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bujo highlight // January

— i used to spend too much time stressing about layouts, but i think i’ve found the best set up for my usual monthly spreads. functional, but still cute. what do you think?

🎧 City Girl - Gossamer Dress

Cornell Note-Taking Method: How and why I use it

Hey there!

As a high-school student, I’ve tried my fair share of note taking techniques. There’s the obvious ‘try to write down everything they say’ and then make notes when you have time, but this for me doesn’t work. It’s a load of unnecessary rewriting which takes up time and patience.

If you’re like me, you might need a more organised way of doing things. Look no further, friends, as I have found the perfect way to take notes.

Usually, the process of note-taking involves writing down whatever the teacher/lecturer says, then summarising and working out what you don’t understand so you can revise. The Cornell method does this all in one page.

Here’s how to do it: Get an A4 piece of paper and rule a 2 inch horizontal margin at the bottom of the page. On the left-hand side, rule a 2.5 inch column. This should leave you with an additional 6 inch column. Optionally, rule a 0.5 margin at the top for the date and title.

During the class, take notes in the 6 inch column. Remember to be thorough. After the class (or during if you have time) summarise the notes in the 2 inch margin. Then, write down questions and things you don’t understand in the 2.5 inch column.

The reason this method works so well for me is because of the accessibility of the page: Everything is on one page which makes revision a lot quicker. You instantly know what the topic is about and what you need to revise/work on. It also makes for easy storage - no loose pages everywhere!

To make it easier for you guys, here are some printables I made:

Blue: pdf  / png

Pink: pdf / png

Green: pdf / png

** Do not repost the printables without my permission or tag **

Visual Learner or not, mindmaps can be a great way to write out notes or revise. Personally I use mindmaps to revise notes for an exam! Mindmaps can sometimes be confusing to make, so let me lay it out in a few steps:

Materials

Paper - Notebook or Loose Sheets; generally blank paper is better for mindmaps. 

Pens - Muji’s Smooth Writing Gel Ink             Muji’s Gel Ink Pens (0.5)            Staedtler Triplus Fineliners  are my faves! 

Markers/Highlighters -Sharpie Markers (although they do bleed!)                                      Muji Highlighters                                      Zebra Mildliners

Ruler

Layout

Keep it Simple

Stick to Bullet Points

Have 3 Main Colours 

Space it out

Include diagrams if you need

Include post-it notes for extra information

The layout I usually follow:

Usually my bullet points would go under each title.  Try to keep it as neat as possible! It will make it easier to study. 

Tips

If you dislike writing on blank paper, place lined paper behind the sheet when you’re writing so you can see the lines and keep your writing straight. 

If you’re a visual learner, include more diagrams, perhaps even use them instead of Titles.

If you’re using Sharpies, place a blank page behind so it won’t bleed onto the next page or onto the table

Revising

When you’re not directly studying one of your mindmaps,  stick them up around you! You’ll look at them and learn from them without realising.

Cover them up and test yourself on them

They’re perfect for last minute prep before an exam

You can read over them to refresh your memory

Other Posts:

Getting Involved in Studyblr

Subject  Resource List

Staying Healthy While Studying

Note-Taking

Organisation Masterpost

Study Tips

Anti-Procrastination Masterpost

Motivation Masterpost

Back to School Necessities

How to Get an Internship

How to Take Notes From a Textbook

Taking textbook notes is a chore. It’s tedious and boring and sometimes challenging, but hopefully these tips will help you improve your skill and shorten the time it takes you to do textbook notes!

Give yourself time: Realistically, you can’t knock out 30 pages of notes in 20 minutes. Take your time with textbook notes so they’re a good studying tool in the future. The general rule is to take how many pages you have to do and multiply it by 5: that’s how many minutes it’ll take you to do the notes.

Also, divide you notes up into manageable chunks to increase your productivity. I am personally a huge fan of using pomodoro timers, and I adjust the intervals for however long I need to.

Skim before you start taking notes: If time is an issue, don’t read your 40 page in depth before even picking up a pen, but make sure you know what you’re reading about by skimming a bit ahead of your notes. Read over section titles, and look at charts, maps, or graphs. Writing and highlighting as you read the chapter for the first time isn’t effective because you don’t know if a sentence will be important or not, so make sure you’re reading a paragraph or section in advance before writing.

Use the format they give you in the book to help take your notes: In a lot of textbooks, there will be a mini outline before the chapter itself that shows all the headings and subheadings. Those will be your guidelines! I find this super helpful because long chapters can be daunting to go into without any structure. If you don’t have one of those, use the headings and subheadings provided for you. If you haven’t already been doing this, it will help you so much.

Read actively: It’s so easy to “read” a textbook without digesting any information, but that is the last thing you want to do. Not only does it make taking notes a million times harder, but you’ll be lost in class discussions because you didn’t understand the reading. To keep from passively reading, highlight, underline, star any important information in the book itself.

Have a color coding system for highlighting or underlining and write down a key somewhere (here’s a few that you can adjust for your needs: x,x)

Use sticky notes or tabs to mark any questions or important points to come back to

Summarize important information and paraphrase: When taking the actual notes, don’t copy down full sentences word for word. Not only does writing full sentences waste a lot of time, it’s not an effective way to learn. If you can paraphrase the information, then you understand it. It’s also easier to study notes which are in your own words instead of textbook academia writing.

Be selective: You shouldn’t be writing down every fact that comes up in your textbook. If a fact ties into the bigger topic and provides evidence, then it’s probably something to keep, but you don’t need every piece of supplemental information (but do make sure you always write down the vocab). Learn your teacher’s testing style to help you decide what to write down. Could this be on the quiz/test? If the answer is yes, make sure you write it down.

Learn to abbreviate: Just like writing full sentences, writing out full words will waste time. Implement some shortenings (make sure to use ones that you’ll understand later!) into your notes. Some common ones are: b/c=because, gov=government, w/o=without, and here’s a great list of a ton of examples of abbreviations and shortenings.

Answer margin and review questions: A lot of textbooks have margin questions on every page or so that sum up what’s really important about that information. Make sure not to skip them because they’re really helpful for understanding. Write them down and answer them clearly in your notes. Most textbooks also have review questions after the chapter that check for reading comprehension, so make sure to answer those because they’ll show you if you really understood the chapter.

Don’t skip over visual sources: Maps, diagrams, illustrations, charts, and any other visuals in textbooks are so helpful. If you’re a visual learner, these things will be so essential to you and how you understand what you’re reading. Charts, tables, and diagrams sometimes also summarize information, so if you’re a visual learner it might benefit you to copy those down instead of writing it out.

Add visuals if it’ll help you: As said above, copying down charts, tables, illustrations, or diagrams can be super helpful for visual learners. They’re clear and concise, so pay attention to them.

Write your notes in a way that’s effective and makes sense to you: Mindmaps, Cornell notes, or plain outline notes are all really good forms of notetaking. Find which one works best for you to understand them and which one is most effective for your class, and use it (stuff on mindmaps and cornell notes).