5 Simple Steps to Write Study Notes That Really Work

Why Is Writing Study Notes So Important?

If exam study is a sandwich, making study notes is the meat.

It’s the process of making study notes that enables students to not just shove a tonne of information into their brains in a short amount of time, but to really absorb, process and retain that information.

IMHO, the tactile act of writing (and to a lesser extent, typing) has this amazing power to consolidate information in our memories in a way that is hard to achieve just by reading alone, unless you’re in that very annoying 1% group of people who can read something once and make sense of it.

So, here are 5 simple steps your teen can follow to start writing study notes that will help them get the grades they are actually capable of.

Step 1: In Their Own Words

I don’t have many rules at all when it comes to making study notes, but one very important rule to follow, is that your teen writes (or types) their study notes in their own words.

Simply copying text straight from a book or a webpage won’t help them actually process and retain the information they need to understand.

In order to actually understand what they need to for exams, and remember it well enough to answer exam questions, your teen needs to have put all of that information through the filters of their own mind.

Investing time to actually understand their topics is one of the big things that separates the students who do consistently get good grades, and those who… well… don’t.

Step 2: Organised

Your teen’s entire exam study process will be a lot easier if they approach their study in an organised and systematic fashion, and the same goes for their study notes.

I suggest your teen organises their notes with headings and subheadings to ensure that they cover all of the topics they need to know for their exams. If they have already made Subject Maps, this will be easy.

For example, if your teen is studying Biology they might be studying the topics of ‘Micro-organisms’, ‘Cells and DNA’, and ‘Inheritance’. If your teen organises their study notes under headings like these, with subheadings for each subtopic underneath, all of that information will be much more likely to be organised in your teen’s mind, as well as on paper.

Having organised study notes is also really helpful for later on in the exam study process when your teen is reading over their notes and wants to find something (more on this below).

Here’s an extract of an example Subject Map, showing a subject’s main topics and subtopics.

Step 3: Use An Exercise Book

Even in this crazy screen-immersed world, I still suggest your teen writes at least some of their study notes in a simple ol’ exercise book. This achieves the simple but very important goal of keeping all of their notes in one easily accessible location!

By using one book per subject, all their study for each subject is in one place and super easy to find. They can use the book to write, draw diagrams, stick handouts in, and — no more loose bits of paper strewn all over the desk.

Step 4: Unique Style

Despite feeling deeply passionate about studying and the art of making study notes (yup, I said it), I don’t actually give a s*** exactly how your teen goes about making their study notes, or what they look like.

Those things are entirely up to your teen, and depend entirely on what works for THEM. Because what’s effective for me might not be as effective for your teen, and vice versa.

Your teen might want to write some study notes out in full sentences. But there might be some bits they write in short-hand, or maybe both!

Sometimes just using bullet points will be absolutely fine as well. And while I do have a real soft spot for using pen and paper, largely because I think there’s something about literally putting pen to paper that helps students better understand what they’re learning, if your teen prefers to type the majority of their study notes, that’s absolutely fine too.

The only thing that ultimately matters, and this is true for study notes and every aspect of studying, is that whatever your teen does works for them.

Not for me, not their friends, not some influencer, just them.

If your teen is just embarking on figuring out their Study System, it might take them a bit of trial and error to figure out what their study notes preferences are, and that’s all part of the learning process.

Step 5: The Re-Write

If your teen really wants to squeeze every last drop out of their study notes, they can do what I did during the last few days before an exam, and re-write the parts of their study notes that I call the key topics — the topics that are mostly likely to come up in the exam and be worth the most marks, as well as the topics they find more difficult to understand.

This is not as mad as it sounds.

I am not suggesting they painstakingly write everything out again. The re-write should be much quicker. I suggest they write a highly contracted version using some kind of shorthand. No more full sentences.

I used to use a type of short-hand to scribble out the super duper important topics. My re-written study notes wouldn’t have made sense to anyone but me! Again, it wasn’t what they looked like that was important, it was the process of making them.

This technique was incredibly effective for consolidating my understanding and improving my memory retention. Just like watching a movie for a second time, you pick up things you missed the first time and you start being able to quote lines!

My other suggestion is that once your teen has written their study notes, they keeping putting them to use. Studying notes are such an amazing resource — they contain everything your teen needs to know for their exam, written in their own personal style to ensure maximum understanding! It would be crazy to throw them away at this point!

I used to read over my study notes at the end of each day to keep consolidating what I was learning even more. It was also a great way to test my memory — what could I recall and discuss with a study buddy just from glancing at my study notes?

Smart Study is Simple Study

As you can see, all of these study tips for amazing study notes are actually incredibly simple.

Studying is not necessary easy — it requires hard work, determination, patience, grit — but it absolutely does not need to be complicated.

Any student is capable of putting these study techniques to use and smashing out some amazing study notes.

Thanks so much for reading.

Clare