How to Study Lecture Notes

Preparing for Lecture Note-Taking

Develop a system of organization. A well-organized set of lecture notes is one of the most important tools in your exam-studying arsenal. Scattered, lost, incomplete and non-sequential notes create stress and take up valuable time that could be spent studying, not scavenging. Here are a few ways to organize your notes to avoid these pitfalls. Color-coordinate the folders and notebooks for each of your courses. For example, buy a green notebook and folder for science, a blue notebook and folder for history, a red notebook and folder for literature and so forth. On the first page, write the title of the lecture and the date and begin taking notes. Start each subsequent lecture on a new page and again write the title and date. If you miss a class, leave several pages blank in your notebook, ask a friend or your teacher if you can get those notes and insert them into the blank pages. Another way to organize your notes is by purchasing a three-ring spiral binder, loose-leaf paper, subject dividers and 3-ring pocket folders for handouts and assignments. For your first course, insert plenty of loose-leaf paper, then insert a 3-ring pocket folder and finally a divider. Repeat for the next course. If you are on an alternating-day schedule, purchase two 3-ring binders. Put science and history in one and literature and art in the other, for example. If your teacher allows you to use your laptop in class for taking notes, create a folder for each course. For each lecture, either a) start a new document and “save as” the date followed by an abbreviated title of the lecture (doing this will help when it comes time to study as you will be able to quickly see the order of the lectures by date) or b) create a running document, in which you type the title of the lecture and the date at the start of each lecture. Leave some space between lectures, and bold and enlarge the font of the lecture title and date so you can easily see when a new one begins.

Read assigned materials before going to class. Reading before class primes those all-important neural networks, kind of like warming up gets your body ready for a strenuous workout. It will help you better understand what the teacher is discussing, more quickly absorb and process additional material presented and more readily recognize particularly significant points (say, when your teacher spends 10 minutes talking about the poison dart frog, not the spotted salamander, in a lecture on amphibians). When reading, take down notes of those areas that are confusing. Look up terms you are unfamiliar with or that are not fully explained within the readings. Create questions that you can ask in class, if they are not clarified during the class period. Sometimes teachers will make course materials available online, including lectures, readings and helpful resources. If not stated in the course syllabus, ask your teacher how to access these materials. If your teacher uses electronic media in class but does not post it online, ask if he or she might do so.

Review previous lecture notes. Before going to class, review the previous lecture’s notes to refresh yourself on what was last discussed. Note any questions you have and raise them in class. Reviewing the previous lecture will also help you better follow along with what is presented that day, particularly if the lectures are cumulative, or built upon each other. It also will help you be a more active listener, which is particularly profitable in the retention- and recall-testing arena. Doing this before each class meeting will have a multiplying effect, making all subsequent study efforts more, well, effortless. It also has the added benefit of being ready for the often inevitable and generally dreaded pop quiz!

Using the 4 R’s: Review, Reduce, Recite and Reflect

Review your lecture notes strategically. Though reading, and rereading, lectures in a short time frame (often the day before the exam) is common practice, research has shown it is a very ineffective study strategy. Your mind is not, after all, a video recorder. Nonetheless, reading each set of lecture notes more than once is still very helpful, if done correctly. There are two ways to get the most benefit from reviewing your notes: spacing the time between studying and mixing up study topics. Space out the time between studying each set of lecture notes. For example, read over your notes within 24 hours of taking them. If you do this, you will retain approximately 50% of the material. If you wait longer than 24 hours, however, you will only retain about 20% of the material. Then wait another week or two to read that lecture's notes again and so forth. While waiting to reread might sound counterintuitive (Won’t you forget a lot by waiting, after all?), cognitive psychologists have found that the closer you are to forgetting the material, the more you will cement the information to your long-term memory through the process of re-exposure and remembering. Additionally, read your notes aloud. This converts a passive activity into an active one and creates auditory links in your memory pathways. Mix up the topics you study. Let’s say you’ve set aside two hours of studying per day. Instead of spending an entire study session studying your notes from one class, spend a ½ hour studying one subject, a ½ hour studying another subject, and then repeat. Mixing up topics in this way (interleaving) requires a type of information reloading that forces your brain to notice similarities and differences – a higher order of information processing that leads to greater comprehension and long-term retention. Part of this study technique’s modus operandi is that as soon as you begin to feel like you really know the material, you need to switch it up and work on something else for awhile. So put away that blue notebook and pull out the red one.

