Note Taking, Test Preparation

Quiz

• Let’s start with a 9-minute test• Based on Grade 10 math concepts

Taking Notes from Texts and Lectures

A. Lectures and Note-TakingB. General PrinciplesC. Note-Taking SystemsD. New Technology

A. Lectures and Note-TakingB. General PrinciplesC. Note-Taking SystemsD. New Technology

Purpose of Lectures

• immediate event: lectures progress in real time and demand mental and physical participation.

• stimulate FOCUS

Goals of Note-Taking

• capture the essence of your lecture while you simultaneously listen, study, or observe

• note taking serves two functions: learning and external storage (DiVesta & Gray, 1972)

• Learning is the most important

How Notes Work

• require abbreviations, short-cuts, paraphrases, reformatting

• creative, effortful acts• effort = memorability• effort develops from speed

difference between speech and writing

Note Taking & Speed

• effort = memorability• effort created by difference

between speech and writing• Writing speed: 0.2 to 0.3 WPS • Speaking speed: 2 to 3 WPS

Lecturing

Writing

Lectures

3 words per second

0.3 words per second

Unequal speeds create challenge

Note Taking Effort

• effort of note taking GREATER than that of reading, studying

• Greater even than CHESS!

Distraction Effect (ms)

BUT—Bad Notes Are Bad

• Many students are poor note takers

• typically record less than half of the key ideas presented

Printed Notes?

• pre-printed course packs ensure crucial material is accurate and complete

• allow the student to concentrate on the lecture (reducing multi-tasking) BUT

• reduce the student's role in note production—Problem?

Ideal Lecture Notes

• ideally, work with prepared course

note packages

• annotate, highlight, and mark

them vigorously

Good point!

Note-Taking Principles

1. Get used to incompleteness

• do NOT copy every word: as completeness RISES, comprehension FALLS

• Even worse with a keyboard!

Note-Taking Principles

2. Classify the information.• Listen for “metamessages” as well

as content• Listen to examples; record key

concepts

Focus on Metamessages

• Crucial hints, e.g., “the details of this process are not important at this point”

Focus on Metamessages

• Crucial hint: “I don’t expect you to memorize them all”BUT

• “you should recognize some properties of major groups”

Note-Taking Principles

3. Organize the information.• consider adopting a consistent,

formal note-taking plan• may improve clarity or save time• works with PPT slides or bare

paper . . .

• Print slides in “notes pages” format• Provides space to add your own notes• Remember: The purpose of note-taking

is LEARNING

• Watch for “summary slides”• Identify key topics• Use as direct tests

Summary• Review readings & slides before

lecture• Print slides and leave space to

annotate them• Focus on metamessages• Use slides/notes as tests and

test yourself

If You Know Everything Already . . .

• Extend your knowledge: Develop questions • Test yourself: in REVIEW, everything looks

familiar (“passive review” WEAK!)• Tests provide retrieval practice &

knowledge of performance• Remember: you will not only have to know

the material but retrieve it quickly and accurately

No Printouts?

• Printouts are not always available• Printing requires time & money• What is the best way to take notes

if printouts are not an option?• 3 Principles, 3 Formats

Three Note-Taking Formats

1. outline system2. Graphic approaches3. Cornell system

1. Outline System

1. Illustrates the relative value of major points and supporting ideas

a) highly structuredb) effort of forming a coherent outline

makes the material memorable2. Organized appearance also

makes the notes comprehensible3. Drawbacks of outline format:

a) too slow for many situationsb) only useful for lectures with clear

structure

2. Branching &Mind Mapping:

• informal, strongly visual ways of expressing relationships between ideas

• start in the middle of the page with a key idea; draw a radiating line for each subtopic

• indicate connections between ideas with branching lines

What is a Mindmap?

• A mindmap is a way of organizing ideas in a highly pictorial way

Sample Hand-Drawn Mindmap

Why mindmap?

• Make new connections between ideas

• Fast and easy to create• Memorable (for some)• Fun!

3. Cornell System:

Simple system that 1. Leaves adequate room for later

re-organization2. Creates an automatic quiz

system

Cornell System

Developed--• When?• Where?• Why?

• By?• Now Used?

1949Cornell UTest preparation formatWalter S. Pauk• Most major US law

schools

3-Part System

Phase 1: Before the Lecture• Review previous notes• Prepare paper for current notes

(date, course, name, page numbers)

3-Part System

Phase 2: During the Lecture• record notes on the right-hand side of

the page• capture main points writing quickly• you may NOT have time to re-write• only re-write notes if this is a crucial

study activity for you!• notes should convey the necessary

information the first time you write them.

