Note-Taking Strategies Part 3

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/955.html

After Class
As soon as class ends, review your notes and fill in any blanks.
Underline, highlight and use symbols to sort through the information. If you don’t understand something, get help from your teacher or classmates.
After you’ve reviewed all your notes from class, in the left-hand area of the page written down key words and questions your teacher might ask on a test.
At the bottom of each page, write a summary of the notes. This helps you digest what you’ve learned. It also improves your memory of the material for the long term for the tests down the road.

Profile of a Successful Student part 2

Work Together. There are a number of ways that you can ensure you get the most of your educational experience. First, participate fully. Engage regularly in the discussion and be willing to share personal, professional and educational experiences. You can get to know your classmates through dialogue that is created in a course environment-sometimes- even better than in a face-to-face class. And the same goes for your instructor. Be sure to contact your professor –especially if you are having problems. He/she is till your instructor and will be there to guide and assist you as you needed.

Successful Students 7-8

7.  . . . understand that actions affect learning. Successful students know their personal behavior affect their feelings and emotions which in turn can affect learning.

If you act in a certain way that normally produces particular feelings, you will begin to experience those feelings. Act like you’re so bored, and you’ll become bored. Act like you’re disinterred, and you’ll become disinterested. So the next time you have trouble concentrating in the classroom, “act” like an interested person: lean forward, place your feet flat on the floor, maintain eye contact with the professor, nod occasionally, take notes, and ask questions. Not only will you benefit directly from your actions, your classmates and professor may also get more excited and enthusiastic.

8.   . . . talk about what they’re learning. Successful students get to know something well enough that they can put it into words. Talking about something with friends or classmates is not only good for checking whether or not you know something, it’s a proven learning tool. Transferring ideas into words provides the most direct path for moving knowledge from short term to long term memory. You really don’t “know” material until you can out it into words. So, next time you study. Don’t do it silently. Talk about notes, problems, readings, etc. with friends, recite to a chair, organize an oral study group, pretend you’re teaching your peers. “Talk learning”  produces a whole host of memory traces that result in more learning.