Memory

     Memory is one thing that I have always prided myself on. I come from a performing arts background so everything I have done throughout my life has consisted of memorization. From song lyrics, to lines in a scene, and even dance moves. In addition, I went to a performing arts high school that tested these skills everyday therefore, making memorization a crucial part to my success.
    One of the things that I did throughout high school that really helped me was make up songs to remember information. My teachers allowed us to gather in small groups and create songs to radio hits incorporating information that we learned in class. Ever since I have gotten into the habit of either creating songs or rhymes to help me remember things.
   After reading the chapter about memory I was excited to read about similar strategies I have used now for a very long time. However, there was many modifications to these strategies that I had never thought about before that would ensure greater success then ever before.
   The strategy that I decided to apply to two of my courses this week was the acronym sentence. The reason I choose this was because I have used acronyms in the past but I wanted to explore this approach more.
   The first course I choose to use it in was PRL-206. The reason I choose this class was because it is a lot of memorization. The tests ask you to draw up a lot of definitions and recall what they mean. I was able to use this for things such as the page principles that asked you to list 6-7 principles that are crucial to the Public Relation field.
   The next course I used it in was SOC-101. This course also requires you to memorize a lot of information and apply them to basic theories and practices. This strategy is helpful when making notes and studying for tests.

    The only thing about this strategy is that it is hard to go into detailed information with the acronym abbreviations. Other than that I think it is a really helpful strategy that I will use in the future.

Dogs Drink Milk while Lassie helps people

WHEN LEARNING facts or chunks of information I always used to try and memorize it without associating them together. I always found myself studying for hours and hours and forgetting things I had studied. Studying with note cards was helpful for me, however I never combined information or connected it to make remembering facts easier. I would just quiz myself until I knew it all. But when I started to make mnemonic devices for chunks of information, this is when remembering facts was 100 times easier. For example, in my PSC 121 class we learned about the problems of democracy. There are 5 reasons but when I would quiz myself I could only remember to list 3 or 4, even though I knew the fifth problem, I never remembered to list it. I made an acronym for the problems- Dogs Drink Milk Like Slobs. By remembering this sentence I will not only remember 5 problems, but also it is much easier for me to recall the problems by knowing the first letter of each one.

ANOTHER TOPIC I have trouble remembering in my PSC 121 class is Culture Wars. Whenever we are asked about this I find myself blanking out and not able to come up with an answer. I decided to LINK the questions with the answers. So when I am asked about the culture wars going on regarding class I immediately think of the dog Lassie, who always helped people, as does healthcare. Little reminders and connections like this are the thing I need to spark my memory and remember an answer.

L A M E

As I've stated before, I am the type of Learner who needs to constantly write information out to remember it all. With these little tricks, writing out and remembering every detail is much easier and makes learning simpler. The Action I took was creating acronyms and linking words to absurd phrases. These strategies make studying chunks of facts go much faster. The Materials I used were charts that laid out all of the connections neatly and in an organized manner. My Evaluation of these strategies is very positive! Anything that makes studying easier and faster is a great strategy in my book!

I could not upload those pictures, so I upload the picture seperately.

Link system

I had a history of illustration exam last week. I had to memorize lots of illustrators’ names, dates, historical events, magazines’ names, and illustrators’ characteristics. I was worn out even before I started to memorize because it was too much. There are lots of French and English illustrators, so it was hard to memorize. I was trying to find a way to memorize the information easier. I read chapter 7, memory, carefully. I realized that there are many different ways for effective memorization. Among them, I thought link system is the most suitable method for me. History of illustration exam includes lots of illustrations and historical events. I thought if I memorize look like pictures, sounds, and events, it will be easy.

First, I selected illustrators’ names and historical events I need to remember. I opened textbook and lecture notes on the desk and wrote down what I had to remember for the exam. After I wrote down all of the illustrators’ names and historical events, I could understand easier the information that I had to memorize.

Second, I created images and words that could be pictured that looks like or sounds like the abstract words and concepts. Illustrators have their own drawing styles, so I associated of illustrators and their drawing styles together. For example, J.C. Leypecker was an illustrator during World War I. When I reminded J.C. Leypecker, I thought battle field and homesick drawing. Another example is Walter Wiggers. Walter Wiggers is a representational illustrator during World War I. So, I memorized like W-Walter, W-Wiggers, I. Through this method, I could memorize French and England illustrators’ names easier.