Reduce your notes. The same day as you take your notes, or shortly thereafter, summarize your notes. Identifying the key points, concepts, dates, names and examples provided in the lecture, write a summary of that lecture’s notes in your own words. Writing them in your own words will force you to flex those brain muscles. The more you flex them, the stronger they will become. (There really is truth to the adage, “If you don’t use it, you lose it!”) Finally, write down any questions you have related to the material so that you can seek further clarification. Another way to do this is by constructing a concept map, which is a diagram that encourages critical thinking by visually showing relationships between concepts that help you organize and evaluate both the main ideas and supporting details presented in your lecture notes. The more connections you make between concepts, the more likely you are to both remember the material and to understand the “bigger picture,” a particularly useful ability for essay questions, essay exams and finals. Of note: Recent research has found that, while students tend to record more of what the teacher says verbatim when using their laptops as typing is faster than writing, students who take written notes comprehend and retain more because taking notes by hand requires active listening and purposeful selection of what to write. Nonetheless, many students still try to hand write everything the teacher says. To promote retention and efficiency in studying your notes, create an outline from your notes. It will make your likely copious notes more manageable and help move the information more quickly down those neural pathways toward cementation through the process of repeated exposure.

Recite the information in your notes. Review your notes, summary, concept map or outline for a few minutes. Then recite, aloud and in your own words, this information. Do this 2-3 times and then repeat at time intervals per the spacing effect guidelines. Reciting is one of the most active means of studying and learning. It will help you discover the gaps in your memory and understanding, elaborate on the main ideas and concepts, test your overall comprehension and help you make connections between issues. You can also create cue cards to use when reciting. Pick up a pack of unlined 3x5 or 4x6 notecards and write cue words (never full sentences) – or a main idea, date, diagram, formula or name – and begin discussing it aloud. If you’ve created them in order with, say your outline, shuffle them before reciting. This plays back to the idea that mixing up information forces your brain to work harder, thereby storing the information more securely.

Reflect upon your lecture notes. Reflection is the process of pondering or thinking deeply about content. Because we are more apt to remember things that we can personalize, reflecting upon what we’ve learned and how it relates to our experiences can be particularly helpful. Here are a few examples of questions you can ask yourself to enhance the reflective process. To get the most from reflection, record your answers in some way, whether that be through traditional writing, outlining, diagramming, audio recording or another means. “Why are these facts important?” “How can they be applied?” “What else do I need to know to make the pieces all fit together?” What experiences do I have that relate to this information?” How does this all relate to what I already know or think about the world?”

Utilizing Self-Testing as a Study Process

Transform lecture notes into flash cards. Studies have shown that students who use flash cards to study for exams score significantly higher than those who do not, making this a cheap means of yielding high returns. You will need to buy either 3x5 or 4x6 unlined index cards, and a pencil, pen or marker that won’t show through on the other side after writing. Begin by writing a short question on one side of the card and the answer on the other side. Select the first card, read the question and answer it. Flip the card to see if you answered it correctly. Keep all of your flash cards in one stack instead of separating them into smaller stacks. Doing this initiates the spacing effect, which enhances recall and retention. After you have gone through them several times at spaced time intervals, separate the cards that you consistently get right and focus on those that you do not.

