Remember the instant feeling of soothing we get after glancing at some clear and organized notes? You like looking at them! Other than the visual appeal of neat notes, there are some benefits as to why one should take down notes that might help them in the future.

Taking down notes in class during a lecture improves your focus and helps you get a better knowledge of the concepts. The ability to take down notes increases your power of comprehension and retention.

These notes come at your rescue during examination preparations. Efficient notes help you to prepare appropriately for examinations because these help you save time and confusion of understanding all the syllabus a day before the exam. Making these notes require some effort and well-organized work. 

Every person has their way of learning and studying. Let’s have a look at some ways and methods to put together our notes. You can choose to jot down your notes according to your preference.  

1.The Outline method

The outline method is the most common method for note-taking. The idea is to note down 5-6 main bullet points that will be covered in the lecture. Write the main topics in highlighted or underlined bullets. Under these bullets, note down the relevant sub-points below them that are being discussed. This method helps you make structured notes in a well-organized format. 

Benefits:  

• Increased focus on the important aspects of the lesson taught
• Takes negligible editing time
• Highlights the key points of the lecture 
• Depicts the relationship between topics and sub-topics

2. The Flowchart method 

This method usually works for subjects that have interconnected topics and are a bit complex, like physics, chemistry, etc. The idea is to divide the central point into branches, write apt sub-topics under each point, further divide them into the other limbs, and continue as per your requirement. Other names for this method are mind mapping concept and concept chart method. This method also comes in handy for topics with steps and procedures. 

Benefits:

• Fascinating visuals
• Provides a lot of information in a very concise form
• the best way to connect topics and events

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3. The Sentence method 

Another method of note-taking that is simple, though it requires effort and can be time taking. The sentence method is the method of jotting down everything you are seeing and hearing at your best speed. A slight issue is that it can be difficult for you to keep up with the lecturer’s speed of speaking. There are chances that you might skip some points and keywords. 

Benefits:

• With good speed, you can write down everything
• You don’t need any textbook as all you have noted down is a complete summary of the lecture

4. The Cornell method

In this method, we use the key points similar to the outline method. The specialty of this method is that the page is divided into three sections- 

1. A large column for the notes
2. A narrow column for the cue
3. Another column at the bottom for the summary. 

The main notes go into the notes portion; the cue portion contains tiny comments, keywords, and questions, and the conclusion or the summary of the things taught falls into the summary part of the page. 

Benefits:

• The quickest way to organize and study your notes
• With information broken into smaller portions, it’s easier to absorb all of it easily 
• The best method if you want to extract the main idea of the topic quickly 

5. The charting method 

This method is the best-suited method for when your notes are loaded with a lot of information and concepts. In this method, you make a grid containing boxes. It can be three columns, three browns, or more according to your requirement. With this method, it is very convenient to learn your notes and co-relate one thing with another. 

Benefits:

• Easy to compare notes
• Brilliant structure for memorizing
• Highlighted key pieces of information 
• Organize tidbits of facts

To sum it all up, like we know that Cleanliness is next to Godliness, likewise the cleaner and organized your notes are, the better is the learning and retention. Experiment with all types of methods and find your favorite strategy. Or you can create a new one according to your liking! Be consistent with what you choose. Pen down organized, tidy, and visually attractive notes that will make sense to you when you read it later and will benefit you in the future.