Third, I visualized an absurd picture intersecting the images. Sometimes, I could not memorize some of illustrators’ names, although I tried to associate images and words. So, third step is a good way to remember something that I cannot associate. For example, Harvey Dunn was an illustrator that I had difficult to memorize. He usually drew women. I imagined his name, Harvey as harvest. Then, I imagined The Gleaners (1865) by Jean Francois Millet. In The Gleaners by Millet, there are lots of women who picked up crops. After I used these way, I could memorize Harvey Dunn easier.

I didn’t like memorization. I am not a native speaker. So, English was hard to me and memorizing English was much harder to me. However, through link system, I realized that memorization can be fun and easy. After I memorized with link system, I could remember for a long time even after the exam. Through this method, I took the exam successfully. I going to use this method for the next exam, too.

Memory

Memory is a funny thing, it can either significantly enhance your studying skills or seriously hinder them. Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with a photographic memory. However, there are certain techniques that one can use to enhance their learning through memory. These techniques include mnemonic devices, and the link system. Both of these strategies aim to improve ones learning via connections one makes in his or head.

The two courses that incorporate the most memorization into the structure of it are law and public policy, and contract law. Both these courses are in the same realm so the mnemonic devices and link systems I use for them can usually be incorporated into both. The first mnemonic device I created was for law and public policy, it is: plac. It stands for problem, law, application of that law, and case. This is how lawyers are supposed to interpret and analyze problems and cases. First you recognize the issue, then the rules that are pertinent and relatable, then applying those rules to fit the case problem, and finally a case to provide precedence. I created a link system for contract law. The most important concept in this course is, "what would a reasonable person do?" So the link I made was an image of my dad with a scale. This is because, truthfully, my dad is the most reasonable person I have ever met; and the scale just reiterates the point of fairness. So whenever I am analyzing a case the first thing I do is picture my father with the scale and immediately remember to think, "what would a reasonable person do?"

I am both a kinesthetic and visual learner so writing and visualizing things does pay dividends. I applied these concepts of mnemonic devices, and link systems to two different courses to maximize my learning. The material that I applied it to were both law classes that require a substantial amount of memorization. These strategies worked perfectly for these courses and I will continue to create acronyms and links to enhance my learning.

Link system

I had a history of illustration exam last week. I had to memorize lots of illustrators’ names, dates, historical events, magazines’ names, and illustrators’ characteristics. I was worn out even before I started to memorize because it was too much. There are lots of French and English illustrators, so it was hard to memorize. I was trying to find a way to memorize the information easier. I read chapter 7, memory, carefully. I realized that there are many different ways for effective memorization. Among them, I thought link system is the most suitable method for me. History of illustration exam includes lots of illustrations and historical events. I thought if I memorize look like pictures, sounds, and events, it will be easy.

First, I selected illustrators’ names and historical events I need to remember. I opened textbook and lecture notes on the desk and wrote down what I had to remember for the exam. After I wrote down all of the illustrators’ names and historical events, I could understand easier the information that I had to memorize.

Second, I created images and words that could be pictured that looks like or sounds like the abstract words and concepts. Illustrators have their own drawing styles, so I associated of illustrators and their drawing styles together. For example, J.C. Leypecker was an illustrator during World War I. When I reminded J.C. Leypecker, I thought battle field and homesick drawing. Another example is Walter Wiggers. Walter Wiggers is a representational illustrator during World War I. So, I memorized like W-Walter, W-Wiggers, I. Through this method, I could memorize French and England illustrators’ names easier.

Third, I visualized an absurd picture intersecting the images. Sometimes, I could not memorize some of illustrators’ names, although I tried to associate images and words. So, third step is a good way to remember something that I cannot associate. For example, Harvey Dunn was an illustrator that I had difficult to memorize. He usually drew women. I imagined his name, Harvey as harvest. Then, I imagined The Gleaners (1865) by Jean Francois Millet. In The Gleaners by Millet, there are lots of women who picked up crops. After I used these way, I could memorize Harvey Dunn easier.

I didn’t like memorization. I am not a native speaker. So, English was hard to me and memorizing English was much harder to me. However, through link system, I realized that memorization can be fun and easy. After I memorized with link system, I could remember for a long time even after the exam. Through this method, I took the exam successfully. I going to use this method for the next exam, too.



