Posted by IsoM on April 3, 2002, at 13:01:29
In reply to Sorry to intrude... » IsoM, posted by Penny on April 3, 2002, at 8:41:51
Penny, obviously you want to organise better, so to do so, people like us need to put far more thought & effort into doing so, but it does pay off. Preparation before classes is very important & I'd try to be prepared from the night before so I didn't need to do a mad rush just before classes.
PREPARATION:
For profs that follow the text books (even if only slightly), I'd talk to them after my first class, explaining my situation & asking for their cooperation. I'd make sure that I sat in class where I was fairly close to the front so as not to be too distracted from others. I'd have my text open to the section that the notes & lectures were being taken from that day, have a few markers handy (no more than 3 or it became confusing to me - too much colour) & my note paper ready before lecture began. (Nothing like digging about for my stuff as the lecture started, feeling panicky & missing what was said at first.)TWO SIDE NOTES:
When I'm really interested in something, I tend to hyperfocus & can multi-task well.I'd take in the info presented through 3 channels - auditory (listening), visually (reading notes on blackboard & material in text), & kinetically (through my writing the notes into my papers). This all served to reinforce the info by different brain pathways.
METHOD OF NOTE TAKING:
1. In the margins of my notes, I'd write the page number where the info was taken from in the text, so I could refer back to it for clarification when needed, not having to search through the text to find it.
2. I also segregated the info into the 3 colours, underlinING text in my books by this colour code, helping me seperate the info into categories for my benefit.3. I found that writing notes in my own modified Harvard-style format was the most organised for my brain. Leaving line spaces between blocks of info is good too. Title subcategories appropriately.
4. After classes, at home if not too exhausted, I'd reread the material over with both text & notes open to refer back & forth in.
5. If able to in your classes, pose questions now & then, asking for clarification on uncertain points.
INFO ON CHOOSING THE RIGHT UNIVERSITY FOR YOU:
I also chose my university carefully. I'd rather use a smaller college than the large universities with lots of prestige. The class sizes are smaller, the profs are more accesible & helpful, & questions raised in class are welcomed (as long as they're not endless). If the profs don't receive some feedback from their students, they're not sure whether what's taught is understood or not, so they were happy when I asked questions for clarification. Wouldn't work in the large classes where there's 200-300 students & the prof is this tiny figure on the farway podium.Lastly, sleep & more sleep. It's the best brain booster there is. If you're over-tired (& all students get that way a certain amount), all your strategies go down the drain without enough sleep. You can't stick the new stuff into long-term memory without sleep.
Any other questions welcomed from Prof. IsoM Study-Hard. ;-)
poster:IsoM
thread:101512
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020402/msgs/101692.html