Whether you’re transitioning from high school into your first year at Stevens or just getting back into the swing of things after Summer break, transitioning back into academics can be difficult. There’s a difference between long days of high school to college academics, from sitting in an office all day to back in a classroom, and even from just not going to classes regularly to having a class schedule to follow again. One of the best ways to stay on top of this transition is to come up with an individualized plan for how you learn best in each of your courses.
The first step to succeeding academically for the semester is being patient with yourself and understanding that not everything is going to fall into place all at once. Every semester, it takes me at least a week to figure out the best way to take notes for each of my classes, typically each course needing an individual approach. At the beginning of each semester, I usually start by taking all of my notes in a notebook on paper, and then, depending on the pacing of the lecture and materials offered, I will re-evaluate the effectiveness of my note-taking strategy for the rest of the semester.
One of my favorite ways to take notes is directly on slides with my iPad. This technique works well for classes where the professor projects slides and adds verbal insight as they present. This technique allows me to write down all of the information that the professor teaches that is beyond what is already on the slides while not having to spend time copying down what’s already on the slides. This technique also creates organized notes without having to do much extra work. Buying an iPad for note-taking such as this was one of the best investments I made as a student and makes it so much easier for classes with slide decks.
Another way to spruce up note-taking is to look into external resources to help deepen your understanding of certain topics. If the course is something that you find exceedingly difficult or something that you know you will use a lot in the future, it may be worth it to purchase the textbook for your course if it was not something you were going to buy initially. When I decide to purchase a course textbook, I always buy it and read it before or after the lecture to try to clarify anything that confused me initially.
Another strategy that I use to improve the quality of my note-taking and study skills is creating review summaries before exams. Before an exam, I’ll start to go through all of my notes on relevant topics that will be on the exam and consolidate them into a few pages so that I have a summary to look back at when I am preparing for the exam. Plus, making the review sheet itself is a really great way to recall information and study before a test.
Another way that you can make sure to always have your notes up to par is, believe it or not, by making friends in your class. This has so many benefits, such as having people to study with and learning from other people’s studying and note-taking habits. Another way that this can be extremely beneficial is if, for whatever reason, you need to miss a lecture one day and want to still be able to get the information from someone else to copy the notes into your style some other time and having someone you know you can go to for this can be very helpful. It is also always great to be able to confer with a friend to figure out what the best way to learn or take notes is in a particular class because collaboration is such a powerful tool we can use in our college careers.
