Hi everyone! A few weeks ago I asked over on my Instagram what you would like to see on my blog and one response I got pretty frequently was how to stay organized in college. Today’s post is going to be all about note-taking and some things I’ve done over the years to take organized and accurate notes. 

Enjoy!

My style of taking notes is something I learned in elementary school and never thought I would use again. I use an outline style that starts with a roman numeral for the overarching topic, a letter with a subtopic, and then a bullet point or numbered list with supporting facts for that topic. There’s a lot of different styles of note-taking, so I would recommend trying out a bunch so you can find what works best for you! The style of notes that learn best from can really depend on your learning style. I found this article which is a great breakdown of the most effective note-taking methods for college students. I prefer to handwrite my notes- since I get WAY too distracted during class if I’m on my computer. But if you do prefer typing your notes, I find this outline style works great as well! 

If a professor has a presentation or chapter notes available to you, I always find it easy to print it out and take additional notes during a lecture or take notes on my laptop. That way I can easily reference a topic covered in class and often find examples to make things more clear when I’m studying. I love when professors upload notes, that way I’m able to take notes prior to class or review the notes so I can pay better attention to the lecture and be prepared for class. I always find that paying attention in class is very important in order to retain information, instead of focusing all of my time on taking notes. 

Another thing I always do when taking notes is to use highlighters! I find it’s a great way to emphasize important topics and keeps me organized.