YES I am SO excited for this new series! Perfect timing as I just got accepted to medical school, so study skills will be needed indeed! Edit: Thank you SO MUCH for all your sweet comments!!
I understand why people might dislike it. It might not cover what they were exactly looking for or may just be a repeat of info that they already know.
I dislike videos with comments complaining about dislikes on videos. Other people dislike videos with no dislikes. Thus, there will always be some dislikes
simplymaci College student advice: Always turn in your work on time, DON'T procrastinate. Have free thinking when doing hw, develope useful study methods for tests, and when it comes to math, make sure you know how to solve every problem. I hate math lol, 3rd time taking it
Idk I am studying at university for the 2nd year and I got maximum grades on all math subjects so far. You just need to know definitions and how to solve practice problems.
I actually do a combination of all three of the methods! I generally bullet point, add questions in the margins, and illustrate branching ideas with mind maps. Also, I add AS MANY GOOFS AS POSSIBLE. Humor is key to remembering information in my case.
I’m scared of drawing of mind maps but I find that I can write what I would have included in them as outlined notes. I’m thankful to have learned the Cornell style in middle school but I honestly don’t use it often although I might try to now. I always had a hard time deciding on what to include in the left column. My teacher always said just to add questions and that didn’t really help. This reminds me of when my friend and I took AP US History! We made up our own stories and would sometimes change the names and make it sound as if the event was actually taking place today. History has never been my my strong point and during the test, these stories were sometimes the only things that would be able to recall.
What about tablets with styluses? Taking notes with an app like OneNote on a tablet combines the advantages of electronic notes (no paper, searchable, indexable) and the advantages of handwriting (as stated in the video, devoting more brainpower to semantics than to syntax), and makes it easy to switch between typed and handwritten notes. It also lets you choose from over 16 million colors to write in, if colors are part of your notetaking strategy.
I tried it with an iPad and a stylus in college, but it didn't work well for me. Now that more accurate tablets like the iPad Pro are out though, it might be a different story - I just don't own one to test on.
As much as I love onenote, I found that it's better for revision or research(partly because I find pencil on paper to feel better for writing, but drawing with my finger is whats great for revising)
Thomas actually has his own channel with a video like this one too: there isn't actually a 'correct' method, just do a process of trial and error and find what works for you. It's more important for you to translate the information given to you so you understand it. For me, I use a modified Cornell note-taking that still uses the Cues and Notes part but without the summary. Hope it helps.
I have the new iPad pro with keyboard and Apple Pencil and apps like notability help a ton and make not-taking so much easier and even fun. I really recommend checking out an iPad Pro and it more usefulness than a MacBook if your primary consumption is just to take notes, surf the web etc.
What helped me during class was (if your teacher allowed) to set my phone on record and set it on the desk. Occasionally picking it up to get a picture. Another thing that helped was to have separate materials for fastly writing down notes, and the other for later to neatly write down key topics. Over all, both helped as one was audio and the other visual. You could even go as far and say hands on if you were as meticulous when writing down neat notes. Combined they vastly improved how I handled my subjects. If there is time left do ask the teacher on topics that you are unsure of or email them (do keep in mind not all teachers will respond fast to emails and some teachers will scold after lectures when you ask them a question).
The most important part to remember about this series is you have to want it. It's the student's responsibility to not fight against themselves and choose to do what's best for them. I didn't do this in high school, but I know that now in uni.
If you want to take handwritten notes, definitely brush up your cursive. I hear they don't even always teach kids cursive anymore on account of the fact that you don't really need it. But it can definitely come in handy for things like handwritten notes. If you're in good practice, cursive can be much faster than print lettering. Abbreviations help too, obviously, but make sure you only use abbreviations that you will definitely be able to understand when you reread your notes later.
thatjillgirl I still take all my notes in cursive, and I've found it takes much less time and I get more complete thoughts in my notes than peers. If you've ever learned cursive it really doesn't take long to remind yourself how it works, and your hand will thank you too!
Unless you use a Kuro Toga pencil. They're mechanical pencils with gears in them that slowly rotate the lead as you lift and press with the pencil, so you always have a fresh, sharp point to write with. Cursive keeps these from working.
I'm about to start year 10 (UK) which means I start work on my GCSEs. I will now have to take a lot of notes which I have never really had to do before so I found this really helpful. I always struggle when revising as well with what method to use, mindmaps or simple outlines. I had never seen the middle method before, so I'm going to try that in future! Thank you.