Create concept cards from your lecture notes. Concept cards differ from flash cards in that the focus is not on individual facts but, instead, on the interconnectedness of facts and ideas, of concepts, and are particularly helpful when prepping for essay exams and finals. As with flash cards, buy either 3x5 or 4x6 unlined index cards and a pencil, pen or marker that won’t show through on the other side after you write. On one side, write a key idea, term, name, event or process from your notes. On the other, write the definition of that word, keeping it brief, and list 3-5 concepts related to it. Use your concept cards to quiz yourself on each identified word you wrote on the front of your cards. Concepts related to the identified words might include examples, reasons why the identified word is important, related issues, sub-categories and so forth. For both flash cards and concept cards, pick up a few index file boxes or cases/holders to store your cards. The cases/holders, particularly, come in a variety of colors and can be matched with the colors you chose for your subjects’ folders and notebooks, if you went that route in organizing your notes. You can also carry one or both sets of cards with you and use them in your down time, such as when you’re waiting at the doctor’s office, while riding the bus or between classes.

Create practice self-tests from your lecture notes. Self-testing is one of the most highly effective study strategies you can employ and should be done regularly. It forces your brain to retrieve information and strengthens the neural pathways to memory storage. Taking your lecture notes, create questions based upon the material in each lecture. You will want to create multiple choice questions, true/false questions, short answer questions, fill-in-the blank questions and essay questions. Set your practice test aside for a few days, then take it and repeat this process periodically throughout the term for each test. After the first exam in a particular course, you often, though not always, will have a good idea of the test format your teacher prefers and uses. If the test was all multiple choice, for example, consider creating more multiple choice questions from your lecture notes for that course. When constructing your practice test questions, try to anticipate and construct questions that might show up on the real exam. Look in your notes for cause/effect relationships, examples and hypotheticals, definitions, dates, lists and diagrams. After your first exam, look at the questions you missed. Go back to your notes and see if that material was in your notes. Perhaps it was in your text, or perhaps it was in your notes but you didn’t consider it as important as your teacher obviously did. Use this insight to adjust not only your practice tests but also your note taking and studying in general.

Studying Your Notes Actively By Other Means

Work with a study partner. Teaching someone requires you to rephrase and more deeply process information as you put it into your own words, which further commits it to your memory and takes studying to the next level! So, pick a lecture and briefly review your notes from that lecture. Present the lecture to your study partner and have him or her ask you questions directed at elaborating on points made in your presentation. Take turns doing this for each lecture throughout the term. An additional benefit to this approach is that you will likely identify areas that you initially did not deem particularly important to study but later recognized were when your study partner presented them. It also helps fill in holes in your notes when your study partner presents something you don't have recorded. You also could spend your time together (or apart) creating practice tests for each other.

Join a study group. This is another opportunity not only to commit yourself to studying your notes but also to a) fill in gaps in your notes, b) view the material in your notes from other perspectives and c) gain insight into how others approach studying. Once you have formed your study group, designate a group leader to help keep the group on track and to send out email reminders. Decide when you will meet, for how long and how often. During your meetings, review your notes and other materials with your group members so you can share information and resolve any confusing issues. You also might take turns presenting material and creating practice test questions. Some schools have Web-based learning management systems that allow students to sign up for study groups within courses. If this is not an option, talk with your teacher about how to facilitate forming one. If you know others in the class, ask them if they would like to join. A study group should have 3-4 committed members. Too many voices can create chaos and little work accomplished. Your group should meet once per week. This will ensure that you do not try to cram in too much material in each meeting.

Study notes via elaborative interrogation. Elaborative interrogation is a technique that a) encourages learning and remembering through asking the question “Why?” when reading material and that b) research has shown to be a more effective study method than those that students have employed religiously for decades, such as using mnemonic devices and highlighting. When reviewing your notes, periodically stop, ask yourself a “why” question and answer it. The questions can be general or specific. General: “Why does this make sense?” “Why is this unexpected given what I already know about this topic?” Specific: “Why do things only stay in our short-term memory for about 18 seconds without rehearsal or review?” “Why does cramming for tests so often result in lower grades?” The technique is so effective because it forces you to draw upon prior knowledge, to think critically about the information, to make connections between the two and to respond in your own words. Simply put, these processes help to hardwire the information into your brain.