Taking down notes is more than scribbling the words that come out of your lecturer’s mouth. There is an art to do it the right way. A skill that every good note taker is that they easily grasp what the teacher means and writes it down on a paper in their own words, as per their understanding. However, if you are struggling to take down good notes, you need not worry as we will learn how to do this.
If you are a physics student, then it is important for you to take notes regularly even if you go for physics tuition classes. Physics, as we all know, is a complicated subject, and taking notes in a timely manner will help you be prepared for the exams.
This article lists some ways you should take your physics notes in class and after the class.
During the class,
- Take notes as you usually do throughout the lecture. If you have missed some point, make sure you ask your lecturer about it.
- Use pointers or highlighters for key concepts, and important things. Things that your lecturer emphasised on again and again.
After the class, as soon as you get time, do the following;
- Rewrite your notes in a neat manner, with proper sentences. This will help you organise the ideas in a better way.
Extra Tips
Remember the key points
Do not write out every word that comes out of your teacher’s mouth. Instead, focus and write only the key points. This is the most important skill for a good note-taking; learning to remove the fluff. And for that, you need to pay your 100% attention to what your teacher is saying.
Don’t focus on the illustrations
Physics has a lot of diagrams and trying to copy them in the class can lead to a lot of missed points from your teacher. What you can do is ask your teacher on what page number can you find the diagram, and jot down that. Get back to the diagram later, while you pay attention to what the teacher is explaining.
Organisation
Organising your notes is important for future use. You may think you understand what you have written in the notes now, but after a few weeks, you won’t remember a thing. The best way of organising notes is to start each day on a new page with a new date and topic titles. Use pointers and bullets.
Review
Finally, after the class in over, sit down in a quiet place and review your notes. Update it while the info is still fresh in your mind. Fill in the blanks, compare your notes with others, and ask them anything that you have missed. The aim here is to solidify your notes with the information in hand. Your notes should be such that you are able to understand it later whenever you want to.
Hopefully, these note-taking skills will help you write down better notes and score well in physics later. If you are finding it hard to cope with any topic in physics, be sure to enrol in the physics tuition centre in Singapore today.
