What's a good way to help taking faster notes?

Question

A lot of times in my AP U.S. history class, my teacher would lecture things for us to take notes on. But I could never catch up even though I try to shorten words and make initials for phrases like "the Market Revolution" would be "MR" or "Andrew Jackson" would be "AJ" or "J.". And usually, a lot of what he said would be on the test exactly, as he have talked about Asa Gray many times but I didn't take the notes so I have to researcher it up again for the assignment while I could have had notes to just fill in the description.
Is there any tips or little things to help me take notes faster because it's really killing me to do more work iwhen it could have been more simpler.

Answer 1

sometimes high school history teachers are just downright boring and monotonous, which it makes it incredibly difficult to take notes (believe me i relate!). i promise u that it will get better in college b/c the classes are more specific to one topic or era, but for now...
-think like a teacher. if you were teaching a class on andrew jackson, you would want to have some sort of outline to follow, like what you would do for an english paper. main topic, sub topics, ect. Knowing there is a form to the lecture can help you break up the important stuff from the backround stuff. (now this is of course assuming ur teacher isnt just rambling as was my experience)
-listen carefully for repetition. if the teacher quickly repeats a date twice or the name of a person or place twice that usually signifies its imporant.
-this may sound silly but, when you're listening to the lecture, try invision the people as actors in a movie, play out the scene in your head to make the topic come to life. It can really help you to remember what was said if you can visualize something.
-dont daydream too much, but imagine 'what would i have done?' asking yourself what decision maybe you would have made differently if you were Andrew Jackson or whoever, can engage your brain a little bit more into retaining the info, not just writing it down.

wow- that was a lot of writing right there. those things helped me when my hand cramped in class. good luck

Answer 2

As an 8th grade teacher, I usually try to provide my students with a "handout" or syllabus. This usually provides a guideline as to expectations, lectures, homework and classwork assignments. They have not learned 'yet' how to properly use them, but you might ask your teacher (if they don't already) to help students out by providing something of this nature. Many times, I will include chapter/page, etc so students will know from day to day what they should be reading and the 'names of people or concepts' that I will be covering. Additionally, you might ask your teacher if TAPE RECORDERS are appropriate in their classroom. On days that my students know they have to take notes - I will prepare an outline on the board (or the handout) and tell them they can bring a tape recorder if they wish to use it instead of trying to write down everything. Finally, I remember when I was in high school - we were taught 'shorthand'. You might go online and see what's out there for tips on taking notes and how to use abbreviations and shortcuts.

Answer 3

Plan A: Ask the teacher to slow down
Plan B: Take notes on the chapter first then when the teacher lectures write down the things you DON'T have. Chances are your teacher's covering thing from the book when he lectures so he might mention a few things you don't know.

P.S. Try and remember your notes as best you can so you don't have to flip through your notes to check if your wrote it down. It wastes so much more time.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Here are two suggestions.
1. Take a small recorder into the class and tape everything while you do the best you can with notes. When you start to study, fill in the rest of the notes by playing it again in those places you need. It will also let you hear the lecture twice and really help with you retention.

2. Take a laptop computer in and type the notes as you go. Most people can type lots faster than they can handwrite and it also lets you take shorthand notes on different lines that you can fill in later.

Here is information on Asa Gray

Answers.com

[b. Sauquoit, New York, November 18, 1810, d. Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 30, 1888]

A noted plant collector, Harvard University professor, and author of a series of botany textbooks, Gray helped found the study of plant geography. He noted similarities in plants of eastern Asia and eastern North America, theorizing that the plants were descendants of a single species that had lived across the Northern Hemisphere prior to the Ice Age.

Wikipedia
Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 - January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century.

He was instrumental in unifying the taxonomic knowledge of the plants of North America. Of Gray's many works on botany, the most popular was his Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, from New England to Wisconsin and South to Ohio and Pennsylvania Inclusive. This book, known simply as Gray's Manual, has gone through a number of editions with botanical illustrations by Isaac Sprague, and remains a standard in the field.

He was born in Sauquoit, New York in 1810, and became an M.D. in 1831 However, he relinquished medicine for botany, and in 1842 was appointed professor of natural history at Harvard University, a post he retained until 1873. Through the donation of an immense book and plant collection numbering in the thousands, he effectively created the botany department at Harvard; the Gray Herbarium is named after him.

He was a pupil of John Torrey, with whom he worked closely; they published the Flora of North America together, the first of many of Gray's works.

Corresponding with Charles Darwin, Gray was helpful in providing information for the development of Darwin's theory on The Origin of Species. He was a staunch supporter of Darwin in America, and collected together a number of his own writings to produce an influential book, Darwiniana. These essays argued for a conciliation between Darwinian evolution and the tenets of orthodox Protestant Christianity, at a time when many on both sides perceived the two as mutually exclusive.

The Asa Gray Award, the highest award of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, was established in 1984 to honor a living botanist for career achievements.

Infoplease
Gray, Asa, 1810–88, one of America's leading botanists and taxonomists, b. Oneida co., N.Y. As professor of natural history at Harvard from 1842, he was the teacher of many eminent botanists. Through his voluminous writings in periodicals and his well-known textbooks, he helped popularize the study of botany. With John Torrey he explored the W United States and helped to revise the taxonomic procedure of Linnaeus on the basis of a more natural classification. Gray's Manual of Botany was edited by M. L. Fernald (8th centennial ed. 1950); it is a standard reference work for the flora of the United States E of the Rocky Mts. He initiated the quarterly Gray Herbarium Card Index, listing all the vascular plants of the Western Hemisphere described since 1873. Among his many other writings, which are still highly valued, are Structural Botany (6th ed. 1879) and The Elements of Botany (1887).

Answer 6

I find I write fastest when I'm not trying to make it legible. So I take really sloppy notes that I can't really read easilyy, use abbreviations, etc. Then that night I copy them over neatly while its still fresh enough that I can remember what things mean.

Answer 7

Only take notes on the main ideas.