Smarter Notes: 9 Steps to Highly Effective Study Notes

Does taking notes feel like herding cats?
It did to me.

I was THAT guy. You know the one. The guy frantically trying to write down every single little thing the professor said. I was absolutely terrified of missing even the smallest thing.

What if it was on the test?

What if I needed it for a paper?

What if there was a pop quiz?

What if I was studying and couldn't remember something?

I was that guy. And to me, every class period felt like a desperate attempt to write down everything I was hearing instead of anything even remotely close to learning.

I literally felt like I was a court reporter trying frantically to organize all the facts as they were being thrown at me 100mph. And it was very, very stressful (not to mention a great way to get early onset carpal tunnel syndrome).

It wasn’t until much later that I realized something: I wasn’t taking notes. I was transcribing my classes.

And let me tell you… when you’re preparing for a test, having a great, organized set of notes is much, much more useful than having dozens of pages of transcribed lectures—by an order of magnitude.

So, I set out to do what I did with every area of my study habits around that time: develop a great system.

And honestly, it wasn’t that easy. I knew how to write papers pretty well. And I could read okay. But taking notes was a totally different beast. There are just so many skills involved: listening, organizing mental information, memory, speed-writing, asking good question, and quite a few more.

So it took me a while. In the end, though, I landed on a set of techniques that helped me take ultra-efficient notes and drastically increase my grades.

Later, when I was actually TEACHING college classes, I passed these same techniques along to my students (which, by the way, was when I really figured out that taking notes was a major pain point for a lot of people).

So, I figured it’d be a good subject for a book, which is what you’re looking at now.

Here’s what you’ll learn…

• All about the Great Note-Taking Myth and why it’s a load of crap


• How to leverage the 5 most popular note-taking systems


• How to deploy memory hacks to your advantage


• How to tailor your notes to your specific learning style


• How to properly execute pre-note preparation strategies


• How to actually put that pen to paper and knock out some great notes


• How to review your notes and what exactly to look for when you do


• How to use your notes to ace exams


• How to use your notes to write killer papers


• And more!

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