Study Blog

5 reasons why you should take notes while studying

By Evans, April 18, 2020

Do you remember what you took for lunch last Monday? Hard question, huh? Don’t sweat it. It won’t make a difference anyway. The question is, if that proves hard to remember, do you think you can remember everything you studied last week? Or even last night?

Taking notes while studying is very important. This is because effective note taking helps you commit the important points to memory. It also helps to reduce distractions while studying, allowing you to be more productive. It doesn’t matter how good you are at memorizing stuff. Notes taken while studying will prove quite crucial especially when you have to take a test or prepare a presentation. Still not convinced? Here are 5 reasons why it is important for you take notes while studying

1. Allows you to stay alert

Truth be told. We are not always alert when studying. Sometimes we are too distracted whether we are in class or studying alone. Taking notes allows us to be alert and fully concentrate on what we are learning. It helps you stay active, and keeps you away from falling asleep or getting too distracted. Note taking helps one to actively engage in the learning process. You cannot effectively take notes if you are not listening. Thus, note taking involves actively listening, understanding the concept being discussed, interpreting it in your mind and writing down what you understand. This means that at times you don’t even need to review your notes since what you have written down has been retained in your mind.

2. Helps you organize your work

Taking notes while studying helps you decide what is important, what should be retained and what is not of much consequence. It helps you determine and highlight the key points. This is important since when it comes to working on an assignment or class presentation, you will know how to organize your work in a pleasant manner. Good organization will also help you to link different ideas and come up with an amazing structure.

3. Boosts information retention

Note taking has been recognized as a way of boosting memory. It makes it easier for you to remember the things you learned in class. It also helps improve comprehension. Note taking will help you comprehend difficult concepts much easier to understand.

4. Increases attention span

How good is your attention span? How long can you stay attentive while studying? Do you wish you can be a little bit more attentive? Well, note taking might be the answer to your wish. Taking notes while studying helps improve your attention span. Your professor would surely appreciate if you were more attentive while studying, right? So would your grades.

5. Helps you learn what to prioritize

Learn what to prioritize is very important in life. Not everything should be given the same kind of attention. This applies to studies as well. There will always be information that is more important than the other. Learning what and how to prioritize allows a student to concentrate on the important concepts and discard the unnecessary information. This is also a great way of improving your organizational skills, as you learn to organize information from the most important to the least important information.

What next

Understanding the importance of note taking is important. But what is more important is realizing what to do with that information. Don’t copy everything. Take time to listen first before you get to write the notes. It is important to take time and digest what you have just learned, then write it in your own words. If you are reading from a text book, read at least one section before writing notes on it. This will help ensure that you grasp something and you do not write just for the sake of writing notes. Also remember that it is okay not to remember everything you have learnt. Get the important concepts right and keep your notes as brief as you possibly can.