Best Note Taking Methods

Taking notes is fundamental in order to help our brain understand new concepts. This common practice is only mastered by few, many students struggle with note-taking methods when listening to their teachers, and this is where our note taking app, ClassMaster.io, comes in handy!

With our note taking app we introduce a science-backed methodology that is focused on results in order to pass any exams. Forget about having tons of paper sheets to carry around, from now on you will have everything you need on ClassMaster.io, and you will be able to study and revise any topic wherever you are.

Learn why ClassMaster.io and its beautiful user interface are the best options in order to boost your memory!

 

Make Your Note Taking Skills Stronger!

Scientists know better!

As a student, you need to rely on sound research on the methodology you are using in order to learn new topics and develop your own effective note taking method. Studying is a fundamental part of the life of each person and you should not take any chances when it comes to it, your future depends on this! In a study published in 2014 by Mueller and Oppenheimer, students taking notes on their laptop resulted to be more likely to simply copy down what their professor said verbatim.

Furthermore, there exists evidence of the fact that most of the students who take their laptops to class are only working on class-related material about 58% of the time, with the remaining of the students generally surfing the net instead of actually paying attention to the class.

Remember: a person is not a machine!

Although it would certainly have its benefits to have certain functions of machines, our brain, no matter how powerful, will always have limits. The web is filled with studies where researchers had fun in looking for these limits, for example you may not be very familiar with the fact we tend to forget almost half of the things we learn after only 20 minutes (that’s 1200 seconds!).

Think about it: how many new concepts can a person easily recall after listening to a lecture? You may be shocked in learning that there are studies estimating this portion to only 10% of the total of the lecture content!

While these numbers may be upsetting, you will probably be relieved to know that other studies attribute the potential of remembering almost 80% of the class when good notes are taken.

Follow our study-hacks

One of the best techniques to learn and effectively remember any topic is to repeat, repeat and repeat. The author of the book Fluent Forever, Gabriel Wyner, is sure that, by going through a piece of information with a certain frequency, our brain will easily absorb some new knowledge from a class, persistence is always the key! Wyner mentions a study that resulted in the finding that, after four months, the simple daily practice on a topic for 30 minutes makes it possible for our brains to memorise up to 3,600 flashcards with a 90-95% accuracy!

While frequency is a vital factor for learning, the emotional state of the learner should be taken into account, since no relevant amount of information can be absorbed by our brain if the right mental state of interest and attention is not guaranteed. A German psychologist and one of the first researchers to work in the field of quantitative memory, named Hermann Ebbinghaus, has collected a set of precious evidence on the matter. In his book Elements of Psycophysics, Ebbinghaus presents some impressive findings about our learning and forgetting curves.

While all the theories of Ebbinghaus are still valid, one cannot ignore the immense research work that was developed by other academics on the same field. With the evolution of technology, researchers have started to implement algorithms to test different learning techniques on a wide scale. The most famous successful strategy was developed by P.A. Wozniak with the creation of the SM-2 algorithm, a study that actually came to confirm Ebbinghaus theory, with an accuracy of human-simulated learning of 92%!

 

Taking Notes – Greatest Hits

Among the many reasons why we would all benefit from an innovative note-taking tool is the fact that any student faced at least one of these note-taking techniques during his/her studies:

 

Let Cornell Help You

The idea is pretty easy: divide the page into two columns, note down on the right the main concepts of the class explained by the professor and, later, write on the left comments about the previous note (such as the question that the passage on the right answers, or the way it relates to another note, etc.). The use of the abbreviation is obviously encouraged, taking notes quickly is vital sometimes!

Outlining: Take It Easy

The good old outlining method simply consists of highlighting any relevant word or passage on a textbook. It is a good technique but does not overdo it, you risk to get no results!

Mapping: Use Your Imagination

If you are more the creative type, you can convert your textual notes on the lecture content into nice mind maps in order to highlight the relationships among all the concepts developed by the professor in class.

Box and Bullet: Looks Neat, Right?

Some people just love working with lists. If you can do it at the grocery store, why not try it at school as well? Give it a try, it is a less creative alternative to the mapping technique, and you will still have a neat result in the end.

The Best Digital Note Taking Method

ClassMaster.io lets you bring the traditional methods used to take notes to a whole new level thanks to the best note taking app around! Follow the key pieces of advice from our team in order to ace all your exams!

Digital Cornell Method

Classmaster.io gives you all the tools you need to help you take real-time digital notes and make beautiful flashcard sets later: welcome to the digital Cornell Method! The building of your whole classroom experience is centralized around the process of flashcard creation, with the guarantee of mastering each class as you go thanks to the link between an idea and its corresponding image. This setting makes it really easy to organise yourself and maximise your learning experience, with an evident positive influence on your exam results.

Use Our Mark Up Functions

Do you want to edit your notes after the class? With our digital note taking app, users can do anything you want, from layout editing to highlighting, this will help your brain when you will have to remember all these key points!

Visualise Your Cue Words

Our in-app searching function can help users find relevant pictures that can work as a memory aid when revising. Quickly recall all the information with this visual strategy. This is one of the many reasons why ClassMaster.io is the best option you can find in order to learn how to learn!

Use Flashcards To Help Memory

When you’re done with the process of digital note taking, you will find it useful to turn the text into visual flashcards. Our brain needs to connect each concept to one image in order to retain everything. Make all the card sets you to need and test your memory in the Game Arena!

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