Is making notes pointless?

I’m in year 10 and I was wondering if making GCSE notes is worth it ? Obviously I have notes in my school books but I only use my books for mainly geography and history. Should I make notes for my other subjects from my textbook and videos or is it a waste of time?

Reply 1

Snails:)3721

Imo (and this really is just me- you have to think about how notes might help you too), if you know the content from the first time, it’s a waste of time- if you are the kind of person where you will remember it and it’s just about exam technique and answering questions, or remembering little bits of content (you know most) there are really good notes already written and revision guides. I do find notes really useful for stuff I don’t remember doing g the first time, because writing stuff out makes it go in better (if I wouldn’t even know where to start on practice paper questions because my knowledge isn’t good enough)

Reply 2

nilaheart

i find that it’s easy to get them off online - saves so much time. Personally i have been using stuvia (gcsenotesforyou) but you can find them in loads of different places and then you can concentrate on active recall etc.

Reply 3

EdgeHillStudents

Official Rep

Original post by evieatk2901

Hi @evieatk2901 [br] [br] This is a hard one because it completely depends on you, your learning style and what kind of task best holds your attention, as well as where you are with your learning, as its difficult to revise a concept with flashcards if you have no idea what the concept is to begin with, you would have to first do some research otherwise your cards would be wrong! I think attention is key because any kind of revision that isn't holding your attention is never going to be targeted and effective in the way you want it to be. There is no point mindlessly writing down information from the revision guide. I think this is why a lot of teachers and people advise not to spend time making notes from the revision guide. Don't just revise for the sake of revising, focus and don't waste your own time! However, if you are reading, understanding and interpreting the information and then making notes and maybe diagrams to remember what you've read, I think this can be really effective and this was something I did a lot for my GCSEs, and gives you a bank of really good notes to use in future, for example when answering revision questions.

It is of course important to apply the information you have learnt. It may be that you learn and revise the information using revision guides, your class notes, listening to the teachers, group work, tasks given, possibly YouTube videos. But it is now important to apply it! Revision questions are fab for this as of course this is how you're going to be tested during your GCSEs. Sometimes they will have practice questions in your revision guides or teachers will give you a pack. Alternatively, you can always search your exam board revision questions or past paper questions.

You have nothing you worry about and will do great!

Katie - Second year Educational Psychology student