Strategic note taking for effective understanding

“To excel at strategy, we must first understand what it is” - Carl Von

• The primary purpose of note taking is to encourage active learning and to prepare study materials for exams. Developing note taking skills should help you organize information into an understandable format that will assist in your studying process. There are multiple methods for taking notes. A frequently used method for taking notes is the Cornell Style of Note Taking. This method was developed to help students logically organize, understand, and study the course material..
  

• The essential characteristics in Cornell method are known as the 5 R’s of note taking. The Cornell note taking method helps organize class notes into easily digestible summaries. This method is effective because the main points, details, study cues, and summary are all written in one place.Each section serves a unique purpose, helping us to record, reduce, recite, reflect, or review.

  1. Record – A place to take our notes (obviously).
  2. Reduce – A place to summarise those notes.
  3. Recite – There needs to be an easy way to test ourselves using our notes.
  4. Reflect – Notes should be related to other notes already written.
  5. Review – Regularly revisit notes to ensure maximum retention.