I've just finished my (I)GCSEs and I strongly recommend using past papers to guide your study. I will make it so much more efficient and you will learn those things that are actually on the test. Good luck
lol good luck brochachos already went through that stage and Im in uni, regarding GCSE honestly just swear by the CGP book (most of the time teachers themselves miss out important keypoints, CGP has everything in a short simple summarised way where everything important still remains) and a lot, lot, lot of exam questions. The more questions you do the more used you will be to what examiners expect of you!.
The computer versus paper thing doesn't have to be a debate. Take the exact word for word lecture from the teacher, then transcribe the notes yourself after class, in your own words, onto paper. As you said, you are then interacting with the information as you would on a cheat card. I used to do this all the time in all my classes, barring math, and it was a huge help.
Thank you so much. This week I think I came out of my long depression. I will be better than my highschool self. I'm using my time to learn how to learn, to be effective and become the master of knowledge. I love learning!!!! I remember now, all the little details that made me me. This will to learn will transform my whole life, my health, my friends.
I'm entirely straight and I was distracted by the aesthetic of just enough beard for it be full but also with not so much that you can't see the skin underneath.
I used emotional memory to enchant details and things to be more meaningful so they would hold in memory. When same feeling comes back, data comes too. I have not heard this advice anywhere so here you have it. I needed to learn it myself.
I used to skim ahead in text books and write the chapter review questions on a piece of paper before the lectures. Made sure I understood the questions before hand. Without fail, the teacher would answer the questions during the lecture. I would write down the answers. Sometimes I would turn them in, sometimes I would review them for tests. This was especial good for math classes. I knew what I did understand and didn't understand about the topic before hand and could ask questions without fear of looking stupid.
The 2 note taking method gave me i good idea of how to help when I taken notes it's the summary part to review what you already wrote and make it even easier to digest!
I'm going into my freshman year of high school pretty soon and I'm so happy this Crash Course exists as I strive for good grades and I take serious notes.
Thanks for bringing us Thomas Frank, i've been following him since I entered to college and now, even tho I'm not THE best student, I feel happy and pasionated with my carreer.
I like taking hand written notes on my Microsoft Surface. I open slide that the instructor has provided (if available) and annotate onto those slides in OneNote. I like doing this on my surface because it allow me my notes to be saved to the cloud and does not waste paper. :)
I've been teaching for 20 years and used to let students try a number of systems. I've seen firsthand that handwritten notes are so much better for learning than either typing notes in class or recording audio for transcription later. As far as I know, every study in the last decade or so confirms what I saw in my own classrooms. These days, I simply don't allow typing or pictures and make sure my students learn several different styles of note taking so they can find the one that works best for them. And given that many college professors (and sometimes whole departments) ban typing, pics and audio recordings from their lectures, it's super-important to arrive at college with strong note-taking skills. I really wish Thomas had made a stronger case for handwritten, since he knows as well as I do that one method is demonstrably superior. He has a responsibility to his viewers.
EyeLean5280 as a student with other students as friends, I completely agree; it's both proven and pretty obvious that handwritten notes are more effective but there are so many kids out there now who are more comfortable with a computer than a pen and paper. : / It's disappointing, but true.
Syntax is neither the "letters" nor the "sounds" of language. The lettering of a given language is called orthography; the sounds are covered by phonetics and phonology. Syntax refers to how words are organized at the sentence level. Maybe consider a Crash Course Linguistics?
Understanding is more important than technical correctness. If i had not understood, this would have been an issue. I think it would have been more confusing if he said "orthography" and then explained what orthography meant than just saying syntax and framing that as words and punctuation.
Go team handwritten notes! Our high school arms our kids with Chromebooks. I still insist on handwritten notes…two reasons: 1) I collect their notebooks at random times and check their notes for quality and actual presence of required notes 2) I still believe in having your notes on hand for studying, and the school doesn’t allow the Chromebooks to leave the school because the school doesn’t allow homework because we are cutting back to four day weeks, forcing five days worth of instruction into four days, and we don’t want to hold kids accountable outside of the classroom…still, I dream of kids using a few minutes here and there to look at their notes while they’re trying to stay awake in other classes or while they’re coping with their anxiety about passing my test at the end of our unit…I dream big. I have to or I’d burn out.
I usually use mind mapping for understanding the development of the topic and review(instead of the cue part in cornell). and Store the info with cornell and end the subject with a summary. question ares mark with bright color pen.
