Dr. P’s Secret to Notetaking
Growing up, I attended a tiny private school. I was one of the only five girls in my class with eleven boys. I participated in this school from kindergarten up until 7th grade. During the short time that I was in middle school, I had a retired professor as one of my teachers. We’ll call him Dr. P.
Dr. P was one of my favorite teachers. He told the best stories. I learned a lot in that little 5th grade history class. He told us stories about being a marine and working for an electrical company, but he also taught me one of the most valuable skills that a person should know: notetaking.
Dr. P told us that college would be hard (he was right), and that to truly succeed in college we had to study (also true). His way of studying was simple, take notes.
When I was in the fifth grade, this type of notetaking felt long and unnecessary, but now as a college student, I realize how valuable it truly is.
In today’s post, I will teach you Dr.P’s secret to note-taking.
To start out, we will be using a bullet system. Decide on what is going to be the overall subject of these notes. For reference, my overall subject is “Dr. P’s Secret to Notetaking”. This could be a chapter in a book, the presentation’s title, etc. For this section, use capital Roman numerals.
Next, we move on to smaller subjects or subheadings For this section, use capital alphabetical letters. Which means we start with the letter “A”. Your subheadings following the headings will be done numerically.
When you are taking notes, often you do not have much time. Writing full sentences can be difficult. There are ways to abbreviate certain words such as “and”, “world”, and “therefore”. Use symbols that you will remember and that are easy to jot down quickly. Don’t be afraid to create your own symbols!
Sometimes a brief sentence does not cover the extent of the notes. If you need to say more about the last section’s item, indent, and insert lowercase alphabetical letters. Then, let's say you had even more about that subject. For this section use lowercase Roman numerals.
When you have finished, your notes should look like this.
But wait! We’re not done. The next step is to summarize all your notes. I usually just draw a line after my notes and start the summary. Do this when you are out of the classroom or lecture. It may feel like a homework assignment, but it helps you remember things.
Now, we’ve taken our notes and we have summarized, but we have a test coming up! For this, make index cards. This is the most time-consuming part. Make index cards with questions on the stuff you have taken notes on. Study them.
Now you are test-ready! Repeat the process after your easy “A+” to continue to be an academic weapon. I may have traded in my composition notebooks for a laptop, but I still use Dr. P’s method to this day. I am so thankful I had a teacher like him when I was growing up.
Happy notetaking!