First Year Tips
written by Alexa Jamie Potter
This book will help guide you in participating in year one! This book is a copy of Luna H
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
6
Reads
767
Books
Chapter 4
4. Make sure your book is neatly presented and well kept. Here are some tips that can help with this:
Use your titles: I personally like to keep all my notes in one notebook (then I only have to focus on keeping track of one notebook, not several). The top of the page is a great place to write the name of the class, date, and maybe the subject. I like to note it with a doodle of a few vines or a few little doodles. I’ll then go through and add some colour as well. However, the most important thing should be that you can find your notes when you need them.
Use some colour. This is probably obvious, but the colour makes a difference with notes. I recommend finding some highlighters that you really love. I know I used to hate the garish colour of normal highlighters, so Zebra Mildliners have made a huge difference for me. I’ve also heard great things about Stabilo highlighters. As I take my notes, I get weirdly excited to use my highlighters, so it motivates me to add colour to subtitles and other important parts of my notes as I take them. It then saves time later on when studying because I see where the important parts are.
Use a little washi. I like to keep a small roll or two of washi tape inside my pencil case. Then, when I receive a small slip of paper or handout, I tape it into my notebook. This helps keep me more organized, as well as giving me more context to add to my notes.
Use a few little doodles. Once in and a while, I’ll add some doodles to my notes. As someone with anxiety, large classrooms can become a stage for unsettling panic attacks. Doodling can help me calm down by giving me something to focus on and something to do with my hands to ground me. And, according to a recent study, people apparently remember their notes better when they doodle.
Use your quotes. One of my favourite things to do while taking notes is to embellish a quote from the lecture or reading that I think is really important. I usually use a few of my favourite fonts to embellish the quotes and some colour to make them pop. Sometimes the quotes will take up a few lines, but other times, I let them have a page of their own. Having my quotes bolded like this makes it easy for me to find important ideas as I’ll flip back through my notes.
Use your titles: I personally like to keep all my notes in one notebook (then I only have to focus on keeping track of one notebook, not several). The top of the page is a great place to write the name of the class, date, and maybe the subject. I like to note it with a doodle of a few vines or a few little doodles. I’ll then go through and add some colour as well. However, the most important thing should be that you can find your notes when you need them.
Use some colour. This is probably obvious, but the colour makes a difference with notes. I recommend finding some highlighters that you really love. I know I used to hate the garish colour of normal highlighters, so Zebra Mildliners have made a huge difference for me. I’ve also heard great things about Stabilo highlighters. As I take my notes, I get weirdly excited to use my highlighters, so it motivates me to add colour to subtitles and other important parts of my notes as I take them. It then saves time later on when studying because I see where the important parts are.
Use a little washi. I like to keep a small roll or two of washi tape inside my pencil case. Then, when I receive a small slip of paper or handout, I tape it into my notebook. This helps keep me more organized, as well as giving me more context to add to my notes.
Use a few little doodles. Once in and a while, I’ll add some doodles to my notes. As someone with anxiety, large classrooms can become a stage for unsettling panic attacks. Doodling can help me calm down by giving me something to focus on and something to do with my hands to ground me. And, according to a recent study, people apparently remember their notes better when they doodle.
Use your quotes. One of my favourite things to do while taking notes is to embellish a quote from the lecture or reading that I think is really important. I usually use a few of my favourite fonts to embellish the quotes and some colour to make them pop. Sometimes the quotes will take up a few lines, but other times, I let them have a page of their own. Having my quotes bolded like this makes it easy for me to find important ideas as I’ll flip back through my notes.
