Originally Posted by rose_pak

Making good notes is an open secret of success of student. Making notes is a part of preparation for exam. Good Notes ensures high grades in exam. Questionnaires filled out by successful students show that 80% students attribute their success to good notes. Making good notes is a skill.

How to make good Notes.

First let me tell, what are the properties of good notes
• Easily understandable
• Easily revisable
• Save time – because you don’t have to read book again for learning them
• Refreshes key points of lecture and book
• Help to learn how to present answer in answer sheet in befitting way, to get more marks.
• It contains collective information of text book, guide books and lecture.
• Increase your interest
• Notes are written in your own hand writing, you feel acquainted to them and you pick up easily.
• It gives you food for thought.

There are two steps in making notes.

• Taking Notes
• Shaping them

Notes are usually taken from lecture of teacher and books or guide books.
Taking Notes from lecture.

• Be alert while sitting in class. Listen to the lecture carefully.
• Write down the key points.
• Write down the technical terms, definitions and important information delivered by teacher. Technical terms and definition are particular, so you should have them in your notes.
• Sometimes teacher give you addition information about a topic which may not be in your text book, do write them.
• Teachers may use table, diagram or chart, a technique made by them to provide you easy approach to learning, do write them.

Taking Notes from text book and guide book.

• If you have both text book and its guide book, it is better you open both for taking notes. Get focused on each sentence while you study.
• Extract key points from each paragraph and write it down.
• Write down the important information from book which helps to remind all the explanation attached to the topic.
• Do write the technical terms used in book, you need to memorize these terms so your notes should contain it.
• Write down the definitions. Definitions are very much important you can write it in your own words but you can’t its idea. So your notes should have them.

Shaping Notes.

Notes you take from lecture may be a in a haphazard way because you have to focus on lecture to learn as well. Similarly notes taken from book may not in proper format as you have to focus on learning as well. The notes you take should be shaped in proper way so that it can be properly used in future.

Shaping notes according to the question format of exam helps you present you answer in befitting way. There are different ways to shape notes.

• Writing in points
• Writing in paragraphs
• Making diagram, tables or chart

It depends on you which way you like to write your notes. But students, whose exams comprise of MCQs, prefer “writing notes in points”. On the other hand students, whose exams comprise of essay question, prefer “Writing notes in paragraphs”

What ever your method is but always remember some points for making your Notes useful.

• Use heading and sub-headings
• Use abbreviation and short words
• All the lines or paragraphs should be in proper sequence
• Skip the unnecessary explanation
• Write in good handwriting
• Make easy diagram or table for long description
• Write page number on each page if you are use loose pages for making notes.
• Notes for different subject should be separate. Never write notes for different subject on one page or in one note book which has no separation line

Keep your notes safe.

Keep your notes in a safe place because you use it many time for revision and preparation for exam.

If you are using a note book or register for making notes, it is good. Write on each note book, the name of subject of note it contain.

If you are making notes on loose pages, write page number on each page. Keep all pages in a folder and write name of subject on its folder.