What serendipity to see this new series, just as I'm starting to question the way I've always studied. I get by, but I cram. I copy the slides and feel like I miss out on what the professor is saying. Recently I started using more of a bare-bones outline method which I fully flesh out later by basically copying/semi-summarizing-but-mostly-copying the slides when I cram. Not sure if it works better... but it's more time consuming to study like that which isn't fun. Also liked the way you explained cornell notes, actually makes it sound reasonable and appealing compared to when I first heard of it before college haha. I'll try it out again, but with my own modification to use two pages of a notebook at once. Right page for notes, left page for cues and summary. I'll have to find a happy medium with the outlining though. Thanks! :)
Its probably worth noting that if you're either a maths or physics student you don't gain any advantage on a laptop in terms of speed particularly in examples, unless there's a free app I'm missing it's way too difficult to type complex functions or what you're doing in shorthand on a computer. In terms of how I actually write my notes it partially depends on the lecure I'm in, if you're teacher/lecturer is good the lecture has a structure that makes sense on it's own anyway so if you follow along the major topics and sub topics tend to organise themselves. In examples I tend to copy on the left side of the page the steps to the problem (Including extra steps if they're skimmed over) and on the right side of the page I write in shorthand what I've done otherwise you can easily forget how you did a step if there's a jump in the problem Ie simply write DIF chain, when differentiating by chain method. Otherwise you'll often look back at examples and think how did I get from x to y?! because your notes are unclear. Also use more than one colour damnit it makes your notes way less boring to look at.
It would have to be Engineering Principles or something. Actual engineering doesn't lend itself well to lectures only and really needs an implementation of the concepts, whether that's doing the math for problems or making working projects. That being said, several engineering courses outlining the principles behind different fields, like design considerations for aircraft, would be good. I would totally watch a Crash Course video outlining the principles behind something and then using the normal course material and practice problems to really learn it in depth.
Every concept I write is in a box to the left, and next to the box I write the noun correspondent to the concept. So for example, if the concept was 'pencil', the word 'PENCIL' would be inside a box to the left, and next to it would be written 'OBJECT used for writing.' You can add adjectives later on, but I try to keep only the essential information. This makes the concept's importance visually obvious, links the name of the concept and the noun that explains what it is talking about, and helps with photographic memory.
Glad this popped up on my feed. After 9 years of my last college class, I will be starting school this coming Monday to finish my degree. I will be a full time student while working full time. These study skills will come in handy. Thanks!
As a scientist (1st class hons top 50 global university - I made damn fine notes) I would say it is worth making the point that paper note taking carries with it a further advantage for notes on any non-literary subject that diagrams and equations are much more easily and appropriately incorporated in your notes. If you expect to encounter any maths in your lectures I would suggest that paper notes will almost always come out overall in a more legible and comprehensible way than computerised notes even if you are a LaTeX wizz.
I'd also like to add typed notes work best for theory-heavy classes like law, literature, and certain HR, Management, & psychology classes. Use your discretion if there are any diagrams -- you have the option of copying & pasting or drawing it yourself if you're into that.
Great video. My own experience has led me to adopt a hybrid note-taking method, pretty much just by combining elements from each of the methods described here. I would say my notes are 60 % outline, 30% mind-map, and 10% Pauk. I am able to do this because I use pen and paper which allows me to draw arrows and lines across the paper, shapes around kew words, as well as figures and words on the side. I like the meta-cognition or thinking about thinking approaches of Pauk's method as I note cues or contextual words that will help me to recall what I had learned earlier during the semester. Also, I try to summarize entire lectures or chapters in several precisely and well-worded sentences. The outline is good because it's general and often familiar. It's rigid but if you use a pen and paper it is easy to make it less so.
If you like to write down everything your professor has on their slides, like me what I like to do is if they provide the slides beforehand I like to retype it in an outline style and then the next day italicize what my professor adds onto it such as examples and such. Or you can do that straight onto the PowerPoint slide just download it and there should be a note section underneath the slide, but be aware that might mean you might actually pay attention and understand what's on the slides.
Thank you for this video! Because I can recall handwritten notes better but don't want paper all over the place, I got myself a Wacom Bamboo Slate. The high cost though was worth it! I can store my notes on Evernote, even though they're handwritten. Which by the way, you're the reason I'm using it. (Evernote) So thank you again for all the great content you're producing!
Think about it, if he's a Slytherin saying he's a Ravenclaw for this video, then everyone watching would assume he's a big bookworm who is an ace at studying and hold his word about this subject in the highest regard, leading subconsciously to the highest number of likes and subs. This is a classic example of Slytherin cunning, if it is true.
When I took my first Psychology class, my professor passed a flash drive around. She put the basis of all the notes for every lecture in the class on the drive and said we were expected to add to the foundation she'd given us. Knowing that the basic notes for every lecture were readily available whenever we needed them made the class significantly less stressful and easier to digest. I wish all my professors did this for classes that cover a ton of material.
