Golden Road to Knowledge [yeah!]

You know how to take notes… so I would recommend looking them over once in a while as opposed to stashing them away and never setting sight on them ever again! The whole purpose of taking notes in class is so you have a reference to look back to. A good technique to engraining your brain with information that you may have heard already in class before, is to look over these notes and actually learn them.

 Here’s something that works wonders…

-Read your notes before you get to class… you don’t have to be memorizing them or anything but simply read over them and get a feel for what the lecture was about.

-After class, review your new notes, and it helps go back to your old ones too… if you want.
*I’ve heard it helps to read notes before you go to sleep… true? Not sure, but I guess it beats the common myth of sleeping on your books.

-Not too crazy right? C’mon… it really doesn’t take up that much time to read over a couple of pages of notes, it helps when you’re actually in class and you remember reviewing what the proffessor is talking about. Whoohoo! Honestly, it just makes your brain feel better.

Before you know it, exam time will come and you’ll really be studying… you know… the kind where you read and read and read over things but the pressure of the exam is just too much to handle and you try to memorize and remember things and this and that and you end up daydreaming… blahh blah blah. Save yourself from this. Please. Just read over the notes man, that’s it! And as you’re doing it all throughout the semester, it won’t feel like studying because it’s not studying and because all you’re doing is reading over them. That’s all I have to say about that, and it’s even less stressful than reading this blog.

By Nefarious Natalia Brakoniecki

NOOOOOOOOO! -tes.

Notes.

Hmmmmm, that word doesn’t exactly compare with music to my ears. I’m not a fan of note taking, quite honestly speaking. To me, if you have to take notes in a class, it makes me feel as though the class isn’t interesting enough to begin with… I mean, if I have to take notes then doesn’t it mean that class really isn’t quite memorable enough to recall? Oh the joys of going to college. Well, if you find yourself in a class like this, you should probably drop it, unless of course it’s required of you. If you have no passion for it – but you thought you would - then apparently that’s not your “calling”. I’ll let you in on a few tips that I find to be useful for taking notes. Of course not everyone will benefit from these tips because people tend to vary in their learning styles, listening skills, etc. but these useful bits of info are broad and rather general so I think that if not taken too seriously, notes don’t have to be as treacherous as they are now.

Alright, first thing you do when you set foot in class is get a general feel for the room. Make yourself comfortable. Some classes have some rather comfy office chairs … wa wa wee wa ;] “king of the castle”… that was such a great movie. Anyways, once you sit down and settle down, get out that number 2 pencil or that ballpoint pen and make sure it’s in decent condition… may seem wierd to say that but it makes a huge difference when your writing utensil withstands the pressures of speed writing, erasing, chewing, and constant head tapping. Trust me. You don’t want to miss not even a second or two of what your professor says because we all know it’s always very extremely and infinitely important. Like when they start commenting on the psychology of today’s drivers and how they almost exploded on their way to work. Of course I’m just kidding about that one… seriously though, having the right tools to take notes and to be comfortable in class really is crucial and it puts you in the ultimate mood to take notes.

Next, comes paying attention in class. This can be difficult. We all have our own lives filled with drama or whatever it is but honestly, when you go to class it’s like being detached from the outside & real world and in way it’s like a form of meditation, if you allow yourself to see it that way. Focus on your proffessor. The trick is to just open your ears. Let all words flow in, circle around a few times in your brain, and then let them go… because there’s more coming. Like how a highway works. You take an exit to get on the highway [info going in ear into brain] you must speed up and get into the flow of traffic, let the info get in your head and just let it click and mingle a little bit just as you would “mingle” on a highway… and then before you know it you take the exit off of the highway and go about your businness… after the info chills a little bit in your brain, let it go and accept the new wave of words [the new flow of traffic]. This is just a simple way to explain listening… the last thing I’m going to cover is the actual writing part.

Well after all that, you’re probably thinking ooohhh god, there’s so many better things I could be doing with my time than letting traffic in and out of my ears… but you know what? I learned a whole load of stuuuffffff by going with this process. And I feel pretty damn smart and proud of myself after class as a result. Anywho… to tell you the bare truth, the notes that you end up taking have no real value while your taking them if that makes any sense. Basically by letting yourself listen to your proffessor’s words, you’re actively thinking about the lecture… but while you’re doing that, taking notes will be like driving, or riding a bike… you will become unconscious of the fact that you’re doing it because you’ll be listening to your prof. Physically taking notes should be seen as a tool, not so much of an act. Whatever catches your thoughts, should be transferred from brain to arm to hand to fingertips and transformed into written words… which are really just collaboration of scribbles if you really think about, or if you don’t think about it at all for that matter. The reason I said that is because going into college I took things a little too hard on myself. I thought it was going to be so much worse than it really was. Well you know…. spending time in class and coming out of it should feel rewarding. It will be stressful at times, no lie… but that should be seen as a time for growth and learning… not just academic learning, but learning about yourself as a person. If it feels stressful, that’s GOOD – that means you’re not used to this, this will be a challenge, and even if I don’t do an A+ job on this, as long as I put MYself and MY best and get out of it alive and whole, I’ll feel like a whole different person.

 Okay. Breathe. Taking notes isn’t hard, it doesn’t take a smart person to do it, all it’s really about is finding your groove, your comfort zone. It’s really cool to look at yourself from an outside view and really think about what makes you happy and what makes you enjoy your classes. Just promise that you find at least some interest in your classes, it really makes a difference… and if you don’t like it but are forced to take it [which sucks I know] find something you like about it… even if it’s one of your classmates or SOMEthing… ANYthing. College is cool… keep your head on your shoulders, open your mind, breathe… and don’t worry bout a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright – that means, if you screw up a little, it’s no big – life goes on.

 Some helpful sites on note taking… if you found this one to be not so helpful:

 http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/notes/index.cfm

http://stamfordstudentlife.uconn.edu/srcal.html
*The Source (these guys can give you real human help)

http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/freshman_seminar/notetak.htm

By Notorious Natalia Brakoniecki.