What are some ineffective note taking strategies?

1. Writing without listening

We have all experienced this at some point. We tend to write things down without understanding the actual point.

2. Mistaking note-taking for highlighting text

The purpose of taking notes is not equal to highlighting text. It is about creating a relevant summary of the text. Students often underline or highlight text passages they find to be important. While this makes sense for the initial review of a text overdoing it can endanger the learning outcome. Taking short and precise notes requires reflecting on the content, which is the first step to remember it.

3. Noting down everything

To put it simply: Avoid it! It is one of the most frequent mistakes college students make. Often, they tend to note down everything the lecturer says but doing that doesn’t really make an impact. Only write down what’s necessary! It saves you time, and sanity.

4. Not being topic specific

A common mistake is to write continuously and not clustering the content from the very beginning. Without the specifics, it’ll become difficult to understand the context as certain points may coincide. With a brief format, this can be dealt with just fine, simplifying work and studies.

5. Not reviewing the notes

Reviewing is a must if you want to remember. It prevents learning incorrect facts and helps to analyze if you have missed any important ones. Not reviewing the notes may leave you with more confusions and queries about the subject. There’s no reason to take notes if you won’t study them.