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Link system

I had three Japanese test at this week. All of those tests were to memorize vocabulary. It was hard for me to memorize all the words, since Japanese is not my native language. Actually to memorize the Japanese words was much harder than understanding grammar. I was kind of person who took lots of time to memorize certain words. At this time, I used Link system for the preparation of Japanese tests. First of all, I chose the words that I needed to memorize. Then, I created images that looked like the words I chose. Lastly, I visualized that picture. It was actually funny to work in this way. I could memorize the words naturally while I was thinking and drawing the image. I could reduce time of memorizing. Before, I took at least 10 minutes to memorize one word, but at this time, I could memorize all the words in 5 minutes. It was much easier to visualize the image of certain word, than just memorizing it. Also, I didn't get much stress when I was memorizing the words. Before, it was so hard for me to memorize many words. At this time, since I drew picture and by the fact that I could memorize some words while I was creating an image that looked like certain word, I didn't get much stress. I found out that I could remember many words in shorten time, without stress. The picture below is my link system.



After trying the link system, I made a graphic organizer, using link system. Since I'm a kinesthetic and ideal learner, I always want to something new that I have not done before. Also, I like the active works that I try to combine link system into graphic organizer. I put all the pictures and the words in the graphic organizer. Then, I put my graphic organizer in my note, using plug-in note strategy. I put link system and graphic organizer at the left side of the notes. The picture below is my plug-in notes, with link system.



I realized that it was better to put picture into the notes, than just writing the letters. Before, it was harder to read all the information in the notes because I wrote down too many things. At this time, by putting picture, it was easier to see the notes. It was clearer to see all the information at once. Also, I found it good to see this note right before the test. In Japanese class, my professor always gave 5minutes to students to look the words, before the test. For the most of the time, 5minutes was not enough for me, because there were so many words. At this time, by the fact I drew the picture, I did not have to reread all the words. I needed to see the picture, and then I could remember what words I needed to memorize. It was really surprised that visualize an absurd picture would be this much helpful. Before doing this link system, I thought to think of an image that looked like the words were wasting of time. Since I took much time to memorize the words, I thought it would be much helpful to just memorize the words, and not thinking of other things. At this time, however, I found out that link system worked very well for me. It was good to know that I'm a kind of person, who can memorize things better by visualizing an images. I will use this link system again for my coming Japanese words test. Since I got A on all three tests I had done this week, I think I will be able to A's to future tests too with link system.

READY, GO, TIME FOR SOME TARTS – DONE!

WHEN I'M READING, I cannot sit there for hours and simply just read. The information does not seep in to my brain; it goes in one ear and out the other. So when I’m reading a chapter, it is essential for me to take some form of notes. I used to always just read a chapter or parts from a book and be done. However, the TART and Ready, Go, Done techniques have helped truly understand and remember the information I read. Although both strategies work well on their own, I find it helpful to combine the two. In my PSC 121 class, the chapter and lecture are very important sources. These two strategies help to incorporate the lecture information with the text. TART is useful during lecture. Prior to class I always highlight important terms and TART requires you to create abbreviations, they help you become more familiar with them.

AFTER THE LECTURE, you create test questions with the terms. This helped me because not only was I familiar with the terms before class, but also I was able to ask myself questions that could potentially be on the next exam. The only main difference between TART and Ready, Go, Done is that RGD requires a graphic organizer. With my test questions that I created from TART I then created a graphic organizer with one of the topics I was struggling with.

L A M E

These two strategies helped me understand the reading more because I am the type of Learner who needs to constantly reiterate information. The Action I took with these strategies was combining them because for this specific class, PSC 121, the lecture and text complement each other. By having to reiterate the info from the lecture and the text, I am able to truly understand the topics. The Materials are term lists, test questions and graphic organizers. With the highlighted notes and readings from lectures, these 3 things are easy to create. My Evaluation of this strategy is very positive. I was having a tough time with the “Culture Wars” section in one of the chapters. But by making a graphic organizer and re-reading highlighted words constantly, the info is in my brain!

