Don’t Take Down Every Piece of Information: Most experts we talked to reiterated this piece of advice so it’s definitely valuable to know. Focusing on recording your class notes means that you’re not fully listening and absorbing new information. The more you engage in note-taking, the more you will understand how to take ‘bites’ of information in your own words without breaking your wrist! The more you engage in the note-making process, the more you will understand the valuable nuggets of information you should record.
When giving advice to her students, educator, tech specialist, blogger and all round ‘digital diva’ Rafranz Davis tells her class to record short important bites. This acts as ‘an anchor’ to drive deeper thinking and scope to dive into an area. David Bayne, a UK teacher and big fan of our free elearning tools here at ExamTime, also suggests using key words but also using your own words and those which you understand.
Along with not writing every word, the key point is NOT to try to learn your notes verbatim also. You need to understand the material or you will simply trip yourself up when it comes to taking exams and tests.