3-Part System

Phase 3: After the Lecture• jot down key words and phrases

on the left side of the paper• helps organize material• TEST: cover the right side of the

notebook• use key words and phrases as test

questions

Hybrids

• Note that you can combine approaches—e.g., graphical approach plus Cornell

“seed tick”

-how ticks find cattle?

-responses: warm/cold?

-why does blood continue to flow in host?

-host questing risky—adaptations?

smells butyric acid in mammalian sweat

One/several batches—1000s!

Releases apyrase (anti-coag.) & kininase (no itch)

Branching/Cornell Approach

Testing as Study

• Every diagram is the basis for a test (reproduce sketch diagrams to self-test)

• highest learning gains from testing; best form of study!

• Testing may actually replace notes—soon

Testing

• Tests enhance learning and improve long-term retention, a phenomenon known as the “testing effect” (Agarwal et al., 2007)

• In a 2006 experiment, subjects predicted they would recall more in the future after repeated studying than after testing

Know Thyself

• They were wrong• testing enhanced long-term

retention better than restudying• monitor and regulate your own

learning—you may surprise yourself

Notes and Textbooks

• Highlighting no substitute for study

• Notes/Testing more memorable• Excellent chapter-end summaries

and questions—use them!

Textbooks

• Start with the questions—then look for the answers

• Use end of chapter summaries as “advance organizers”

• Take notes & test as well as read—passive review is a weak learning strategy

Last Word: New Technology

• Technology claims are usually overstated (e.g., TABLETS!)

• Some new devices look promising• Some do not

York-McMaster Study

• “multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users and fellow students and can be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content.” (2013)

“Smart” Pens?

• Livescribe—not that I’m endorsing their product

• Traditional pen with digital enhancement

• Records audio, coordinates with digitized text

New Technology

• Systems are maturing—and some may really be better

• We are on the verge of HUGE changes

• Most of the old principles will still apply!

Do you like Tests?

Top Tips

1. Apply Distribution2. Use Self-Testing3. Anticipate Test Form

Tip of the Day

• Avoid changing answers on multiple-choice tests?• Virtually all research on this topic for 70 YEARS

suggests the opposite• Most answer changes are from incorrect to correct,• Why do people believe in this strategy if the data so

strongly refute it?• “counterfactual thinking” created because changing an

answer and making it incorrect leads to more self-recrimination

• Thus, instances of the former are more memorable than instances of the latter (Kruger, Wirtz, & Miller, 2005)

1. Apply Distribution

• prepare throughout the term.• concentrated review: final week• material learned most thoroughly and

efficiently by reviewing at regular intervals over time

• Final days: integration, synthesizing, summarizing, and reinforcing material

• if work is overwhelming, schedule what you can and gradually work in the rest.

2. Use Self-Testing

• “there are no strategies that work all of the time, for all students, in all classes” (Gurung, Weidert, & Jeske, 2010, p. 32)

• “metacognitive strategies such as self-testing” are effective (Gurung et al., p. 32).

3. Anticipate Test Form

• Ways in which a test “goes beyond the learned curriculum”

1. Concepts not covered explicitly in course

2.Question types not used in class

3. Known concepts tested in unfamiliar ways (Rubinstein, 2003)

Question 1

• If x = 0, then both columns = 0• If x is any positive integer, B > A• If x is any negative integer, B > A• If x is a fraction, A > B• Answer: 4 (cannot be determined)

Question 2

• Equation 1 = Equation 2 – 1• 3x + y = x + 2y – 1 (because 16 –

1 = 15)• Subtract one from the other:• 3x – x + y - 2y = -1• 2x – y = -1• -1 < 0 therefore Column B is

greater• Answer: 2

Question 3: 9 edges

Question 3: 12 edges

Question 3: 11 Edges

• Answer: 5 (I, II, and III)

Question 4

• 5:05 – 6:06 (61 minutes)• 12:12 – 1:01 (49 minutes)

• Answer: 3

Testbuster

• Have you ever seen questions quite like these before?

• Was the format off-putting?• Did you recognize that the

mathematical concepts were fairly elementary (i.e., Grade 10)?

Final Note:

• Testing & feedback• Delayed feedback (c. 20 min.)

works best