Taking Notes in Lectures

Taking notes in a lecture can be stressful, the lecturer talks too fast, too slow or they just use slides all sorts of things can change the way that you are able to take notes. So I though that I would write a post on taking notes in a lecture the way that I found has worked in many different situations. See my other College Series posts for other forms of note taking.

First of all I like to get to class early, this gives me time to read over my previous notes and get my pen and paper sorted out. By doing this I am more focused and not in a rush at the start of the lecture, therefore putting pressure on myself to keep up.

At the top of the page I write the date and the name and number of the lecture. During the lecture I tend to write as much information down as possible. As long as it is somewhat readable I really don't care what it looks like.

I underline the headings in the colour corresponding to the subject that the lecture is on. I mainly take these notes in a bullet point format, this allows me to jot down as much information as possible without having to worry about sentences.

After the lecture when I get home I rewrite my notes into my notebook. I add in details from the slides (if there are some) and add in diagrams.

After I have rewritten all my notes I will go through and highlight things like references to the textbook, people's names, important dates and key words and concepts. This means that I am inadvertently studying my notes by rewriting them, and it helps me to remember what was covered.

How do you take notes in a lecture? Do you like to rewrite them? Do you have any good study tip that you find help?

Back to College Organization

I started back for the second semester two weeks ago, so I thought that I would share with you the little tips and tricks that I use to stay organized and keep up to date with all the work. Also considering that a lot of you will be heading back to start a new year at college.

First of all I want to say that I live at home, so any moving of apartments and things are something that I really can't help you with...

I have adapted some of my earlier college organization ideas as I am always learning new ways to stay organized. I use my Assignment and Readings Printable that I talked about and shared here. I have changed the way that I use this and now I work out with my weekly planner, which I shared here which classes I will be studying that day. So on this printable I work out what tasks I want to get finished and cross them off as I go. So in someways you could say that it is type of to-do-list and well yeah it is.

I also write this list in my planner, colour-coded in the colour that represents that class. This is one thing that I cannot stress enough. It helps with working out what assignments are due when as well as simple things like which notebook to take to class. In my planner I also write the to-do's for today with little check-boxes. Similar to that of a bullet journal.

To class I always take with me the notebooks that I need for that class. My planner, my pencil case as well as the textbooks I need in case I have some spare time to do some study.

In lectures I always write my notes. I have shared a post on note-taking but I am going to be updating that soon and making it more specific for lectures. So look out for that soon.

When do you go back to College? Are there any little tips that help you stay organized at the start of the semester? How do you stay on track with study and assignments?

Budget Planner - Transaction Record Printable

A while ago I shared the Monthly Budget Sheet of my Budget Planner and it has had a lot of downloads and has been extremely popular, so today I thought that I would share with you another printable of my Budget Planner, the transaction record sheet.

I love to keep track of my finances and these printables are fun and colorful, meaning that I really look forward to writing up my budget and they make me want to.
 
One day I might open an Etsy shop and sell my printables, but for now I am happy with just sharing them with you guys for free so enjoy this free transaction record sheet.

Here you can download the transaction record sheet.

Below is a photo of what it looks like:

How do you manage your budget? Do you plan a budget or not?