During finals week, time and time again I hear things like you
have such nice handwriting, and so much lecture information on so
few pages, and I am always very thankful that over a decade ago,
my Chemistry teacher (props to Timothy Tan) told me that Id learn
best if I rewrote my notes for every class, condensed them as small
as I could and then studied from that. For two years now Ive been
doing just that; spending an hour longer than normal
re-organizing and re-writing my notes for each class lecture that I
attend. It may sound like a lot of extra work, but this
re-writing process has been proven to help students cement the
information theyve just been given.
1. without re-writing notes,
students may forget vital pieces of information as well as what
abbreviations and other marks mean
2. re-writing your notes helps you memorize and understand the
information you copied during the lecture, the best way to memorize
a lot of information is in small pieces over a long period of
time
3. if you have questions about things youve heard in lecture,
re-writing your notes may either help you understand what they
were, or point them out clearer, encouraging you to ask about them
during the next lecture
4. while you are re-writing your notes, you are also able to
re-organize them, put them in a format that works best for your
learning style; visual learners can add color-coding and diagrams,
auditory learners should read the notes aloud a few times, and
kinesthetic learners (me!) learn by re-writing notes into outline
formats
5. a note on outline formats: each main point should be on its own
line, details for the point should be indented to the right. A
fantastic way to either learn or set up an outline is to use a
word-processing programs bullets & numbering feature; hard
returns and indentations create the next appropriate character for
outlines
6. oftentimes, singaporean teachers have the tendency to speak too
quickly for a student to get all the notes written out; by
re-writing your notes, you are able to fill in those blanks that
you may have had to leave during lecture. The details are still
fresh in your mind and you will be able to clarify them sooner. All
of the abbreviations that you create during class should be spelled
out and explained while re-writing your notes.
7. re-writing your notes prepares you for your next class,
reminding you of what you were to learn in previous lectures and
cementing the foundations
8. one thing Ive found particularly helpful in many classes is
writing out a short summary of the lecture at the end of each set
of daily notes. Then, when I go back to study for the exam, I am
able to paste all of these summaries together and read a page-long
essay about what I was supposed to learn.
It helps best if a student can re-organize and re-copy their notes
within 24 hours of the lecture, but if that cannot be done, then at
least do it before the final few lectures, just in case you have
any leftover questions or misunderstandings.
Research shows that 80% of new material can be recalled if you
review your notes within one day of presentation.
Want to bring those test grades up? Want to impress your classmates
with your typed study guides? Re-write those notes daily and cement
things sooner rather than later!
