The Emily Note Taking Method

There were a lot of reasons for the rocky start to my college career, but looking back, my biggest issue was that I had no idea how to study. There is a huge difference between studying in high school and studying in college, and the biggest discrepancy is how dependent your success is on being able to read the textbook. 

In the beginning, I had no idea where to start. I thought there was no way I’d actually be expected to read and absorb that much information… I was wrong. Another problem I faced was that I was clueless about actually taking notes from the textbook. I would just highlight information I thought was important. News flash, it’s all important. Whether you’re an income freshman or a seasoned student looking to switch things up, allow me to introduce you to the “Emily Method of Note Taking.” Yes I totally named it after myself. Note-taking isn’t a one-size-fits-all process, but this is what has worked for me and worked well. I went from struggling in all of my classes to getting all A’s and B’s, and here’s how I did it. 

Textbooks can be intimidating. Have you seen them? They’re gigantic. The most important part of reading the material is breaking it down and organizing it; that’s what this method does best. While I can teach you how to read the text, I unfortunately can’t teach you how to read it faster. It’s important to set aside time throughout the week to get the reading done. As an accounting major enrolled in 15 credit hours, I spend about 20-26 hours a week reading my textbooks on average. Here’s how that breaks down: 3 hours for finance, 5-6 hours for tax, 5-6 hours for accounting, 6-9 hours for business law, and 1-2 for history. Depending on the week, I might spend more or less time reading. It’s a lot of time dedicated to learning, but such is the nature of college. 

Before Reading

I like to take my notes on Google Docs for the sake of time and organization. Before you begin reading, I would suggest opening your Google Drive and creating a folder for each class. Once you’ve created your folder, open your Google Doc. At the top of the page, write down the chapter number and title. I like to use the title style for the chapter number and the subtitle style for the chapter title. Next, write down the chapter learning objectives. These are important overarching themes that you’re going to see throughout the chapter and the concepts that exams and homework questions will be based on. 

Breaking Down the Information

The most important part of note-taking is breaking down the information and organizing it in a way that allows you to better understand and retain it. I like to use color coding highlights to do this.

Blue – headings and chapter titles

Yellow – subheadings

Pink – sub-subheadings

Green – vocabulary

Purple – examples and figures

Orange – equations

So what’s the point of highlighting? Color coding categories tells you what you’re looking at and allows you to find it quickly. Need to find a vocab word in section 3 subsection 4, sub-subsection 1? No problem! Just looking for blue, yellow, pink, and green. To be really specific, I use the fourth row of the highlight colors in Google Docs. I don’t like the pink and purple highlight colors so I add in my customized shades. If you’re curious I use the hex codes #ff9dc8 (pink) and #b595ff (purple). You don’t have to do this, I’m just very specific about my notes. 

What Should I Actually Write Down?

While every detail in the textbook is important, it would be pointless to just copy and paste the text into your notes. So how do you determine what to write down? Focus on the vocabulary. If there’s a highlighted vocabulary word, write down the definition provided by the text book and build from there. I like to use bullet points tabbed 1 times to be spaced further from the edge and stand out from my other general note bullet points so there’s a clear separation. Here you include additional details about the term. For example, if the term is “limited liability company” you might list details like “taxed using flow-through taxation” and “established using Articles of Organization” in the bullet points under the definition. 

In a situation where there is important information but no vocabulary, use a bullet point normally spaced to write down facts and details. This can be difficult because there’s so much information to digest. Try to summarize concepts in your own words and make sure you actually understand what you’re reading by repeating what you read back to yourself without looking at the text. 

Pay extra close attention to examples and graphics in the chapter. It may be tedious to read every word on the page but it’s crucial that you do so. Highlight figures and examples in purple so you know what they are and where to find them. I like to write down examples word for word to make sure I don’t miss anything. This is especially important in math heavy subjects. If figures are complicated, it’s alright to take a screenshot and put the whole thing in your notes. If you’re reading your textbook online and come across a video exercise at the end of a section, go through the exercise and write it down so you can look back on it later. These are usually a summary of the concepts you just read about so they’re a really good resource to cement your understanding 

The college course load can be overwhelming, it certainly was for me. Even now as a long time student sometimes my planner full of assignments and study sessions can be daunting. My best advice for you is to plan out your week and take it task by task. You’ll get the hang of it in no time!

Happy studying, lovely reader.

• #college
• #notes #organization