Making the Most of Your Notes

You will have pages and pages of notes from class lectures and reading material. When test time comes, can you efficiently use your notes as study guides? Follow these tips to help you make the most of your notes:

• Review your notes regularly. It is a good idea before every class to briefly review the notes you have taken for that class. The more you review the information regularly, the greater your chances of remembering that information when needed.
• As you review your notes, mark anything that doesn't make sense or anything about which you have a question. Then you can ask the professor or another student for clarification.
• Compare your notes with those taken by other students once in a while. You may find that you missed something in a lecture or reading or that your fellow student has a different perspective on something than you do.
• If your lecture notes are too messy and hard to read, try re-writing them or typing them into a computer file. This action will serve as an additional review of your notes.
• Number the pages of your notebook so you can cross-reference with notes from other classes and from your reading materials.
• Convert your notes into study questions. Then answer the questions until you can do so without looking at your notes.
• Underline and highlight your notes, looking for themes, dates, important facts, etc. Color-code your highlighting: for example, you might use yellow for dates or formulas and blue for definitions.
• Read your notes aloud. Even better, walk around while you are reading your notes aloud. The more parts of your brain that you can engage while you study, the more you will remember.