SFS: Lesson 2.5- Note Taking 101

Active listening is not possible while taking notes during a lecture.

• True

• Fales

You should take notes on anything you think might be on a test, even if it breaks every “good” note-taking guideline.

• True

• Fales

Before class begins, Alma gets ready to take notes by reviewing last night’s reading assignment and the notes from the previous day. What is her next step?

• Write down everything the teacher says

• Assemble any materials she might need for note-taking

• Copy her classmate's notes after class

• None of these

Each page of notes should include

• Date, topic, class

• Class, homework assignment, date

• Page numbers, date, and topic

• None of these

What should a student do with their notes after class?

• Store them in their notebook and study them only right before a test

• Try to memorize the information right away because humans have short memory spans

• Rewrite the notes to better understand and learn the information

• None of these

What does the abbreviation “ref.” stand for?

• Referral

• Refugee

• Referenced

• Referendum

What types of information should you include in your notes? What should you exclude?

• Titles Main ideas Important dates Key pieces of information

• Anything is written on the board, Questions one might have, and Information that could possibly be on a test Topic

• Personal anecdotes, irrelevant stories, word for word notes, and complete sentences should be excluded

• All of these points are important for note-taking

Use the topic “mammals” to create a statement that should NOT be included in your notes.

• Personal anecdotes

• Irrelevant stories

• Word for word sentences and complete sentences

• None of these provide relevant information about the topic on "Mammals"

Read the following statement from a lecture by a history teacher:

"When I went to Hawaii last year, I visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I was struck by the solemness of the displays and pictorials. Four battleships and two destroyers were sunk, many more were badly damaged, and there were more than 2000 casualties. It really made me consider the horror of war and how it must have felt to be there on December 7, 1941, when it was all happening."

Reformulate this statement into an appropriate form which could be written in your notes.

Answer explanation

Make sure to include all the relevant facts and leave out the instructor's personal statements. The listed facts should include the number of ships sunk, the number of casualties, and the date of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Teachers and other presenters usually talk faster than we can write. For example, teachers in high school usually talk at a rate of about 100 to 200 words per minute. The average high school student can write about 15 to 20 words per minute. It is therefore important to do things that can help you write more quickly when taking notes in class. One way to write more quickly is to use the fewest words needed to capture the important information.

Look at the information provided by a teacher during an oral presentation:

Leaves help all kinds of plants to draw water up from the soil by a process that scientists call transpiration.

Now, look at the shortened version of this information that follows. Notice that although there are fewer words, none of the important information has been lost.

Leaves help plants draw water from soil by transpiration.

For the following, rewrite the information using the fewest words needed without losing any of the important information.

Communication satellites receive signals from a transmitting station on Earth, amplify them, and beam the signals down to another Earth station, which may be thousands of miles away.

• satellites receive signals from a transmitting station on Earth

• amplify them, and beam the signals down to another Earth station

• That may be thousands of miles away

• All of these points are relevant information