3.EFFECTIVE NOTE TAKING

One of the major difficulties when I entered into first year was effective note taking. I had entered into a new environment with new people new subjects and new teachers. I had also entered a world of higher education that is very different from the education I had received before. Under this system I would have to work under my own initiative, motivate my own learning and research, and organise my time myself.

 From a personal perspective I found that I was getting completley bogged down on distinguishing between what information to note that would be useful in my studies and what information wasn't worthy of note.This in turn resulted in getting myself into a panic, which effected my concentration in the class context. I found myself spending a lot of time attempting to take down as much information as possible, while barely engaging with the material past that point, as all of my effort was concentrated on taking notes.

 I began to research effective note taking and found many different usefull ways in which notes can be taken. The four most common types of effective note taking include Cornell format, Outline format, Sentence format and mind mapping. The type of note taking I found most effective was  mind maps. However this does not suit all individuals. 

I believe its just a matter of trial and error with each type in order to find out which one works best for you. I found mind maps with bullet points both helped me to organise information effectively, and saved space enabling me to contain large amounts of notes on a single topic in one mind map. I have also realised that I am quite a visual learner, and having information presented in this way helps me to learn it better.