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Author Topic: Study notes/summaries  (Read 2950 times)

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a.leisha

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Study notes/summaries
« on: January 04, 2018, 11:01:38 pm »
0
Hey guys, after the summer holidays I'll be going into my second term of year 12. With the onslaught of assessments that I had in the final weeks of term 4, I may have slacked off just a little with my summaries. I was wondering if anyone could give some inspiration on how to layout my study notes so that I'll actually read them and benefit (because I'm terrible at writing summaries and pretty much end up rewriting our notes from class) as well any other study tips that would be useful. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)
HSC 2018: English Advanced // Economics // Business Studies // Modern History// History Extension // SOR 1

fantasticbeasts3

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2018, 12:26:57 am »
+8
hey, welcome to the forums!

with notes, i found that the more aesthetically pleasing they were, the more i was going to read them. i assume you already have half done notes, so start by making them look super pretty, e.g. special fonts for titles, different colours for syllabus points and sub-points and making everything neat. it's also really satisfying once you've made your notes look nice. i always had my syllabus points in red, and anything that went under it was usually in dot points, so it was easier to read.

also, different subjects may mean different layouts. for hsie subjects, i liked the basic syllabus point, dot point format which was straightforward and once i knew the syllabus better, it was easier to find stuff when doing past papers. for english, tables are amazing. for maths, palm cards are the best - separate them into different topics, and write down the stuff you can't remember/aren't on the formula sheet. however, what works for me, mightn't work for you, so use your time this holidays to figure out how you like your notes. :-)

keeping up with your notes is another important thing. updating them everyday is ideal, but weekly is good too. after you've finished the school day, you can come home and write notes for whatever you've learnt in class. study periods are another awesome thing to use, and because notes don't require as much concentration (i think??), do your notes in your studies!

hope this helps :-)
« Last Edit: January 05, 2018, 12:29:40 am by fantasticbeasts3 »
HSC 2017: English (Standard) // Mathematics // Modern History // Legal Studies // Business Studies
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chelseam

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2018, 02:17:24 am »
+6
hey there!
I totally agree with what fantasticbeasts has said here - I found that the prettier my notes were, the more motivated I was to keep adding to them and looking at them.
I formatted most of my notes in a table, with parts from the syllabus on the left and my notes on the right! I chose to do it this way because I could make sure that I’d covered all the areas of the syllabus (both the ‘students learn about’ and ‘students learn to’, as well as the ‘themes and challenges’ area for Legal Studies!), which was really helpful as I noticed that a lot of past HSC papers formed their questions based on areas other than the ‘learn about’ bit. I had a different colour for each module of a subject, and also included tidbits of info that I really wanted to remember in an exam on the left under the syllabus points so I could quickly scan through the left before an exam, and see a syllabus point as well as an important detail :)

I kept all the syllabus points listed in order, with the themes and challenges on top, the ‘students learn to’ dot points in normal font, and ‘students learn how’ in italics.

For English, I also made tables but the headings for the columns were for the idea, the section(s) of the text this connected to - this was often the context of the quote, the quote, and the analysis. I also had a column that was specific to each module - I based this off the syllabus as well as what I noticed was emphasised in class (e.g. the relevant discovery statement(s), the composer’s context - their values and concerns, textual integrity, the composer’s values).

For Math, I had a separate notebook from my rulebook for my own summaries of each topic. It basically included things I could read over quickly to revise a topic, as well as things I often forgot and methods that I had trouble applying (which I annotated step by step so I could follow and apply it to another question).

I tried to update my notes on the day that I’d learnt something new, but I also knew that this wasn’t always possible so I also allocated time on the weekend to finish updating my notes with things I’d learnt during the week :D
HSC 2017: Chemistry / English Advanced / English Extension 1 / Legal Studies (5th in NSW) / Math Extension 1 / Math Extension 2

a.leisha

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2018, 02:31:44 pm »
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hey there!
I totally agree with what fantasticbeasts has said here - I found that the prettier my notes were, the more motivated I was to keep adding to them and looking at them.
I formatted most of my notes in a table, with parts from the syllabus on the left and my notes on the right! I chose to do it this way because I could make sure that I’d covered all the areas of the syllabus (both the ‘students learn about’ and ‘students learn to’, as well as the ‘themes and challenges’ area for Legal Studies!), which was really helpful as I noticed that a lot of past HSC papers formed their questions based on areas other than the ‘learn about’ bit. I had a different colour for each module of a subject, and also included tidbits of info that I really wanted to remember in an exam on the left under the syllabus points so I could quickly scan through the left before an exam, and see a syllabus point as well as an important detail :)

I kept all the syllabus points listed in order, with the themes and challenges on top, the ‘students learn to’ dot points in normal font, and ‘students learn how’ in italics.

For English, I also made tables but the headings for the columns were for the idea, the section(s) of the text this connected to - this was often the context of the quote, the quote, and the analysis. I also had a column that was specific to each module - I based this off the syllabus as well as what I noticed was emphasised in class (e.g. the relevant discovery statement(s), the composer’s context - their values and concerns, textual integrity, the composer’s values).