I have my own method of note taking and it's some kind of hybrid monster of the outline method and the mind map method I'm very careful about one thing: I have a visual memory, I like to draw and I'm creative. It's one of the different types of memories (some people have audio memory, reading memory etc...) So I took it into account! I also tend to get bored and distracted when I study and read my notes at home so having all of my pages looking the same doesnt' work. The best examples of my method are my philosophy class notes. I write in blue, and when the teacher is going slightly off topic or giving more detailed information about something very specific, I write in black. I never make full sentences (too slow) and I start each sentence at the beginning of a new line, I also have my own abbreviations, I allow myself a lot of wiggle room, like for example if a word is too long (classes are in French and french word are sometimes very long), write it in another language then, if I feel like what the teacher is saying is related/about the previous things, I make an indent and continue writing further from the vertical red line. I also use lines to connect elements that aren't written next to each other. Then, when I read my notes again, I use highlighters to categorize things: Authors in blue, quotes in yellow, new words in pink, key words in green... Consequently, the word density on my pages is very light (I use more pages but that's another problem) so it doesn't look overwhelming when I have to read them again! The point is, you have to use the method that fits best to your memory type
You've really hit the nail on its head this time, Crash Course. Thanks for the new series, it'll definately help a lot of us upcoming post-secondary students out there! 😆
A good strategy is to take quick outline notes in class, then summarize the main ideas into a few sentences a 5 year old can understand. Then at home, create a mind map that connects ideas to pre-existing knowledge.
When you have to take notes on a video about taking notes....
Noteception
Sophia literally what happened in class like 5mins ago
Sameee for acid
Avid*
I feel your pain. I'm doing it right now
SOO PROUD OF THOMAS!! Been following him for years and it's great to see him on CrashCourse!!
IKR😍
YES I am SO excited for this new series! Perfect timing as I just got accepted to medical school, so study skills will be needed indeed!
Edit: Thank you SO MUCH for all your sweet comments!!
Sofie P me too, congrats
Sofie P me too!
Good luck and have fun!
Sofie P Congratulations!
Sofie P its a bit overrated
I'm always confused who dislikes these crashcourse videos. What? You got a thing against note taking or something? Why are you here? Lol
Maybe they tried it and it didn't work for them, so they came back to the video with rage.
It’s because of John Green
I understand why people might dislike it. It might not cover what they were exactly looking for or may just be a repeat of info that they already know.
Kids who think learning things is lame or something probly
I dislike videos with comments complaining about dislikes on videos. Other people dislike videos with no dislikes. Thus, there will always be some dislikes
PERFECT TIMING. Right when I'm about to start college 👌🏼✨
simplymaci College student advice: Always turn in your work on time, DON'T procrastinate. Have free thinking when doing hw, develope useful study methods for tests, and when it comes to math, make sure you know how to solve every problem. I hate math lol, 3rd time taking it
simplymaci me too.where do u go to?
Idk I am studying at university for the 2nd year and I got maximum grades on all math subjects so far. You just need to know definitions and how to solve practice problems.
Good luck!!
same
I actually do a combination of all three of the methods! I generally bullet point, add questions in the margins, and illustrate branching ideas with mind maps. Also, I add AS MANY GOOFS AS POSSIBLE. Humor is key to remembering information in my case.
Amy Maistros scientifically, it's probably everyone's case. : )
emotion+information=better recall.
yess i might o this
I’m scared of drawing of mind maps but I find that I can write what I would have included in them as outlined notes. I’m thankful to have learned the Cornell style in middle school but I honestly don’t use it often although I might try to now. I always had a hard time deciding on what to include in the left column. My teacher always said just to add questions and that didn’t really help.
This reminds me of when my friend and I took AP US History! We made up our own stories and would sometimes change the names and make it sound as if the event was actually taking place today. History has never been my my strong point and during the test, these stories were sometimes the only things that would be able to recall.
Cool series. Anybody else pleasantly surprised about this series?
lol yes! *btw cool username xD
What about tablets with styluses? Taking notes with an app like OneNote on a tablet combines the advantages of electronic notes (no paper, searchable, indexable) and the advantages of handwriting (as stated in the video, devoting more brainpower to semantics than to syntax), and makes it easy to switch between typed and handwritten notes. It also lets you choose from over 16 million colors to write in, if colors are part of your notetaking strategy.
I tried it with an iPad and a stylus in college, but it didn't work well for me. Now that more accurate tablets like the iPad Pro are out though, it might be a different story - I just don't own one to test on.
As much as I love onenote, I found that it's better for revision or research(partly because I find pencil on paper to feel better for writing, but drawing with my finger is whats great for revising)
Thomas actually has his own channel with a video like this one too: there isn't actually a 'correct' method, just do a process of trial and error and find what works for you. It's more important for you to translate the information given to you so you understand it. For me, I use a modified Cornell note-taking that still uses the Cues and Notes part but without the summary. Hope it helps.
