Starting college is a major milestone. To get here, you'll have committed a huge amount of time studying or preparing to be able to unlock this opportunity and achieve the entry requirements. So kudos to you for getting to this point!
Now you’re here though, you’ve realized just how different the set up actually is, and you’re left wondering how everyone else is actually managing to learn from their lectures.
You’re not alone.
The reality is, many people struggle with note taking in higher education. The majority of learners aren’t taught how to take or study notes prior to college, yet are expected to know how to do it effectively.
Not to mention all the other reasons or possible barriers you might face at the same time, such as ADHD, language barriers, accent barriers. It isn't always straightforward.
How college students take great notes
Being able to take notes effectively will help you become a more confident learner, as well as helping you process and learn the content of your courses.
The key with all note taking is to try not to write down word for word what's being said. It's impossible, and you either end up not actively listening or failing to take all the information down as you're too busy trying to keep up (sound familiar?).
Instead, you just want to give an overview of what's being said. Use clear and concise headings and bullet point key ideas. There's a range of methods you might find useful, such as the Cornell method, mind mapping and charting (this is especially useful for data).
As you're keeping your notes short, you're forced to focus only on the important parts. But, we're all human, we miss parts and that can lead to feelings of anxiety or feeling that your notes aren't good enough.
A tip is to use a simple key or code to indicate any parts you might need to review later, ask questions about or research further.
For example, add a pink highlight next to points you need to review, a yellow when you need to ask a question (and jot the question down!) and purple for further research. It's essential to stick to whatever key you create and try not to over-do it, highlighting everything means nothing will stand out!
Here are 5 note taking tips to help get you started:
- Signal importance: Note taking helps your brain prioritize information for retention.
- Make it personal: Use abbreviations, colors, and symbols meaningful to you.
- Edit and expand: Reviewing and refining your notes solidifies your understanding.
- Be consistent: Regularly schedule time to revisit your notes.
- Eliminate distractions: Choose tools and strategies that keep you focused.
What are the benefits of using a note taking app?
While taking notes by hand is useful, and preferred by lots of students, study tools and note taking apps are becoming more popular and more powerful. They can help with organization, time management and make it easier to retain the information through recall techniques.
Let's take a look at how using a note taking app such as Glean can help you!
Become a more organized student
Do you use the same notepad for five different classes? Maybe you open a new word doc for every class? But then once you’ve left do you ever go back to look at your notes (It’s okay, we’re not judging). Or maybe you do try to revisit but there's so many notes from so many classes and, well, it’s just chaotic…
Using a note taking app can help solve this problem. By using Glean you can create collections for each class, so when you need to revisit your notes you’ll know exactly where you put them; it’s like having your own personal library.
Need to quickly find a key word or phrase? You can just search the word and any notes containing it will be brought up.
Being more organized with your notes will help you feel more confident as you know you can revisit whenever you want, easily.
“My confidence skyrocketed because personally, I am not the strongest notetaker and often find myself over complicating and rushing to write everything down.
With Glean, it is so convenient for writing notes and studying for any exam or project, I recommend for anyone who struggles with note taking or studying in general”
Victoria Brown, Kennesaw state university student
Reduce anxiety around college classes
It’s natural to feel anxious, maybe for some classes more than others, if you’ve struggled to focus and process content in the past.
Glean goes beyond other note taking apps by recording your classes so you can feel more confident knowing you have everything your lecturer said saved for a later date.
Little things can make a big difference, using a note taking app means you don’t need to think about what notebooks, highlighters, pens and other resources you need for each class.
All you need is your laptop or phone, which lets be honest, you’d always have with you anyway!
Feel more present during classes
One of the best things about using a note taking app is that you can actually feel more present in your classes. Knowing your class is recorded means you can pay attention in the moment rather than having to think about what to write down.
Being able to revisit and quiz yourself on previous classes also means you’re going to go into classes much more prepared, maybe even with questions or inputs to fully engage with your lecturer or class mates.
How to study from your notes
The most important thing for any type of note taking is that you actually use them and review them after classes to ensure you’re learning from them.
It’s easy to leave a lecture and just forget about it, so here are three ways Glean’s note taking app can help you study from your notes:
Review notes regularly
As you take your notes you simply tap the review button anytime something you think you may need to go over or research a bit more about comes up.
Creating a habit of reviewing your notes will help you remember them, for example, set a reminder to spend 20 minutes reviewing your notes at the end of each day.
You’ll need to revisit information a few times before you solidify it into your long term memory, spaced repetition can help you do this. This is when you gradually build up to longer periods of time in between reviewing your notes.
Quiz yourself from your notes
As well as regular reviews, you need to test yourself on what you’ve learnt - get those brain muscles working!
It can be difficult quizzing yourself as you’ll likely get things wrong at first, but don’t worry, this is where the learning actually happens! Using methods such as flash cards, or Glean’s Quiz Me function, allows you to recall information.
Again, spacing out quizzes to give your brain time to forget will help create new synapses (that’s just a fancy word for connections) and move the knowledge into your long term memory.
Use AI to outline your notes
A final way note taking apps can help you study is using AI to summarize lecture notes. Glean’s AI outline condenses your notes into short, digestible summaries.
A great way to test your learning is to give yourself a time frame (e.g. five minutes) to summarize your notes without looking. Then compare it to the AI outline and see if you missed anything!
Key takeaways
To summarize, you can use note taking apps to stay organized, making it easier when you need to review your notes and ultimately helping you to become a more effective and confident student.
Using a note taking app may take some getting used to in the beginning, luckily we have lots of help available and a skills portal!
Getting into the habit of using a note taking app and setting time aside to go over your notes will help you make the most of your time in higher education.
Happy studying! 🎓