Reading Strategies

    The most important component to being successful in a course, in my opinion is reading. Without reading information you have nothing to learn or study. You might have the best strategies in the world to use for studying for a test but you won't be able to apply them if you have not read the content. Reading is one of those things I find very important and tend to take very seriously.
    However, I noticed that I never had any developed strategy that helped me get through my readings in an organized and timely fashion. I have mentioned before that I am a HUGE procrastinator so although I do get through the reading it takes me a very long time. After reading through the chapter in the textbook I was relieved to find many ways that could help me.
    The strategy that I found to be the most useful was NSAS or No salt and sauce. This stands for Notes, Scan, Attend, and Study Sheets. The first step, notes allows you to download and read lecture notes before class. Scan allows you to scan the assigned chapter and look for information identified in the notes for example key terms. Attend means go to class! Finally, study sheets suggests you create a study sheet/flash cards for the information in the text, covered in class, and in the online lecture notes. The reason why I found this to be the most useful was because majority of my professors post their lecture notes prior to the class period. Therefore, this strategy allows you to scan these notes before the class period in order to ensure a lasting maximum information affect.
   The first course I used the strategy in was SOC-101. Prior to the class period I signed onto blackboard and downloaded that weeks powerpoint. Concurrently, I pulled out my SOC textbook and began looking for similarities between the two. Every time I saw something similar or that elaborated on the other I wrote it down in my study sheet. In addition, I attended class and had the study sheet I began to put together and filled in any information that my professor elaborated on in class. This strategy was helpful in that I felt I had covered all grounds of possible content and when it comes time to studying for a test I know I will have all the information to feel fully prepared.
     The next course that I used the No Salt and Sauce strategy in was IST-195. The reason I decided to use it for this class is because it heavily content based. Every assignment given is based on the information we have to read. The textbook for the class must be over 1000 pages leaving each chapter with 50-60 pages to cover. This is not something I handle well. When it comes to reading such large amounts of information I tend to get very distracted. I incorporated a characteristic from one of the other reading strategies and broke up my reading based on my attention span. I continued to write down only key facts and phrases that I had also seen in his power points posted online in order to ensure I had wrote down the information that we will most likely be tested on.
    The only thing I feel this strategy is missing is allowing yourself to chunk time and read everything in steps. This way it doesn't make reading seem like an impossible task.
     I really enjoy the NSAS strategy and I look forward to using it in the future. I believe that it will help me cover all aspects of the content I need in my classes to ensure that I am successful.

NOTE: Attached is a partial view of the online power point notes and the study guides I then created.

JUICE

JUICE

     This reading strategy emphasizes reading in pairs as a collaborative study experience. When I took math class last semester, my friend didn’t understand derivative. I explained her about derivative and solved some derivative questions together. After I taught her, I realized that teaching others also helps me to understand better. I think collaborative study, especially teaching each other, is a beneficial method for both students. In this reading strategy, selecting reading buddy is key to the success. I am taking history of illustration course with my roommate. We have assigned a great deal of difficult reading for homework. So, we decided to apply JUICE reading strategy to our reading assignment.

The material we read

     JUICE reading strategy is divided into five steps. First step is job. We had to read four sections of the chapter. So, in this step, we decided what material has to be read, when the reading must be completed, and what environment is conductive for reading and discussion. In this step, both readers have to be careful to schedule because they have different reading style and pace. The first step clarifies the roles and the responsibilities of each reader.

     Second step is understand. Both of us read same sections of the chapter. We read four sections of the chapter. We tried to concentrate understanding general concepts of the each section rather than memorizing. While we were reading the sections of the text, we marked the important and difficult parts. Since in the JUICE reading strategy, one reader teaches the material to the other, both of us should decide who will play the role of teacher and who will be student for which sections of the material. While we were doing the second step, we focused our attention on understanding the reading.

The "instructor" reader teaches "student" reader.

The third step is instruct. This step is the most important step in the reading strategy. For each section of the chapter, one of us was assigned the role of “instructor.” The instructor reader taught the materials in the section to other reader. The first instructor was my roommate. She explained the section with her own words. While she taught me, I wrote down questions and detected mistakes. Although we finished three sections of the chapter, we couldn’t finish the final section because it was difficult to both of us. So, we decided to ask the questions about the difficult section during the professor’s office hour. I realized the important thing in this step. I can understand better if I teach the material to my roommate rather than simply studying it alone.

While I was listening my roommate's teaching, I wrote down questions and detected mistakes.