Not to mention you can take audio that is actually a PART of your notes. I can't give this comment enough thumbs up!
I have the new iPad pro with keyboard and Apple Pencil and apps like notability help a ton and make not-taking so much easier and even fun.
I really recommend checking out an iPad Pro and it more usefulness than a MacBook if your primary consumption is just to take notes, surf the web etc.
THOMAS FRANK This was definitely a great choice in who to host this series. Thank you!
What helped me during class was (if your teacher allowed) to set my phone on record and set it on the desk. Occasionally picking it up to get a picture.
Another thing that helped was to have separate materials for fastly writing down notes, and the other for later to neatly write down key topics.
Over all, both helped as one was audio and the other visual. You could even go as far and say hands on if you were as meticulous when writing down neat notes.
Combined they vastly improved how I handled my subjects.
If there is time left do ask the teacher on topics that you are unsure of or email them (do keep in mind not all teachers will respond fast to emails and some teachers will scold after lectures when you ask them a question).
The most important part to remember about this series is you have to want it. It's the student's responsibility to not fight against themselves and choose to do what's best for them. I didn't do this in high school, but I know that now in uni.
If you want to take handwritten notes, definitely brush up your cursive. I hear they don't even always teach kids cursive anymore on account of the fact that you don't really need it. But it can definitely come in handy for things like handwritten notes. If you're in good practice, cursive can be much faster than print lettering. Abbreviations help too, obviously, but make sure you only use abbreviations that you will definitely be able to understand when you reread your notes later.
im a cursive person, and i do get ahead in terms of note taking!!
thatjillgirl not necessarily. And for college people its too late...
thatjillgirl lol in high school i made my own form of manuscript that's as fast as cursive but is also unreadable by anyone but me
thatjillgirl I still take all my notes in cursive, and I've found it takes much less time and I get more complete thoughts in my notes than peers. If you've ever learned cursive it really doesn't take long to remind yourself how it works, and your hand will thank you too!
Unless you use a Kuro Toga pencil. They're mechanical pencils with gears in them that slowly rotate the lead as you lift and press with the pencil, so you always have a fresh, sharp point to write with. Cursive keeps these from working.
I'm about to start year 10 (UK) which means I start work on my GCSEs. I will now have to take a lot of notes which I have never really had to do before so I found this really helpful. I always struggle when revising as well with what method to use, mindmaps or simple outlines. I had never seen the middle method before, so I'm going to try that in future! Thank you.
Chloe Moriarty I'm starting year 10 too and I honestly don't know how I want to take notes, but I'll continue to research 😊
The CGP revision books were my saviour during GCSEs
I've just finished my (I)GCSEs and I strongly recommend using past papers to guide your study. I will make it so much more efficient and you will learn those things that are actually on the test. Good luck
Leon Staufer I completely agree my revision consisted of me sitting in front of a computer for hours on end just looking at past papers 😁
lol good luck brochachos already went through that stage and Im in uni, regarding GCSE honestly just swear by the CGP book (most of the time teachers themselves miss out important keypoints, CGP has everything in a short simple summarised way where everything important still remains) and a lot, lot, lot of exam questions. The more questions you do the more used you will be to what examiners expect of you!.
The computer versus paper thing doesn't have to be a debate. Take the exact word for word lecture from the teacher, then transcribe the notes yourself after class, in your own words, onto paper. As you said, you are then interacting with the information as you would on a cheat card. I used to do this all the time in all my classes, barring math, and it was a huge help.
So yeah, I'm gonna take notes to a lesson about taking noties.
If your teacher posts powerpoints online, *take notes before class!* You'll record all the important information and can focus on the lecture itself.
This is so useful!! Please make more of these kind of videos!!!
Thank you so much. This week I think I came out of my long depression. I will be better than my highschool self. I'm using my time to learn how to learn, to be effective and become the master of knowledge. I love learning!!!! I remember now, all the little details that made me me. This will to learn will transform my whole life, my health, my friends.
this dude is too handsome for closeups. it's kinda distracting from the words coming out of his mouth. and i say this as a "straight" guy.
try my science class... good looking/handsome teachers should be banned.
no I'm joking, they make me pay more attention aha.
I'm entirely straight and I was distracted by the aesthetic of just enough beard for it be full but also with not so much that you can't see the skin underneath.
M A I can relate😂
Nothing's more masculine than a straight man not afraid to compliment fellow men
I bet you're gay now
I'm facing down going back to school at 30. I was never good at the study part. This video has been so helpful.
7:00 notes on paper
omg it's frank!
