Taking too many notes

<p>I always manage to take way too many textbook notes...for example, for 15 pages of the history textbook, I end up with 9 pages of typed notes.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any tips? I never seem to know what to leave out...</p>

<p>Thanks XD</p>

<p>My APUSH teacher always told us to take notes on:</p>

<p>-Key details
-People
-Places
-Names
-Dates</p>

<p>And to leave everything else out. </p>

<p>Also, paraphrase. Don't copy out whole sentences.</p>

<p>for my summer reading hw, i did that too. my old eng teacher quizzed us on totally random things, like "what was the name of the person that the main character talked to on the sidewalk in chapter 5?" and it was the just kind thing that nobody remembers. even though i have an different eng teacher this year, i didn't know what she'd be like, so i took pages and pages and pages and pages (i could go on and on) of notes, including the tiniest details that you would never notice, because those were the kinda things my old eng teacher quizzed us on.</p>

<p>i think it was total overkill though and i wasted days of my time. i was just so panicked though.</p>

<p>yea, what HGFM said is what you should do. and me, for that matter.</p>

<p>Try to write just one sentence per paragraph of text. You'll get the main idea without being wordy.</p>

<p>I always take too many notes for the first test, but after that I adjust to the teacher's style. Some teachers' tests require that your notes be very comprehensive, while others want simply to find out what you learned about the big picture.</p>

<p>don't take notes on thhings u already know or things you are certin u will remember or facts that just seem trivial</p>

<p>My suggestion: although you probably already do this (due to it being 9 pages for one page), bullet point things. The different part (possibly)- have the bullets be one or two words or so.<br>
Even though this may not cut down on pages, it should cut down on amount of crap per page, and make it easier to review.</p>

<p>Be VERY Organized - take the ideas in the stuff, mismash them into a form easy for YOU to make the connection with, and write that condensed form down. Like if it says someone minor in the History textbook was a dictator and executed lots of dissenters and was an autocrat, when I take notes i just write "name of person - ***hole" and that in my mind summarizes the idea (this got me a 93 in EHAP and 5 on the exam =D</p>

<p>Avoid complete sentences at all costs. Bad karma.</p>

<p>Read actively, not passively. As in, you can do your textbook reading, take copious notes, and still not retain anything. Make connections while you read and come up with mnemonics. Instead of writing down every explanation or everything that happens, write down the key points that will help you remember the details. When you go over your notes, remind yourself of those details and try to make connections between key points.</p>

<p>I mean, the whole point of note-taking is to pick out the significant to help you remember the big picture, and you can't do that if you get too bogged down in the details.</p>

<p>Also, when you outline textbook reading, always read a little ahead and then go back a couple pages to do the outline. Sometimes it's easier to take notes when you know where an argument is going.</p>

<p>
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Try to write just one sentence per paragraph of text. You'll get the main idea without being wordy.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>/<em>hf;afj;ajkaj;</em>/</p>