For Math, I had a separate notebook from my rulebook for my own summaries of each topic. It basically included things I could read over quickly to revise a topic, as well as things I often forgot and methods that I had trouble applying (which I annotated step by step so I could follow and apply it to another question).

I tried to update my notes on the day that I’d learnt something new, but I also knew that this wasn’t always possible so I also allocated time on the weekend to finish updating my notes with things I’d learnt during the week :D
hey, welcome to the forums!

with notes, i found that the more aesthetically pleasing they were, the more i was going to read them. i assume you already have half done notes, so start by making them look super pretty, e.g. special fonts for titles, different colours for syllabus points and sub-points and making everything neat. it's also really satisfying once you've made your notes look nice. i always had my syllabus points in red, and anything that went under it was usually in dot points, so it was easier to read.

also, different subjects may mean different layouts. for hsie subjects, i liked the basic syllabus point, dot point format which was straightforward and once i knew the syllabus better, it was easier to find stuff when doing past papers. for english, tables are amazing. for maths, palm cards are the best - separate them into different topics, and write down the stuff you can't remember/aren't on the formula sheet. however, what works for me, mightn't work for you, so use your time this holidays to figure out how you like your notes. :-)

keeping up with your notes is another important thing. updating them everyday is ideal, but weekly is good too. after you've finished the school day, you can come home and write notes for whatever you've learnt in class. study periods are another awesome thing to use, and because notes don't require as much concentration (i think??), do your notes in your studies!

hope this helps :-)
Thank you both so much!! I'll definitely try the table format as well as the basic syllabus dot points! :-))
HSC 2018: English Advanced // Economics // Business Studies // Modern History// History Extension // SOR 1

elysepopplewell

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2018, 05:11:55 pm »
+4
hey, welcome to the forums!

with notes, i found that the more aesthetically pleasing they were, the more i was going to read them. i assume you already have half done notes, so start by making them look super pretty, e.g. special fonts for titles, different colours for syllabus points and sub-points and making everything neat. it's also really satisfying once you've made your notes look nice. i always had my syllabus points in red, and anything that went under it was usually in dot points, so it was easier to read.


Vouching for the aesthetic!! I found that although this meant I spent more time on my notes...well, it meant I spent more time on my notes! Meaning I wasn't just spitting out knowledge into dots, but instead I was thinking about colour association and other creative ways to remember my ideas.
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Potatohater

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2018, 07:57:14 pm »
+5
I found handwriting my notes the best way to go as the infomation is more actively taken in and the less you need to read the notes for infomation retention. Once again, as everyone else has said aesthetic is good, but it doesn't need to be over the top and take you forever to make, just simply having different colours for headings and dot points is fine.
For your dot point based subjects make sure to cover all the dot points, which I did by writing out the dot point and then making bullet points bellow, and ticking that dot point off the syllabus when done. I also found that doing extra reading and watching videos for the dot point as I wrote the notes was really helpful.
For general maths mind maps are a good way to summerise chapters, and they can also help for English too. Personally I never finished any of my English notes tables but found that making mind maps of different aspects of my texts much more enjoyable and useful.
So yeah, you can take my advice and that of those above me but ultimately it will depend on the subject, how you like to study and what personally works for you. Don't be afraid to try out different methods.
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a.leisha

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2018, 01:36:09 pm »
+2
I found handwriting my notes the best way to go as the infomation is more actively taken in and the less you need to read the notes for infomation retention. Once again, as everyone else has said aesthetic is good, but it doesn't need to be over the top and take you forever to make, just simply having different colours for headings and dot points is fine.
For your dot point based subjects make sure to cover all the dot points, which I did by writing out the dot point and then making bullet points bellow, and ticking that dot point off the syllabus when done. I also found that doing extra reading and watching videos for the dot point as I wrote the notes was really helpful.
For general maths mind maps are a good way to summerise chapters, and they can also help for English too. Personally I never finished any of my English notes tables but found that making mind maps of different aspects of my texts much more enjoyable and useful.
So yeah, you can take my advice and that of those above me but ultimately it will depend on the subject, how you like to study and what personally works for you. Don't be afraid to try out different methods.
Vouching for the aesthetic!! I found that although this meant I spent more time on my notes...well, it meant I spent more time on my notes! Meaning I wasn't just spitting out knowledge into dots, but instead I was thinking about colour association and other creative ways to remember my ideas.
Thank you, this has really helped!! My previous notes weren't aesthetic at all so I was never motivated to read them. I'll definitely go for colours, headings and dot points now! Thank you all again :)
HSC 2018: English Advanced // Economics // Business Studies // Modern History// History Extension // SOR 1

shaw88

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2018, 06:14:03 pm »
+1
I found typing is a good way. I know people who hand wrote and lost them!

And as for organisation, lay out info under syllabus headings.

Good luck :)

a.leisha

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Re: Study notes/summaries
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2018, 05:24:15 pm »
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I found typing is a good way. I know people who hand wrote and lost them!

And as for organisation, lay out info under syllabus headings.

Good luck :)
Thank you heaps!!  :)
HSC 2018: English Advanced // Economics // Business Studies // Modern History// History Extension // SOR 1