Thomas frank ahaha
Wow!!!!!! Thomas!! I clicked on this video not expecting to see Thomas. He is perfect for this
I started college 4 days ago, to study Farmaceutical Biochemestry, the timing is perfect
I used emotional memory to enchant details and things to be more meaningful so they would hold in memory. When same feeling comes back, data comes too. I have not heard this advice anywhere so here you have it. I needed to learn it myself.
I liked the cue, notes and summary method. I believe that is a helpful process, strikingly less used than the others, but incredible.
These types of episodes are needed first for our crash course subjects.
I used to skim ahead in text books and write the chapter review questions on a piece of paper before the lectures. Made sure I understood the questions before hand. Without fail, the teacher would answer the questions during the lecture. I would write down the answers. Sometimes I would turn them in, sometimes I would review them for tests. This was especial good for math classes. I knew what I did understand and didn't understand about the topic before hand and could ask questions without fear of looking stupid.
Did anyone else notice that ge got an 8 out 20 in chapter 10 Quiz? 6:10
YES THIS IS A GREAT IDEA FOR A SERIES
I forget what I read unless it’s something I’m interested in
The 2 note taking method gave me i good idea of how to help when I taken notes it's the summary part to review what you already wrote and make it even easier to digest!
If only teachers and professors were taught how to teach or give lessons properly! 👌
No way Thomas Frank doing Crash Course Study skills????!!!!! This couldn't be anymore perfect
I'm going into my freshman year of high school pretty soon and I'm so happy this Crash Course exists as I strive for good grades and I take serious notes.
Perfect timing,I start highschool tommorow
Dr. bowtie I start on Monday so yup, perfect. : )
My favourite channels together! Awesome!
thank you so so much
I think another good info recording strategy is bloom's taxonomy, very informational
This. Makes. Me. So. Freaking. Excited!!!
Thanks for bringing us Thomas Frank, i've been following him since I entered to college and now, even tho I'm not THE best student, I feel happy and pasionated with my carreer.
I like taking hand written notes on my Microsoft Surface. I open slide that the instructor has provided (if available) and annotate onto those slides in OneNote. I like doing this on my surface because it allow me my notes to be saved to the cloud and does not waste paper. :)
OMG THOMAS ON CRASH COURSE! Instant like!
I've been teaching for 20 years and used to let students try a number of systems. I've seen firsthand that handwritten notes are so much better for learning than either typing notes in class or recording audio for transcription later. As far as I know, every study in the last decade or so confirms what I saw in my own classrooms.
These days, I simply don't allow typing or pictures and make sure my students learn several different styles of note taking so they can find the one that works best for them. And given that many college professors (and sometimes whole departments) ban typing, pics and audio recordings from their lectures, it's super-important to arrive at college with strong note-taking skills.
I really wish Thomas had made a stronger case for handwritten, since he knows as well as I do that one method is demonstrably superior. He has a responsibility to his viewers.
EyeLean5280 as a student with other students as friends, I completely agree; it's both proven and pretty obvious that handwritten notes are more effective but there are so many kids out there now who are more comfortable with a computer than a pen and paper. : / It's disappointing, but true.
And now that I replied I realize that you will probably think my grammer is atrocious. XD
Syntax is neither the "letters" nor the "sounds" of language. The lettering of a given language is called orthography; the sounds are covered by phonetics and phonology. Syntax refers to how words are organized at the sentence level. Maybe consider a Crash Course Linguistics?
Noah Elkins lool
Say it with me everybody. *_crash course linguistics_*
Understanding is more important than technical correctness. If i had not understood, this would have been an issue. I think it would have been more confusing if he said "orthography" and then explained what orthography meant than just saying syntax and framing that as words and punctuation.
nice one bro...
Pfft. semantics
Go team handwritten notes! Our high school arms our kids with Chromebooks. I still insist on handwritten notes…two reasons: 1) I collect their notebooks at random times and check their notes for quality and actual presence of required notes 2) I still believe in having your notes on hand for studying, and the school doesn’t allow the Chromebooks to leave the school because the school doesn’t allow homework because we are cutting back to four day weeks, forcing five days worth of instruction into four days, and we don’t want to hold kids accountable outside of the classroom…still, I dream of kids using a few minutes here and there to look at their notes while they’re trying to stay awake in other classes or while they’re coping with their anxiety about passing my test at the end of our unit…I dream big. I have to or I’d burn out.
I usually use mind mapping for understanding the development of the topic and review(instead of the cue part in cornell). and Store the info with cornell and end the subject with a summary. question ares mark with bright color pen.
What serendipity to see this new series, just as I'm starting to question the way I've always studied.