The fourth step is critique. In this step, the other reader is assigned the role of “student.” The student listens the instructor’s teaching, detects mistakes, and asks questions. This step was difficult. For the successful reading, instructor should explain clear and understandable and student listens instructor’s lecture carefully. Both of us are students, so we didn’t have experience to teach others. Although this step was challenged for us, we learned many things through collaborate study experience.

JUICE reading strategy is exchange knowledge with ohters.

 

The fifth step is exchange. After the instructor reader finished teaching assigned material, the student reader summarized what the instructor reader taught. Both of us then exchanged our thoughts and discussed about the anticipated exam questions. In this step, we agreed/disagreed the important points in the materials. Creating exam question was an effective review tool to both of us.

Although JUICE reading strategy was more complicated than studying alone, I learned many things from collaborative study. When I study alone, my learning is limited to my own thoughts. However, when I study together, I can also learn others’ thought and we can exchange our knowledge. After we did instructor and student step, we made exam questions. It helped me a lot to understand the material. If time allows, I want to try this strategy again.  

TART

I always had lots of problem with the reading. I am not a student who can read the book in short period of the time, and understand every material. I have to read slowly, again and again. This was very stressful for me, because there were lots of things to read at the University. Especially for Japanese, it took a lot of time for me to read the book because it was mostly written with the Japanese. For the most of the time, I took the test without reading text book, because it took so much time. For this time, I used TART (Terms, Attend, Read, and Test) for my Japanese exam. I first read the terms and definitions, which were written at the beginning of the chapter. Then, I created abbreviations for the terms that my professor often used. This really helped me to get used to the certain terms that professor used a lot in the class. By getting familiar with important terms, I could actually concentrate better in the class. After that, I attended the class and I tried to listen for the technical terminology that was written on the book, and which my professor used for many times. Then, I reread my class notes right after the class. At this time, I used 20 minutes test prep. I wrote the terms that professor used a lot in the class, and right after the class, I read those words again. This helped me to remember those terms. I also used Plug in note. Since I found this note strategy worked best for me, I always used it to do the in-class note taking. By doing TART and the plug in note together, I felt much easier to organize the information.
The picture below is the plug in note that I used with the TART.


Also, by concentrating on what terms my professor was emphasizing, I could concentrate better in the class and I listened more carefully on what professor was talking. After this step, I did the reading. I read the materials that we covered on that day. I found out that the reading was not as hard as I thought. Before doing this TART, I just opened the book and tried to read the textbook. At that time, I could not really concentrate and had a hard time to understand the whole material written on the text book. At this time, however, by doing 'Terms' and 'attend' before 'Read', I found that reading became much easier. I realized that I needed these two steps before reading. It became clear that what terms I needed to focus on, that I could focus on the important information. I found out that to read with a purpose was the important thing to do. I could even read the whole chapter, much faster than before. I believed this thing happened because I already knew what the important terms I needed to focus on were. I, therefore, didn't have to waste much time on reading the unnecessary information. After reading, I created test questions that my professor might ask at the coming exam, and I answered to my questions. This was the strategy I used at the exam experiment. When I did exam experiment, I didn't focus on reading too much. I focused more on the class notes. At this time, I focused more on the text book. Then, the surprise thing happened. There were three questions actually came on to the exam. While I was doing exam experiment, only one question came out to the actual exam. At this time, there were more questions came out to the test. I found out the importance of reading the textbook. Even though I listened carefully during the class and wrote the class notes, I realized that to reread the text book many times were very helpful to understand the materials we learned. Also, I found out that reading was not hard thing. It was actually easy to do that there was no reason to not do the reading before an exam. The picture below is to show the process of my TART.

Reading Strategies

Ever since I was a child, my father has told me to: read, read, and read some more. "You can learn anything from a book" is his favorite saying. 10 years later I really wish I heeded his advice. Being able to read and effectively absorb the information in the text is essential to nearly all of my courses. reading textbooks is the complete antithesis of riveting and often times is tiring and monotonous. The inherently boring nature of textbooks is why certain reading techniques are designed.

The first technique I used was Mr.R. This technique emphasizes reading comprehension, attention span, and recitation; which are all areas I need to improve in. The steps included in this technique are as followed: measure, read, then recite. The measuring part includes determining the length of the passage, and then estimating the length of one attention span. The next step is to break the reading assignment into reasonable chunks. The reading step is defined by jotting down key terms in the margin to recall the information that was just read. The recitation step is achieved by using the annotations in the margins to create flash cards to memorize and recite. I used this strategy for my contract law class. I did so because the chapters are very boring and there is a large amount of key terms; which makes it the perfect class to make note cards for.

