Speaker 1: The worst thing you can do is take notes that look like this. This is what I call a wall of words. It would take a good minute to read this entire paragraph and figure out what it was saying. But if you had like 50 pages of notes, you'd be studying it for hours. So what I would do is take the main idea of this and then turn it into something visual. Like an image, a flow chart, a diagram, or a mind map. I could look at a visual and within seconds get the gist of what it's about. So tip number one is to make more visual notes. Because not only does the brain remember images better than words, it also processes them faster. The next tip is to understand that notes are meant to be an extension of your thinking, not a replacement. Here's what I mean. So imagine that your brain is carrying a load. This is called cognitive load. So you're sitting in class and the teacher is lecturing and feeding you info, metaphorically adding weight to this load. Your brain's job is to process it, ask questions, make connections, piece the information together, properly think about it. So when the load of information starts to become too much to handle, then you jot some notes down. You offload the excess information to keep track of it, but you want to use your notes as an extension of your thinking. You want your cognitive load to be heavy enough to be challenging. If you're at the gym and you're lifting light weights, it's not going to help your muscles grow. The only way you're going to learn is by struggling with the info in your brain, at a reasonable level, of course. And that struggle is what learning feels like. But what many students do wrong is that they offload everything immediately to the notes. The info comes from the teacher to your brain and then directly to your notes. You don't give your brain any chance to process it. You don't embrace that uncomfortable feeling of learning. Many students do this because they're afraid of missing information, so they've got to frantically write it all down. The info is basically bypassing the brain too quickly and you don't learn anything. So if you made the commitment to go to class, then use that time effectively by learning the information right there and then, rather than writing it down and then postponing your learning until after class. Plus, if you understand what's being taught, then you'll end up taking better notes. The next step is to not over-rely on your notes as a study guide. A lot of students will read their notes to review for an exam, and they think that the more times they read it, the more prepared they'll be. But that's not how it works. Because rereading notes just gives you the illusion of learning. You feel like you're absorbing the information. You're not actually retaining it. Think about your favorite movie. Can you recall every scene in that movie, in order, straight from memory? It's a lot harder than it seems, right? Even for your favorite movie. But if you had that movie playing right in front of you, then it becomes a lot easier to recall the scenes because they're all familiar to you. That's what rereading your notes is like. It gives you the illusion of learning. But when you close your notes and try to recall them, like picture the movie playing out in your mind, it's not that easy. But that's what true learning feels like. The next tip is to constantly update your notes, especially if you're using a technique like mind mapping. The notes that you take in class are version number one. That's your initial understanding of the information. It's pretty new still. But as you keep learning and ask more questions, you begin to clarify things. You might find that you misunderstood some concepts and you got to go back, cross things out and edit your notes. That then becomes version number two. And the more you learn, you start to notice more patterns and how ideas relate to each other. And you can start grouping information together and condense your notes. That might be version number three. And you got to go through however many versions you need until you have a concise and condensed understanding of the concepts. There's no such thing as a perfect mind map or perfect notes on the very first try. You got to go through many iterations. So don't waste your time trying to make your first notes look pretty and formatted if it's going to change anyway. The next tip is to understand the difference between linear and nonlinear note-taking and when to use each. Linear note-taking is when you write information in sequential or structured order. This is typically how textbooks are written. You get chapter one, then heading one, subheading one, then heading two, subheading two. Like it looks very chronological. On the other hand, nonlinear note-taking is more freeform and allows the ideas to all connect to each other. It makes it very easy to visualize how all the concepts are connected through diagrams, mind maps or flow charts or any other visual representation. This is normally a lot easier to do with pen and paper whereas linear notes are the default when you're typing your notes, right? Because you can't really draw or sketch with a keyboard. And yes, there are some subjects like math or chemistry or physics where you got to make sure that you get the right steps in order. But most other learning, especially conceptual learning, is complex and all the ideas are interconnected. I really enjoy taking notes on an iPad and stylus because you get that freeform to make connections but you also get that digital organization to keep track of your notes. And speaking of math, the next tip is specifically for note-taking in math. The best way to start learning math is without all the numbers. You want a conceptual understanding first. So ignore the numbers and learn the math in words first so that you know when and why you're using certain equations. I'd say the wrong way to learn math is by memorizing all the equations and then on the exam, you're just trying to recognize patterns. You're trying to fit variables into the equations until you get somewhat of an answer that looks familiar and then you just go with that one. That's what we call the plug-and-chug method, right? Which is not that great because you're just trying to rote-memorize the procedures and the steps to solve the problems without a conceptual understanding of how to solve the problems. So again, the tip here is when taking notes for math, start off by using words in your notes, right? What do the laws and equations mean? Once you have a conceptual understanding, then you can bring in the procedural practice. You can start introducing numbers and doing practice problem sets. The next tip is to write questions and writing questions has a few benefits. First, it gives you an objective to work towards. As you're reviewing or reading through your material, you're actively looking for answers to these questions. Secondly, it forces you to think like an exam writer. How would they ask this information on the test? What variables can you remove or change around to make the question even more difficult? And thirdly, writing questions gives you a great practice or review tool. When you're studying for the exam, you can run through your list of questions and actively recall the answers to quiz yourself. If you're using a note-taking app with toggles like Notion, you can nest the answers and hide them under the questions. Or you can transfer your questions directly to flashcards. Writing questions is the basis of many different note-taking techniques like Cornell Notes, or one of my favorites, the QEC method, which I made a video for right here. It's a video where I break down the differences in note-taking between technical courses like math and science versus non-technical courses like history or literature. I'll see you there. Bye.