YOU WANT to learn how to take notes? The better you are at taking notes, the more successful you will be and the better grade you will get. For taking notes, there is no one-size-fits-all technique. There are many note-taking styles you could pick from. From Cornell notes to flashcards, there is no one way to do things, and we will be discussing the different types of notes and how they can help you.

For Cornell notes, start by writing all the information down first, then summarizing the notes, then going through and highlighting important key points, and adding questions on the key information.

The way you would use this to study is hiding the notes you took and looking at the questions and seeing if you answered correctly by turning back to the notes you took. This is one of the most used note–taking methods, and lots of people find this to work for them. However, there are other note–taking pathways to try.

Another thing you could try is flashcards; this, in and of itself, is very similar to Cornell notes. The way flashcards work is you have a question on the front and the answer and the back. This allows you to work more easily with others; it is much easier to track the answer, and by doing that, it makes it easier to study with a group or partner. You could also add pictures to quiz each other on things you would need to label.

Another way to study is to add pictures to things. If you are a person who learns better from diagrams and pictures, you could trace a piece of paper over a Chromebook screen to have that information with you. There are multiple ways to get pictures on your notes, and if that is something that works with you better, it is a good idea to invest in the time it would take. You would be surprised how much a set of visual notes that fits your needs could help you boost your grade.

If you need organization to function, giving a color to a category and highlighting all the important things under that category could help. By giving every main category a color, it can allow you to not be as overwhelmed by just looking at words on a page. Highlighting important details makes everything less complicated. You can see everything and what it relates back to. By color coding what you are studying, it can make it less stressful. Another way you could take notes is by annotating them — making notes about your notes — it’s very meta!

By doing that, you can analyze your thoughts on the subject, as well as have access to what you are studying as well. By studying your own thoughts, you can set yourself up to be able to answer questions better; you know the material in your own words. It allows you to study what you think and feel versus whatever the book says, which everyone might not understand.

You could also take the simple road of notes, this is where you just write down the main point and break it down through bullet points, it allows you to outline what you need to know, but it can also let you go deeper where you need to by just adding more bullet points.

With this type of note taking, you go deeper where you need to without making things overly complicated. These are very quick notes to take, and you won’t be worried about missing something the entire time.

There are plenty of way to try and take notes, and not every single one will work for you. Note taking might not work for you every time, and there are plenty of ways to study. It’s worth trying a few note-taking styles to learn which works best for you