classes are anything like mine, then they're usually 3 hours long with no break in between and by the end of them you're absolutely fried from keeping up. Recording your lecture may seem like common knowledge but you'll be surprised how many people just KNOW about it but don't actually USE it. For classes that allow you to have your laptops out, there's this app that I use called "Simple Recorder." It records your lectures without you having to use up your phone battery, buy a recorder, and (my favorite part) once you stop recording it saves right onto your desktop. This really helps when teachers talk super fast and you didn't quite understand a topic the first time. It gives you the opportunity to go back and pretty much take the class again in the comfort of your own home.
A Journal For Class, A Journal For Home...
My last tip for you is to have two different journals for taking notes. You don't necessarily need a journal, it could be lined paper, but it gets useful for class notes. Usually the professor is talking fast and your notes don't usually end up being too understandable, so being able to write down what you hear in class and then further explaining it in your notes at home gives you more resources to look at when studying. Personally, I like to open up a Word document and type all of my class notes during the lecture (I type faster than I can write) but it's personal for everyone.
I know this post was a lengthy one but I have so many different tips to give you guys! I get a lot of questions on my notes and how I go about keeping things put together when studying, so I hope this answers all of your questions. All of my inspo for my notes comes from Pinterest or Instagram study accounts. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to message me and ask!
XOXO,
A
Pinterest: My Pinterest Study Board
Instagram: Note Inspo
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