How To Take Notes From A Textbook - HACK MY STUDY

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Ever wonder how some students manage to get A's in their

classes without even showing up? This tutorial will show you how.
Hint: The smartest students typically spend less time reading their
textbooks than most.
Disclaimer: I am not advocating you skip all your classes.

How It's Done

In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to take effective notes
1000 pages of...Arnold Schwarzenegger
from your textbook. Successful students then study only from the
notes, which results in a greater understanding of the material and less time spent studying. It's a pretty enticing
concept, right?
This tutorial is broken down into three three parts:
1. The Process
2. An Example
3. Why This Works

The Process
Below is the three step process to creating effective study notes from a textbook. If you find the explanation of the
steps confusing, don't worry, I'll go through an example with you afterwards.

Step 1: Read
Read the first chapter as you normally would. Dont worry about memorizing concepts in detail. At this point youre
just trying to get a general sense of the content.

Step 2: Summarize
Read the chapter again, but this time summarize the main
concepts and strip out all the unnecessary information. You just
need to extract the key points from the book and write them down
as concisely as possible; do not write down the explanations
word-for-word. For each key point, track the page number next to
the header.

Step 3: List Key Words

Using the chapter summary from Step 2, create a list of key words.
Most key words are simply the names of the concepts, but some
Using this method, you can turn 10,000 words
key words may be sub-headers or important elements of the
into 250.
explanation. Every word in this list must have a purpose. Do not
worry about grammar or smoothness, just keep it as short and as concise as possible. No full sentences are
allowed. Only include key phrases and words that will help you remember the concepts.

An Example

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Read the full tutorial.

Step2 - 422 Words

The Chunking System - Theory
1. Order or patterns
We remember things much more easily if there is a pattern or order. Ex: Sentences that follow
correct grammatical rules are much easier than ones that dont.
2. Chunking
Our brains are adept at memorizing in chunks that are ideally about three to four units long.
This applies to digits (e.g. phone numbers), words (e.g. brand names) and phrases (e.g.
slogans)
3. Repetition
With enough repetition we can memorize anything.
The Chunking System - The Process
1. Determine the order (or pattern)
Ex: Categories, alphabetical & size
2. Determine the chunk size
Usually three to four units
3. Memorize the first chunk
~90% memorized is okay
4. Memorize the second chunk
5. Memorize the first two chunks together
6. Memorize the third chunk
7. Memorize the first three chunks together
8. Repeat
Note: You only have to memorize the individual chunk up to ~90%, because you'll be repeating them over
and over again as you combine them with later chunks.
For speeches you have to use variable size chunking. The size of each chunk will vary depending on
what you feel to be an appropriate size.
Sets
You must divide the content into "sets" and start from the beginning when you get to the next set.
Examples of common set sizes are: full paragraphs for speeches or 35 words for lists.
Why it works
In addition to quickly memorizing words, The Chunking System also has many additional advantages:
1. Easily pinpoint problem areas: Can easily see where you keep getting stuck.
2. Easily observe % of completion: If youre 50% through, youre 50% done.
3. Ensure older terms get more practice: With other methods, the older terms are often neglected
and forgotten.
4. Time efficient: There is no flipping of cards, no shuffling and reorganizing. All you have to do is
keep repeating and moving forward.
Additional methods
Visualization

Imagine vivid images and scenes of the

concept

Multiple
Interpretation
Approach

Repeat concept w/ different approaches

Use for particularly difficult
(e.g. draw it, converse about it, act it out,
concepts
etc.)

Use for descriptive ideas

Use for things that are difficult to

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Random
Repetition

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Flash cards

To test recall (before an exam)

How memory works

1. Create a strong memory: Chunking & Visualization
2. Create a well-connected memory: Multiple Interpretation Approach
3. Create a memory trigger: Mnemonic devices
Long-Term Memory
You must constantly review to retain in longer term memory, otherwise it will be quickly forgotten.

Step 3 - 53 Words
Efficient memorization (Chunking System) = order + chunking + repetition
Ideal chunk size = ~3, but sentences = variable chunking
Benefits: pinpoint problems, observe % completion, older = more practice, time efficient
Visualization vs. Multiple Interpretation Approach vs. Mnemonic Devices vs. Random Repetition
Strong memory vs. well-connected vs. trigger
Review to retain long-term

With this method, Ive managed to condense the tutorial from 2,500 words -> 422 words -> 53 words.

Why this works

Chapter Summary
Roughly 3/4 of any given textbook is repetition, context, examples, introductions or unnecessarily long
explanations. The chapter summary gets rid of all of that and allows you to spend your valuable time studying only
the information that matters.

Keyword List
Reading the keyword list is the fastest way of reviewing a chapter. If you have to review an old chapter, simply
read the key word list and see if you remember all the concepts clearly. If you don't, then go back and review that
concept in the chapter summary.

Efficiency
Most students spend 25% or more of their time just flipping pages and looking for stuff. By having everything in a
concise document, you can reduce that number significantly.
Pro Tip: If the chapter summary is written in a Word document, you can use the ctrl+f (find) function to quickly
search for terms.

Efficacy
By logically structuring your notes and reducing time wasted searching and referencing, this method will allow you
to spend half the time studying and get twice as much done.

What's Next?
Improve A Skill
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8 Comments

Annamarie

Hi there.
Do you recommend doing a whole chapter within one time span with this method, or would you
recommend doing a step a day?
Thanks

Tanveer

Thanks for this tutorial....

Vignesh

thanks for your tips....

Peeyush

It helped a lot. Thanx.

Sarah

this sounds like an efficient method, i sure hope it helps me with my three exams tomorrow

kirti bhushan

thanks for your website,now i can do my studies perfectly...thanks again..good job,sir

Inga

I had a supervisor who mentioned this method years ago to me. He said he never had to "study"
when he followed this way of taking and condensing his notes. Thank you for a thorough and
easy to follow tutorial on this method that I've hoped to come across for many years.

Akanksha

its good
thanxs shivangi

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