Question

In an initial post of 250-300 words, describe your current note-taking style or styles. How effective is your current style? What note-taking style do you use the most (Cornell, flashcards, or something else)? How does note-taking help you prepare for tests? What, if anything, makes you the most nervous about taking tests? Do you have a particular style of test question you prefer? Why or why not? Have you ever formally worked on developing your study skills before?

Answer 1

The most effective note-taking skills involve active rather than passive learning. Active learning places the responsibility for learning on the learner. Research has found that, for learning to be effective, students need to be doing things with the material they are engaging with (reading, writing, discussing, solving problems).Studies have found note taking is most effective when notes are organised and transformed in some way or when a teacher gives examples of good notes. An effective note-taking strategy requires effort. Half the battle with students is helping them understand the reasons for needing to take and interact regularly with their notes.

The goal of effective note taking is to help recall what has been learned and retain that information over time. German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1895 conducted some of the first experiments on memory and recall, and spaced learning. He developed the forgetting curve, which shows how information is lost quickly over time if there is no strategy or effort to retain it.

the Cornell Note-Taking System, which was developed in the 1950s as part of a university preparation program (AVID). Effective note taking is interactive and involves using the original notes many times over to build memory of the content, rather than seeing note taking as just a one-off copying activity.

There are four stages to good note taking:

1. Note taking
2. Note making
3. Note interacting
4. Note reflecting

The way in which you take notes can have a big impact on your academic success. Effective notes enable you to capture the important points of a lecture, organize information, focus your attention on what to study, make it easier to review material, and save your time. Note-taking is based on the premise that no matter how well you pay attention in class, you cannot remember everything the professor said. In any case, note-taking is a perfect way to stay awake and focused during class!

Well, because we can't outlaw tests, we might as well figure out how to ease test anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling a person gets when he or she expects something stressful to happen. When you're under stress, your body releases the hormone adrenaline, which prepares it for danger, like when you're running away from your older brother! Adrenaline causes the physical symptoms, such as sweating, a pounding heart, and fast breathing. These symptoms can be mild or intense.

Examinations are a very common assessment and evaluation tool in universities and there are many types of examination questions. This tips sheet contains a brief description of seven types of examination questions, as well as tips for using each of them: 1) multiple choice, 2) true/false, 3) matching, 4) short answer, 5) essay, 6) oral, and 7) computational. Remember that some exams can be conducted effectively in a secure online environment in a proctored computer lab or assigned as paper based or online “take home” exams.

Study skills are skills all students use to study effectively, whatever their subject area. All students have them; it’s really about recognising them, developing them, refining them and using them more effectively.

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Time management, revision and assignment planning, using electronic resources, reading skills, writing skills and critical thinking. All the stuff we need to feel confident with in order to navigate Higher Education.

At every stage of your education, new challenges arise and students often feel like the pressure has been ‘turned up a notch’ when they start a new course or move, say, from first year to second year.

Some students may have been out of formal education for years and feel like they are starting from scratch but being re-introduced to study skills they usually start to remember what worked for them before and what facilitated their previous success. That’s what we build upon.

And, of course, many study skills are transferable to the world of work. Developing the capacity to deliver good presentations and top quality reports are two skills employers value.