How do you create good study notes

[studybuddy7777]

Why restrict yourself to the walls in your study?

I stuck a bunch of Medea quotes all around the house when I did it at the start of this year and I'm still finding quotes in random places when I least expect it. I'd say that it's a nice surprise but I hated Medea so much I can't even. In addition to that, got Legal notes scattered everywhere and bits and pieces from my other subjects that I've stuck onto the walls of my study, bedroom, living room, dining room and my brothers' and parents' bedroom doors. I've even got some random idea I wanted to use for some Literature essay scribbled in lipstick on my bathroom mirror...

There's a system to my madness tho, I promise.

At this stage, I think the only place that hasn't been covered at some point with notes is the ceiling and that's cuz our ceilings are too high and I'm too short...

^^^This one though ^^^ If there's ever a paper shortage at least I'll know where to find some now :p

[conic curve]

Different strokes for different folks. If you do write your notes by single dot points, it is important that you show how this dot point links to other dot points (which may even be in different topics!) Often in HSC / trials now the bigger mark questions encompass more than one dot point, so you must show how things link. (I believe this is what the extended response question is trying to test you on)

[kassidyfisher]

The syllabus is your best friend! My advice (It honestly depends on the subject) But flashcards are great for sciences, and summary notes are great if you do them by the syllabus. Then start doing practice questions and papers. Also don't forget to make them personalised, so use acronyms or something to help you remember important key terms

[EmileeSmith]

using colour is helpful 

[conic curve]

I have a kinda silly question to ask, but is it alright to make 5 copies of notes on one module of either phys or chem (i.e. since there are 4 modules in physics and 4 modules in chemistry, I'm probably going to have 40 sets of notes altogether)

I'll explain, 1 set of notes is an indepth set of notes used to cover every single dotpoint to the level of depth required-for more understanding, one set of notes is a "summary notes" a shortened set of notes, one set of notes will be a "weaknesses notes" used for pinpointing my weaknesses, one set of notes will be for "concept maps/linking" for linking concepts together so then it's easier to draw links between certain concepts and answer those extended reponse questions and my final set of notes will be "extended response notes" where I will be making up certain extended reponse questions with a marking criteria and will be writing up responses in order to get more marks for the extended reponse questions

WHat does everyone think of this? Yes I know it's a lot and a little bit crazy but I think I will benefit from this, rewriting my notes 5 times in one module, 40 times throughout the year

[RuiAce]

I have a kinda silly question to ask, but is it alright to make 5 copies of notes on one module of either phys or chem (i.e. since there are 4 modules in physics and 4 modules in chemistry, I'm probably going to have 40 sets of notes altogether)

I'll explain, 1 set of notes is an indepth set of notes used to cover every single dotpoint to the level of depth required-for more understanding, one set of notes is a "summary notes" a shortened set of notes, one set of notes will be a "weaknesses notes" used for pinpointing my weaknesses, one set of notes will be for "concept maps/linking" for linking concepts together so then it's easier to draw links between certain concepts and answer those extended reponse questions and my final set of notes will be "extended response notes" where I will be making up certain extended reponse questions with a marking criteria and will be writing up responses in order to get more marks for the extended reponse questions

WHat does everyone think of this? Yes I know it's a lot and a little bit crazy but I think I will benefit from this, rewriting my notes 5 times in one module, 40 times throughout the year

Nothing wrong with it but a) if you do so you need to get them done ASAP because otherwise you completely drain out valuable time spent on past papers and b) whether or not you actually use all of them is also an important question. Take the weakness one - I just annotated my summary notes to indicate where my weaknesses were.

Also I never had notes explicitly for concept linking. I did that myself in my head

[conic curve]

Nothing wrong with it but a) if you do so you need to get them done ASAP because otherwise you completely drain out valuable time spent on past papers and b) whether or not you actually use all of them is also an important question. Take the weakness one - I just annotated my summary notes to indicate where my weaknesses were.

Also I never had notes explicitly for concept linking. I did that myself in my head

I'm probably going to have to make it from 5 to 4 then. 1 will be more "super detailed info", one will be for "summary", one will be for weaknesses and one will be for concept linking and extended reponses (as concept linking is crucial for extended responses)

I'll probably have 32 notes by the end of the HSC then.

I thought of another idea, if I did super detailed notes with some summaries highlighted there (instead of having two different set of notes i.e. super detailed notes and one set of notes for summaries), one for weaknesses and one for concept linking (as it links quite well to extended responses) would that be better than having 5 sets of notes?

I'm not sure because I feel every single bit of slightest detail is important as it can help you gain one extra mark in the HSC

Would probably save me a lot of time

[ssarahj]

I'm probably going to have to make it from 5 to 4 then. 1 will be more "super detailed info", one will be for "summary", one will be for weaknesses and one will be for concept linking and extended reponses (as concept linking is crucial for extended responses)

I'll probably have 32 notes by the end of the HSC then.

I thought of another idea, if I did super detailed notes with some summaries highlighted there (instead of having two different set of notes i.e. super detailed notes and one set of notes for summaries), one for weaknesses and one for concept linking (as it links quite well to extended responses) would that be better than having 5 sets of notes?

