How to study!

How to take notes:

As your teacher lectures, take down the information, leaving the margin on the left unused.  When the instructor moves to a new point, skip a few lines. For every significant bit of information, write a cue in the left margin. To review, cover your notes with a card, leaving the cues exposed. Say the cue out loud, then say as much as you can of the material underneath the card. When you have said as much as you can, move the card and see if what you said matches what is written. If you can say it, you know it.  This method is called the Cornell Method.  It provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes without laborious recopying.

Another method of note taking involves leaving the right half of the page open.  As your teacher lectures, take down the information on the left side of the page, leaving a column on the right open.  This open area can be used to leave yourself cues about the notes or reflect on what the information in the notes mean.  When working on calculations, the open area can be used to describe why a step in the calculation was made or how the calculation could be done differently.

Other study skills:

Study Guides and Strategies is an excellent website with tips and strategies for taking notes, studying, making presentations, etc.  This site is a public educational site.