Tips to remember your notes better
WHEN you are at the end of the semester, revision becomes a lot easier when you have good exam notes.
Here are a few tips that will help you get excellent results.
Box it up
The eye reads long sentences, but the mind doesn’t remember them very well. Keep your notes as concise as possible: think Post-It notes.
If you are typing notes in a Microsoft Word document, make little boxes or just use half the page.
Bullets hit home
Revision is about taking an ocean of subject, understanding it and then condensing it.
Read, understand and then summarise the absolute main points in a few pithy sentences or facts.
If you present them as bullet notes, your mind will remember them even better.
Number the bullet notes
If you have five things to remember about working with dementia and three things to remember about the invasion of Persia, you will find it easier to manage your memory.
This is especially true when it comes to knowing whether you got all the points.
Acronyms work
If you have six things to remember about ethics – autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice, fidelity and veracity – put the first letter in bold so that you get anbjfv. Make an acronym such as “All Naughty Boys Justify Feisty Virgins” to help you reconstitute the list in the exam hall.
Use bold and colour
Even short exam notes have bits that are more vital than others, so use bold and splashes of colour to underline them. This should be no more than 10% of the entire text to avoid getting confused by the mass of colour.