The next strategy I decided to implement was X Minute Reading, which has slightly more steps then the Mr. R technique. The steps include: survey, read, summarize, review, and reward (I like this one already). The survey aspect is essentially just grasping the reading assignment as a whole. The read step is deciding what you are going to read and for how much time. The summarize step is best when you make a study aid (in my case I decided to make a list of key terms). The review is essentially just studying the key terms you just established by using your designated study aid. The reward is up to interpretation. I decided to use playing video games as my reward. After I finished reviewing my key terms, and I felt comfortable, I played a game of FIFA. The class I used this strategy for was my Law and Public Policy class for the simple fact that there is a substantial amount of reading for this course.

I picked these strategies because I am a visual learner. Creating study aids that are visual such as note cards or a list of key terms expedites my learning. My application of these strategies was pretty easy because the steps are laid out in the textbook. I applied this strategy to my courses that require the most reading. Both materials were subjects that encompassed law; which makes sense. These courses have a lot of key terms and force you to apply them to actual cases; which makes knowing the terms thoroughly imperative. These strategies worked extremely well for me. I believe they did because of how they match up with my learning styles and because of how easy they are to apply.

Talia Says: Sam Really Acts Creatively

There are many ways a person can read, review, and study their notes. Listening in class and taking minimum notes, highlighting key points during a lecture, or my personal favorite, the Sam Really Acts Creatively strategy. This strategy emphasizes reading, and in my opinion, an easy way of memorization. I am very confident that this strategy can be successful for anyone as much as it is for me, and this is how I complete it to perfection.

The first step of this strategy is to survey the chapter and create questions, and then search for answers. Clearly write these questions and answers on a sheet of paper to establish a reading purpose. For those topics that may be hard to understand, a graphic organizer fits into play.

As I have blogged about before, for people who are kinesthetic learners like me, I would recommend using the Tree Diagrams. This graphic organizer lays out point-by-point and in great detail of the topic that is confusing. For example, I constantly blog about my HPM 314 class because it is the class I have the most notes and the most information to memorize of my classes. In this class, we are currently learning about labor unions, and I am having trouble understanding the topic of “why union-free matters”. Therefore, I created a tree diagram, which illustrated it to my better understanding. I broke down the reasoning’s into more clear and detailed explanations that I can understand and comprehend better so that I will do well on the test. Since this is such a large topic that is discussed in lecture, I know I must understand it in order to do well.

In addition, my advertising course (ADV 206) is a course that does not have a lot of topics but rather information. Advertising has been a practice in the human workforce and business world for a very long time, and continues to grow. Technology has also played a huge part in the creation of modern advertising which leads to a lot of information and history that we must memorize for exams. In this class we are currently learning about the changing landscape in modern media. As one can assume, there is a lot of information and for me it is very hard to keep track and memorize it all.

Rather than focusing on lecture, my teacher bases his quizzes and tests off of the textbook. Therefore, reading is very important and since I enjoyed the Sam Really Acts Creatively strategy in HPM 314, I decided to use it again for ADV 206. To begin, I read chapter 6 and created test questions. I then proceeded to make a graphic organizer for the topic “How Newspaper Ads are Sold”, however this time I used a concept map because there were a lot of details.

Once a graphic organizer is complete, I am finally allowed to use flash cards. Although I have been searching for other ways that I enjoy to study, I keep finding myself returning to flash cards. For a reason unknown, it is my comfort zone. I am trying to break out of this and explore new options.

Sam Really Acts Creatively is an excellent strategy which incorporates my comfort zone as well as combining other strategies into the mix. For those of you who are reading this and feel the same way, I highly recommend you to try the Sam Really Acts Creatively strategy and I can guarantee you will enjoy it as much as I did.

I hope everyone enjoys his or her spring break and you’ll hear from “Talia Say’s” when we return!

