Slow writer - help!

I'm really excited about starting uni in September, but one of my worries is that I tend to be a very slow writer. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up in Lectures, and I don't want to struggle because of such a simple thing.

How do most people find it taking notes in lectures? And has anyone got any solutions?
ThAnks :smile:

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Reply 1

Chicken Bacon

Original post by Butterfly9595

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Aw do not worry !

I am one who barely ever takes any notes in lessons/lectures at uni. Why ? Because listening properly is a lot more powerful than taking notes. If you're too busy taking notes, you might miss a pretty important explanation that you will find difficult to grasp alone later on.

Here is what you should be doing. Don't go in to the lecture hall thinking about having to take notes. Have a pen and paper out, but just listen to the lecturer. Only write something if you genuinely feel the need to research it later on. It's proven that listening and understanding the first time round is far superior to taking heaps of notes and reading through them later on.

If you do write something, keep it short, and to the point - Write it bullet points.

As a final point, most universities now upload lectures on to the student portal, and you should be able to access them online as recording or power points. (don't quote me on the last point)

Have fun at uni ! :biggrin:

Reply 2

HeavyTeddy

I'd say look at the powerpoint before the lecture, print the lecture slides out and annotate them with important points as the lecturer is explaining. You really don't want to take notes from scratch during the lecture because there can be heaps of information per slide and by the time you copy half of it down the lecturer has already moved on to the next slide, but importantly most universities put lecturers online so writing it out word for word is pointless anyway. Listening without taking any notes whatsoever is also quite troublesome unless you have an amazing memory since the lecturer may expand on certain points and mention something important that isn't on the lecture slides, so not taking any notes will lead to forgetting those important points. The most important thing though is after every lecture you should go over the notes, get relevant textbooks, use the internet to try and go over everything, retype notes if scruffy and expand using said extra aids to help expand your knowledge on the topic. If you do that after every lecture and file well, you drastically make things easier come exam season because instead of rewriting horrible notes or trying to relearn things, you can spend that time just revising.

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Reply 3

AmisThysia

I agree with iAre Teh... jesus, I'm having to repress my inner Grammar Nazi. Anyway, I agree with them for myself - but I know notes have helped a lot of my friends, and you may feel they help you better too. If you feel you have to take notes, there's a few things you can try.
Firstly, remember that notes only have to be legible by you. Scrawl, doodle little pictures to help, draw arrows, whatever makes it easier and more intuitive. As long as they're neat enough for you to make sense of later (even if you copy them up more neatly afterwards), they serve their purpose.
If that isn't working and you feel the need to take notes still, you can try learning shorthand. It's a very useful skill and will make taking notes much easier and faster.

Reply 4

Butterfly9595

Cheers guys, thanks for all your help! :biggrin:

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Reply 5

kanra

Have you considered getting some kind of recording device? That way you can focus your attention on what the lecturer is saying at the time, and then listen to the recording later on and make notes from there if you need to :smile:

Reply 6

Vickysamantha94

I am exactly the same! I found recording lectures like the post above said works for me! Also where possible I use my laptop and type notes. What I lack in handwriting speed, I make up for in typing! I can type really fast so that really helps!

Reply 7

Zottula

I used to be nervous about this as well, note taking in lecturers is something you do get better at.

Don't try and write down everything the lecturer says, just summarise what they are trying to say. Don't worry about them being neat so long as you can read it. Also do additional reading to fill in the gaps and to expand beyond just lecture notes.

Some lecturers will hand out slides or provide them ahead of the lecture, so you can just annotate the slides which personally I find much easier than writing on a blank sheet.

Are you a faster typer? If so you could bring a laptop in and take notes on that. If you have a recording device take that along. You can then revisit lectures