By Eric Spikes/reporter
To get the most out of classes, students probably take notes with their own personal style, but is that note taking done with the highest efficiency possible?
Probably not, a NW counselor said last week.
Signs of bad note taking include messy pages and illegible handwriting—and bad note taking is quite common, Lily Calzada, coordinator of special services for the NW Campus counseling services, said in a Feb. 18 seminar.
“The true goal of note taking is to give you the advantage,” she said. ”The goal is to reduce the amount of time editing and reviewing at test time.”
Kraig Hayman, a NW Campus student, had criticism for his own note-taking style.
“I just write too much,” he said. “My hand starts to yell at me, and it’s all for nothing. It all becomes lost and mixed in, like I need a machete.”
Taking effective notes can be involved, intricate and, for some individuals, a little intimidating, Calzada said.
But she said it is important to remember that note taking should cater to the student’s own style.
“It’s not something that’s going to come to you naturally,” she said. “You have to work at it and perfect it.”
Nothing in note taking is more essential than addressing the main points though what those points may be is up to each student, Calzada said.
It is better to write too much than not enough.
Calzada said one critical aspect for getting the best out of one’s notes is to rewrite them a second or third time, to ensure better test results.
“Rewrite,” she said. “I cannot stress that enough.”