SU/Cornell Notes

      Before I arrived in college I never really had a specific way of studying. Depending upon what class it was I would study the material in different ways. However, once I got to Syracuse and I started receiving the course material for the semester I was very overwhelmed. I wasn't sure how I should study for all my different classes.
     As my first college exam approached I sort of just allowed myself to study the way I thought was effective. Although, this way did leave me with a B+ it wasn't until I started taking CLS-105 that I understood the true way of preparing my notes for a test.
     I have enjoyed experimenting a couple of the note taking strategies over the past couple of weeks. Yet, when it came to writing a blog I decided to choose my favorite and apply it to two of my courses. SU/Cornell notes has really proved to be the most useful strategy for me.
     The reason why I like SU/Cornell notes the best is because how organized my ideas are. There is a specific place for me to record everything I hear in the lecture and then for me to later annotate and put the information into my own words. As I have previously mentioned in my exam prep blog, I always need to have more information then necessary and this strategy allows me to do this.
     The first course I used the SU/Cornell notes in was my PRL-206 class. This course is very much based on the notes we receive in class. Although my professor does post the power points on blackboard. During my faculty interview assignment she stressed the importance of not only taking down whats on the power points but in addition any other points she elaborates on. This strategy allows me to take down as much information during the class period as possible and then go back and rewrite the most important points and key words. Then after you do that leave it for a couple of days. This allows for the information to soak in your system and a few days later revisit it and summarize everything you remember. This is a helpful tactic for me in that I am constantly revisiting my notes and not allowing the information to be forgotten.

     The second course I choose to use the SU/Cornell notes in was my SOC-101 class. The reason I choose to use this course was because the entire class period is based on the notes we take. My entire grade for the semester is based on 2 tests, 2 projects, and 6 responses. That means in order to do well on any of these three assignments I must have sufficient notes to pull information from. Therefore, similar to my PRL class throughout the class period I take down as much notes as possible this includes both the power point information and the topics my teacher elaborates on. After the class I annotate the notes and write down key words and terms in my own words. This helps me to conceptualize the concepts that might seem a little daunting when explained in "textbook" language. I am happy that I discovered this strategy and plan to use it in this course for the rest of the semester.

     I have really enjoyed using this strategy. I believe that it will help me in the future when I am preparing for exams in that it will cut down the amount of time it takes me to create a study guide. All my ideas will now be organized and allow me to dive right into exam prep. In addition, a lot of the information that will be on the exam will now be just review because this note taking strategy forced me to revisit my notes at least 2 times before I actually have to study it for a test. The only downside to this strategy is that it doesn't allow you to create possible exam questions which is a crucial component to succeeding on an exam. I look forward to using SU/Cornell notes in the future and I know that it will ultimately help me be more successful.

Disorganized to Organized in 1 Easy Step

I hate preparing for an exam when my notes are not legible and disorganized. Half the battle of studying is organizing my notes before an exam. Even when my notes are organized I still feel like reading them over does not help me effectively study. When studying from my notes, I need a study technique that quizzes me and helps me to know word for word definitions or concepts. As I said before, half the battle of preparing for an exam is organizing your notes. This can be extremely annoying and time consuming. When I want to start studying, I want to dive right in to it and not take hours to get organized. This is a waste of time and something that should bee handled weeks ago. This is why the note taking technique of PLUG-IN NOTES is very effective and helpful.

HOW TO DO IT

Plug-in notes help you organize yourself before an exam as well as study throughout the semester, rather than study and organize the night before. After class, you reread your notes and pull out major, important parts of information. With this info you make different graphic organizers (by topic). With these graphic organizers, you then create test questions and answers that help you study for your next exam.

I used this technique for my PSC 121 class. After class I highlighted the major chunks of info that I found to be most important. I made two graphic organizers for the two main topics we covered that day. I then made a question/answer chart that covered everything in my graphic organizers.

L A M E

I am the type of Learner that needs to be quizzed multiple times before I understand a concept. This technique works for me because I am writing out my notes more than once and by creating exam questions I am quizzing myself. This Action, of reading and re-writing my notes more than once and then quizzing myself, is effective and helps me to get the information cemented into my head. The Materials I used for this strategy are plug-in notes and various graphic organizers. These have helped me to be more organized and less stressed before an exam. My Evaluation of this strategy is very positive. By doing this note-taking strategy, I am studying weeks before an exam and lessening my work load the week of my exam. By re-reading and writing out my notes in different ways (graphic organizers) I just reintroduce myself to the info, making every topic more familiar.