I'm not sure because I feel every single bit of slightest detail is important as it can help you gain one extra mark in the HSC

Would probably save me a lot of time

Feel free to do that all that if you think its going to help your understanding, however a lot of time can be saved by having a solid set of notes and then doing past papers and practise questions which help to link concepts, identify weaknesses and practise extended responses all in one. If you mark/edit practise questions you do and then keep them (maybe even put them in a nice display folder) you'll be able to look back and learn from them as the year goes on.

Succinct summaries (like the technique Jake recommends) would probably be more useful towards Trials next year so you will have copious amounts of time to figure out what works for you.

One mark in the HSC exam is not worth 32 sets of notes, if I was you I'd go insane by next year.

[conic curve]

Feel free to do that all that if you think its going to help your understanding, however a lot of time can be saved by having a solid set of notes and then doing past papers and practise questions which help to link concepts, identify weaknesses and practise extended responses all in one. If you mark/edit practise questions you do and then keep them (maybe even put them in a nice display folder) you'll be able to look back and learn from them as the year goes on.

Succinct summaries (like the technique Jake recommends) would probably be more useful towards Trials next year so you will have copious amounts of time to figure out what works for you.

One mark in the HSC exam is not worth 32 sets of notes, if I was you I'd go insane by next year.

Thanks Ssarahj

I thought that in one module, I'd have 1 set of notes which was used for indepth info and for understanding (with highlighted summaries so then I can have a summarised set of notes as well as an indepth set of notes all in one), a weaknesses notes and a concept maps and extended response notes

Before yr 12 starts, I will be making my notes which are indepth and the concept maps/extended response notes and then apply them to past/practice papers

Throughout year 12, I will be including relevant summary notes in my indepth notes and will be making my weaknesses notes throughout the year to ensure I do not forget relevant content throughout the year

Also how do we buy the ATARNOTES notes? Like are they sold at UTS?

[ssarahj]

Thanks Ssarahj

I thought that in one module, I'd have 1 set of notes which was used for indepth info and for understanding (with highlighted summaries so then I can have a summarised set of notes as well as an indepth set of notes all in one), a weaknesses notes and a concept maps and extended response notes

Before yr 12 starts, I will be making my notes which are indepth and the concept maps/extended response notes and then apply them to past/practice papers

Throughout year 12, I will be including relevant summary notes in my indepth notes and will be making my weaknesses notes throughout the year to ensure I do not forget relevant content throughout the year

Also how do we buy the ATARNOTES notes? Like are they sold at UTS?

You can buy them online just click on the Shop part at the top of this website! 

[studybuddy7777]

You can buy them online just click on the Shop part at the top of this website! 

You can also buy them at the UTS lectures if you please as well. Good place to buy them as you can preview them before you buy, because after all the devils in the detail 

Bought mine at the lectures and they are amazing!

[conic curve]

Just curious but how do I summarise my notes. I have trouble doing that. I feel every single tiny bit of detail is important but at the same time, having summary notes is so crucial when revising

Like I said, I'm going to have my super detailed set of notes and highlight the "summaries"?

[jamonwindeyer]

Just curious but how do I summarise my notes. I have trouble doing that. I feel every single tiny bit of detail is important but at the same time, having summary notes is so crucial when revising

Like I said, I'm going to have my super detailed set of notes and highlight the "summaries"?

Hey conic! Doing this before you learn the content (and perhaps do some tests/assignments) will be near impossible, particularly for the sciences where you could fairly easily have 300 pages of relevant information you need to actually do some of it to know what you need and what you don't. My advice would be to ask yourself the question: How much do you think you can realistically remember? That should provide a benchmark.

As an indicator, even the most detailed of my study notes never exceeded 100 pages, and personally that was way too long. I had my Legal Studies course summarised on 10 pages (generous font/sizing, its the ones in the notes section) and I studied that in the lead up to the exam!!

Really long notes are useless if they aren't concise enough to use as a resource later in the piece. So, your other option is to start detailed, then remove as you go?

[conic curve]

Hey conic! Doing this before you learn the content (and perhaps do some tests/assignments) will be near impossible, particularly for the sciences where you could fairly easily have 300 pages of relevant information you need to actually do some of it to know what you need and what you don't. My advice would be to ask yourself the question: How much do you think you can realistically remember? That should provide a benchmark.

As an indicator, even the most detailed of my study notes never exceeded 100 pages, and personally that was way too long. I had my Legal Studies course summarised on 10 pages (generous font/sizing, its the ones in the notes section) and I studied that in the lead up to the exam!!

Really long notes are useless if they aren't concise enough to use as a resource later in the piece. So, your other option is to start detailed, then remove as you go?

What if I use past students notes, textbooks and research notes?

[jamonwindeyer]

What if I use past students notes, textbooks and research notes?

Students notes could help you get an idea about how much detail is necessary! But doing the content for yourself is still the best way to get that understanding, there is only so much you can do in early prep