I get by, but I cram. I copy the slides and feel like I miss out on what the professor is saying. Recently I started using more of a bare-bones outline method which I fully flesh out later by basically copying/semi-summarizing-but-mostly-copying the slides when I cram. Not sure if it works better... but it's more time consuming to study like that which isn't fun.
Also liked the way you explained cornell notes, actually makes it sound reasonable and appealing compared to when I first heard of it before college haha. I'll try it out again, but with my own modification to use two pages of a notebook at once. Right page for notes, left page for cues and summary. I'll have to find a happy medium with the outlining though.
Thanks! :)
I just started teaching a mini class called study skills so this is great to show my kids
I write faster than I type so I'm 100% doing that.
My favorite method read textbook/visit during office hours.
Its probably worth noting that if you're either a maths or physics student you don't gain any advantage on a laptop in terms of speed particularly in examples, unless there's a free app I'm missing it's way too difficult to type complex functions or what you're doing in shorthand on a computer.
In terms of how I actually write my notes it partially depends on the lecure I'm in, if you're teacher/lecturer is good the lecture has a structure that makes sense on it's own anyway so if you follow along the major topics and sub topics tend to organise themselves.
In examples I tend to copy on the left side of the page the steps to the problem (Including extra steps if they're skimmed over) and on the right side of the page I write in shorthand what I've done otherwise you can easily forget how you did a step if there's a jump in the problem Ie simply write DIF chain, when differentiating by chain method. Otherwise you'll often look back at examples and think how did I get from x to y?! because your notes are unclear.
Also use more than one colour damnit it makes your notes way less boring to look at.
do crash course engineering
Giancarlo Navarro omg I would love that so much. they'll probably only ever do that in like 20 years though when every other topic has been done.
It would have to be Engineering Principles or something. Actual engineering doesn't lend itself well to lectures only and really needs an implementation of the concepts, whether that's doing the math for problems or making working projects. That being said, several engineering courses outlining the principles behind different fields, like design considerations for aircraft, would be good. I would totally watch a Crash Course video outlining the principles behind something and then using the normal course material and practice problems to really learn it in depth.
Soooo exciting to see you here too, Thomas!! :)
IVE BEEN FOLLOWING HIM FOR A YEAR NOW AND CRASH COURSE FOR MUCH LONGER WHEN I SAW HIM HERE I GOT SO HAPPY JWABDJHWJEV
i'm so glad to have learned to take cornell notes when in middle school. i use this method now in college and it is so helpful.
Every concept I write is in a box to the left, and next to the box I write the noun correspondent to the concept. So for example, if the concept was 'pencil', the word 'PENCIL' would be inside a box to the left, and next to it would be written 'OBJECT used for writing.' You can add adjectives later on, but I try to keep only the essential information. This makes the concept's importance visually obvious, links the name of the concept and the noun that explains what it is talking about, and helps with photographic memory.
Clicked on this video because I really needed it and then was happily surprised by seeing Thomas be the host :D
So thankful!! Please make a video of how to highlight a textbook properly
Glad this popped up on my feed.
After 9 years of my last college class, I will be starting school this coming Monday to finish my degree. I will be a full time student while working full time. These study skills will come in handy. Thanks!
IM SO HAPPY THOMAS IS HERE
As a scientist (1st class hons top 50 global university - I made damn fine notes) I would say it is worth making the point that paper note taking carries with it a further advantage for notes on any non-literary subject that diagrams and equations are much more easily and appropriately incorporated in your notes. If you expect to encounter any maths in your lectures I would suggest that paper notes will almost always come out overall in a more legible and comprehensible way than computerised notes even if you are a LaTeX wizz.
I'd also like to add typed notes work best for theory-heavy classes like law, literature, and certain HR, Management, & psychology classes. Use your discretion if there are any diagrams -- you have the option of copying & pasting or drawing it yourself if you're into that.
OMG I'M SO PROUD OF YOU; YOU'RE ON CRASHCOURSE!!!!!!!! TOTALLY DESERVE IT
Great video. My own experience has led me to adopt a hybrid note-taking method, pretty much just by combining elements from each of the methods described here. I would say my notes are 60 % outline, 30% mind-map, and 10% Pauk. I am able to do this because I use pen and paper which allows me to draw arrows and lines across the paper, shapes around kew words, as well as figures and words on the side. I like the meta-cognition or thinking about thinking approaches of Pauk's method as I note cues or contextual words that will help me to recall what I had learned earlier during the semester. Also, I try to summarize entire lectures or chapters in several precisely and well-worded sentences. The outline is good because it's general and often familiar. It's rigid but if you use a pen and paper it is easy to make it less so.
