How do you make notes?

[i love ib lol jk]

Hey guys, just wondering how you guys take your notes

I do mine electronically, but not in very organised fashion and I end up summarising them on paper since I tend to remember it better. Also here's a really good tip I think that many people don't use, have a separate logbook for your studies, so print out the study and staple it to one page and on the other page do your Aim, Method, Procedure, Results, Conclusion (we call it all mobile phones ring constantly haha). Still haven't really found the best method yet but still experimenting.

What about you? And how's it working out?

[sarahlouise]

I do it on my laptop too, and then print it out.

I do a separate document for each header - e.g. Cognitive Processes, Cognition & Emotion, etc.

Then I go by each syllabus point, putting in studies, what people have found, etc. all to do with the syllabus point.

Then later when I'm revising I'll write up an essay plan for each point, as in:

Intro (I write an intro for each)

Para 1, 2, 3 etc.: (Topic sentence for each written out, then just really really brief dot points).

Basically if I'm really rusty on the topic then I can read my big notes on it to refresh my memory etc., but if it's revising for an in-class essay (which my class does pretty much every week) and the stuff is in my head then I'll just go by the essay plans.

So far this is working pretty well for me!

I just have a quick question - is it vital in answers to include the Aim, Method, Procedure, Results, Conclusion of the studies? My teacher says it's not the best thing to do because it makes the whole essay just story-telling (they wanted to do this, they did this, then they did this, they found this, and so that's what they did) and so he tells us to just do it really briefly in a sentence or two and then go into detail with analysing. I'm not sure if he's pointing us in the right direction or not!

[ChikkyD]

Back in the day, when I was studying for my psychology exams, I used to write everything on paper.

The separate section or book for studies is a very good idea. I first figured out which studies I would use for what section of the syllabus, and then made flash cards which summarised each study and colour coded them with the perspectives (old syllabus). This helped a lot

I would then write out everything I would use per perspective so that it would definitely stick. Paper and writing is a great way to learn, because you're doing the writing, so you realise and take in everything you write. I know some people who made their notes electronically, but that never really worked for me. Each to their own

[Guest KAPOWW!!]

Hey guys, just wondering how you guys take your notes

I do mine electronically, but not in very organised fashion and I end up summarising them on paper since I tend to remember it better. Also here's a really good tip I think that many people don't use, have a separate logbook for your studies, so print out the study and staple it to one page and on the other page do your Aim, Method, Procedure, Results, Conclusion (we call it all mobile phones ring constantly haha). Still haven't really found the best method yet but still experimenting.

What about you? And how's it working out?

Notes aren't always important for studying, some people study better just by casual reading, but types like you and me soo need them!

The process of making notes is basically about refining what you know till its perfect, I actually made a flow chart for this

View the attachments, I hope you find it helpful, just typed it out now, so excuse the missing arrows or spelling mistakes. So if you follow this in year 1 you won't need to bother studying your text,except for random knowledge and MCQs, options.! CHeers!

[ShootingStars]

In general, notes should be useful. You should want to come back to them and read through them again and be able to understand everything. Notes are meant to break everything down and make it simpler, not harder!

Taking notes for me generally varies with subject. I feel like I remember more by writing on paper too, but that's a personal decision to make.

For Economics I do all the diagrams separately and use colour etc.

For English, I annotate the books and write chapter summaries, and read up analysis on the internet.

For History, I use lists a lot. Lists of causes, consequences etc. And I type up History too, just because there's so much of it and it feels like less and neater typed up

For Maths, I write up the important notes/formulas/things I'm always forgetting.

For advice, I'd say use the textbook and the syllabus together. Write out stuff in bullet point form, so its easier to skim through. Use colours if you want to, and pictures don't hurt either! Focus on what you're weak at rather than what you already know. Look through tests and homework and really try and find your weaknesses.

And don't lose them. They'll help you immensely around exam time! Keep notes organised, maybe split up a binder with dividers for each topic?

Enjoy note-taking!

[Hexa]

What me and my friends did was created a Google Doc and then work with each other to fill it all in.

It was certainly more fun then just typing it all out alone like I usually do, and in the end I think I remembered just as much as I would otherwise.

[hellwo]

Notes, I read the book.

Except for psychology

When I took psychology I made note cards for each study with the basic facts(year, summary, etc.) and what topics they were linked to. I made an outline for each learning outcome with my friends and then for all other knowledge read over the course companion.

[Sixthrain]

I love the handy notebook function in Microsoft Word

I would pretty much type down everything and anything my teacher says or I see during class (I have a fast typing speed, so I can type as she talks) and then I would go over my notes later and clean it up by merging or taking out bullet points.

The thing I dislike about taking electronic notes is that you can't add colour to it without a lot of mouse clicking and fussing. The most I can do is bold and italicise at the speed which I'm taking notes at. That's why I like to handwrite my notes in a flowchart form afterwards with lots and lots of colours.

[The Filipino Limner]

Writing notes down has always been my thing. I guess it helps me remember what I need to know, more than typing it down onto a computer. Apart from that, it is also generally easier to draw diagrams and images in paper since you have the free hand to do it, and above all, it's earth friendly!

I'd have different notebooks for different subjects, and I'd use colored pens to write headings to keep my notebook colorful and fun. This makes me energized and excited for my lessons. *Just my thing though!

Haha. Though go with what you feel most comfortable in!

[Jaydon]

Hey guys, just wondering how you guys take your notes

I do mine electronically, but not in very organised fashion and I end up summarising them on paper since I tend to remember it better. Also here's a really good tip I think that many people don't use, have a separate logbook for your studies, so print out the study and staple it to one page and on the other page do your Aim, Method, Procedure, Results, Conclusion (we call it all mobile phones ring constantly haha). Still haven't really found the best method yet but still experimenting.

What about you? And how's it working out?

In class, I take my notes in MS OneNote in whichever fashion the teacher teaches them in throughout the lesson, and when I'm studying I summarise each section in the LOAs according to the following steps:

1. Firstly, I take an A3 sheet in landscape orientation and title it with the section that we're working on in the top left-hand corner. For example: For "Physiology and Behaviour 1 - Localisation of Function", I title the sheet "P&B1".

2. After this, I write a sample question across the top to the right of the title. For this particular example we are only likely to get an 8-mark question, but we may not. In this case, I wrote "Explain one study related to localisation of function in the brain."

3. After I complete this step, I start to write any basic theory that is raised by the question in focus which, in this case, would be the theories that brain function is localised to particular sections of the brain, etc. on the left hand side of my page.

4. Next I write down any relevant studies with an AMRC (Aim, Method, Results, Conclusion) summary, either below the theory or on the right-hand side if the left-hand side is full.

5. I do this for every section (P&B 1-6, G&B 1-3 and my GLOs in the Biological LOA) and collate them in an A3 display folder.

This works for me, and I think it'll work for you. However, by all means tailor your notes to your own thinking style, as different people review things differently. I just think that this is an easy way to store notes for revision before exams.

[Avan:)]

I have 3 notebooks for each core subject, i.e. cognitive, sociocultural and biological level of analysis.

Same goes with the options.

[Kirimin]

Generally I make rough notes in the lesson and then when I get home in the evening, I type them up into a slightly more coherent form! Or write them out again with colours and diagrams

And then use textbooks etc to fill in any gaps in the topic.

It's worked pretty well so far, but I think I'm going to use that idea of having a separate booklet for studies as I can never remember them!!!