Study faster and pass your exams by using These tips to take notes
Hands up if you want to study for exams in less time, but aren’t sure how to start taking notes to pass exams.
I am jumping up and down over here with my hand in the air!
You see, I am constantly looking for ways to streamline what I need to accomplish in my life and be generally more efficient with my time. For me, this equals getting what I want to get done in less time. Score!
The problem with this approach for exam prep is most people ask the question the week before the exam. This is especially true for online courses because you don’t have the weekly contact with your classmates and professor to remind you exams are coming. You have to be on top of everything for yourself.
I get it. You are doing the best you can throughout the semester and now it is exam time and you are freaking out a little. You’re not sure what to study or how to review in a way that gets you ready for the exam.
I’m feeling stressed out just thinking about it!
Everyone goes into high-gear leading up to college exams. It is normal. The challenge of trying to address things late in the game is you have either set yourself up for success or struggle by what you have done every day leading up to now.
If I could only gift one solid study strategy to every college student it would be awesome note-taking skills. Solid notes truly are the foundation for easier studying at exam time.
You need to pass exams…duh!
You need to pass exams without studying for 30 hours every week. AMIRIGHT?!?
The problem with cramming at the end is you are trying to be the rabbit (tortoise and hare, anyone?), but to reach your goals you need to be the turtle. The turtle doesn’t run really fast, he doesn’t overexert himself, but he makes consistent progress and wins the prize.
Taking notes to pass exams does not take a huge time commitment each day, but it is slow and steady progress making the final review for your exams easier and quicker. It really is the secret to study for exams in less time. Through note-taking, you will identify what it is you know well and conversely what you do not know well. When you are armed with this information, studying for exams is pretty painless.
If your online exam is scheduled for next week, check out these Four Steps to Master Memorization. They will help meet your immediate need. Then stick around and grab some strategies below on taking notes to pass exams for the next round.
taking notes to pass exams
Ready to upgrade your core study skills? The three-part series covers:
Part 1: How to Take Great Notes – Learn why you DO and DO NOT want to take notes and two tips to help you get off to a great start while actually making it easier on yourself.
Part 2: Take Awesome Notes with Microsoft OneNote – Your notes need to live somewhere easy for you to use, easy to update, and works for you. Don’t get sucked in by those beautiful hand-written notes with drawings and doodles. They are beautiful, but they also take so long to create you are not going to stick with them day-in and day-out.
Part 3: Turn Your Notes into a Powerful Study Tool – Finally, once you have a solid set of notes, find out how to maximize their power and study for exams in less time.
Bonus: Best Note-Taking Tips for College
Shannon says
Do you think there’s any truth to the idea that it’s better to take notes by hand than to type them? Maybe I’m just old fashioned but it does seem like taking notes by typing them on a computer wouldn’t be as good somehow, like the information you take down won’t stick in your head as much as it would if you were writing it down by hand.
Jessica says
We are all different! There are studies indicating you are more likely to remember what is written by hand than typed up. If it works for you, then stick with it! I find writing by hand slows me down and makes it too hard to reorganize my thoughts, so a digital system works much better for me. Plus, I forget to bring my notebook with me everywhere but always have my phone handy. 🙂 I also regularly review and revise the notes I take so it does work into memory. The method of taking notes is less important than what you do with them after jotting them down!
Janet says
This is very useful advice. I am studying part-time towards a degree which I started a 3-4 years ago, however this year I am finding it tough. The 40h week has not changed, but a busy toddler and perhaps fatigue has kicked in, so I lack the motivation and the time. I have been thinking about how to improve my method to get more done in shorter time. So this has been helpful. Also had been planning to use OneNote this year in any case after we got it a year ago, so the tips for it had helped as well. Thanks for the motivation 🙂
Jessica says
I am so glad you found some helpful information! It is tough to balance school plus everything in life, particularly a toddler. You can do it one small step at a time!