Since there’s still more than half a year left before the exams, it’s not too late to think about notes. Not the most enthralling subject, but important for the Leaving!
photo credit: Jonathan_W
Making good notes is a simple way of making future revision easier. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean writing really slowly to keep your handwriting perfect, or having an alphabetically-arranged colour-coordinated filing system.
What I’m talking about is trying to make notes easy to understand, quick, and (if possible) funny. Here’s some things you might like to try out:
- Use 3 or 4 different colours in your notes – it makes them look easier to read, and helps you quickly see what’s most important on the page. For example, you could have headings in red, ordinary text in blue, important points in green, etc.
- Keep your notes in a hardback copy! Other kinds of copies, rip-out sheets, and all that don’t last.
- Keep them understandable. If you’re taking down teachers notes, put in explanations for big words, or rewrite them in your own words, if allowed.
- Make notes even when you don’t have to. Teachers might mention something while waffling which you think might be useful – put it in your notes!
For example, take down random nathanna cainte you come across in Irish class in the front of your Irish notes, so you can look at them when writing essays. - Try making your notes funny. This doesn’t mean scribbling nonsense instead of paying attention! It might mean, for example, if the teacher or a friend says something hilarious in class, write it down so you can look back on it! Perhaps it’s unconventional, but when you’re revising, you’ll find these funny things among your notes to remind you of that time, and make reading your notes a less arduous thing to do!
Notes can be boring, but I hope you see how you can make them less boring and make revision easier by doing so. These are just suggestions of mine, feel free to comment with your own!