If you like to write down everything your professor has on their slides, like me what I like to do is if they provide the slides beforehand I like to retype it in an outline style and then the next day italicize what my professor adds onto it such as examples and such. Or you can do that straight onto the PowerPoint slide just download it and there should be a note section underneath the slide, but be aware that might mean you might actually pay attention and understand what's on the slides.
YEEEES, KING of studying
YUUUUUSSSS!!!! This is great!! Just in time for school!!!!!
Thomas Frank!!! I'm hyped for this collaboration!
I've been waiting for this collab for so long ahhhhh so excited for this series!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for this video! Because I can recall handwritten notes better but don't want paper all over the place, I got myself a Wacom Bamboo Slate. The high cost though was worth it! I can store my notes on Evernote, even though they're handwritten. Which by the way, you're the reason I'm using it. (Evernote) So thank you again for all the great content you're producing!
I type out as much info as possible during class, then rewrite those computer notes in a summarized version onto paper days before a quiz or test.
"And that guy who's taking a buzzfeed quiz"
I've been found.. o-o
Hi Thomas! Keep posting more videos on this channel i.e. only you in it...better than the long interviews.
No, a Slytherin would say they were a Slytherin!! That's the best house!!!
That's exactly what I was thinking, no way a Slytherin would claim to be in another house, just no way
so I guess he's really a ravenclaw
Think about it, if he's a Slytherin saying he's a Ravenclaw for this video, then everyone watching would assume he's a big bookworm who is an ace at studying and hold his word about this subject in the highest regard, leading subconsciously to the highest number of likes and subs. This is a classic example of Slytherin cunning, if it is true.
It's a good logic :-) ... but I still think a Slytherin would lie about anything except his house.
When I took my first Psychology class, my professor passed a flash drive around. She put the basis of all the notes for every lecture in the class on the drive and said we were expected to add to the foundation she'd given us. Knowing that the basic notes for every lecture were readily available whenever we needed them made the class significantly less stressful and easier to digest. I wish all my professors did this for classes that cover a ton of material.
I have my own method of note taking and it's some kind of hybrid monster of the outline method and the mind map method
I'm very careful about one thing: I have a visual memory, I like to draw and I'm creative. It's one of the different types of memories (some people have audio memory, reading memory etc...)
So I took it into account! I also tend to get bored and distracted when I study and read my notes at home so having all of my pages looking the same doesnt' work.
The best examples of my method are my philosophy class notes. I write in blue, and when the teacher is going slightly off topic or giving more detailed information about something very specific, I write in black.
I never make full sentences (too slow) and I start each sentence at the beginning of a new line, I also have my own abbreviations, I allow myself a lot of wiggle room, like for example if a word is too long (classes are in French and french word are sometimes very long), write it in another language
then, if I feel like what the teacher is saying is related/about the previous things, I make an indent and continue writing further from the vertical red line.
I also use lines to connect elements that aren't written next to each other.
Then, when I read my notes again, I use highlighters to categorize things: Authors in blue, quotes in yellow, new words in pink, key words in green...
Consequently, the word density on my pages is very light (I use more pages but that's another problem) so it doesn't look overwhelming when I have to read them again!
The point is, you have to use the method that fits best to your memory type
omg slay!!! i remember seeing this guys years ago! so cool he's on crashcourse now :)
this guy is a sexy teacher, we want more of him Crash Course
Such a noteworthy definition for "Syntax" ❤️😃
Omg yes! 👍 The right person in the right place
Love the footnotes
Taking my first AP this year. super excited :)
So excited to see Thomas FRank doing this amazing thing! Yaaaayyy
You've really hit the nail on its head this time, Crash Course. Thanks for the new series, it'll definately help a lot of us upcoming post-secondary students out there! 😆
Heeeeeeeey, I've been watching Thomas' channel for about a year. His videos are very helpful! I'm glad he's in CrashCourse too :)
Please release everything you have right now. Time is of the essence
1:36 Some professors actually talk like that.
thooomaaaaas im so glad to see you heeeere !!!
Great idea for a series
Thank you, helpful
I love that the thumbnail has A Song of Ice and Fire houses!!
Making a video about studying? Definitely a Ravenclaw
IT'S ABOUT TIME
just about to start med school this series is looking great :)
I kinda felt that paper notes were so much better. It all make sense.
Well I wish this existed a few years ago in my 11th grade AP classes, but college is starting so this works too!
Thank you so much for developing this crash course series!! So helpful
Thank you Thomas...
A good strategy is to take quick outline notes in class, then summarize the main ideas into a few sentences a 5 year old can understand. Then at home, create a mind map that connects ideas to pre-existing knowledge.
Ahhhh!!! He is everywhere. I was expecting John.