<p>Does anyone else have a problem with taking history notes? I feel like either I take too many notes down, or when I try to cut down on my note-taking, I don't take enough down to form a complete picture of history. I just feel like everything, besides a few random facts, is important. Does anyone have any tips for taking notes for history, studying, or systems that have worked for you? Thanks!</p>
<p>Is your textbook brand new? If not, then there might be a really cheap, second hand copy you can buy on ebay or amazon. Find one, and then take all your notes/do all your highlighting in the textbook while you’re reading. This way, you don’t have to worry about being too concise or copying too much down. If you just highlight a little and summarize some parts, you can always just read the actual text next to your notes for clarification.</p>
<p>This year in my history class my teacher seems like he’s obsessed with taking notes.</p>
<p>I probably take way more than I need, but it’s worth it, because he gives open note quizzes about pretty specific things.</p>
<p>Right before a big test though, I’m planning on typing up all my notes, because it’s a great way to relearn them, and then you’ll have them all nicely typed up for midterms/finals.</p>
<p>it depends on your teacher’s method of teaching. i always had very lecture-based teachers, who used a lot of their lecture content for the tests (like literally a third of the things they’d mention were not included in the textbook, so if you slept, like a lot of kids did, you were essentially ****ed) as well as incorporating analysis into their test questions, so taking notes in the textbook were recommended to be kept short and concise (but don’t do it the cornell notes way. this has been with me since my childhood and if i had the power to i’d abolish this method of notetaking immediately)</p>
<p>but lectures. i recommend jotting down the general idea if they seem to be mentioning a historical event, but if they mention a little detail, like “the US wanted California mainly because of the San Francisco trading port with Eastern countries” then you jot that down. </p>
<p>if your teacher is nitpicky, just write down everything. even if it’s a “waste” as you say, it’s good notetaking skills anyways.</p>