Lecture Note Taking Skills At An Academy

[Lee2015]

How important are they?

After a recent conversation with my daughter, and as she heads into her senior year in high school, I have begun to think (worry) about how prepared she really is with respect to note taking and study skills in general. Don’t get me wrong, she does well in school and studies all the time. But I’ve recently read about how students are so unprepared for a college level course load—one of those being note taking skills. (Funny, just check my email and my daughter’s AP Biology teacher just emailed the entire class the PowerPoint over chapter 1 that they did this week). This is exactly my point. If the teachers in high school are providing the notes to the students via a PowerPoint, then aren’t they missing a valuable skill that they will most likely need in college?

So I need some help. I would like to get some input from current cadets as well as any parent that may have some insights.

I am curious to know if you (or your cadet) found it difficult or somewhat challenging to take notes at the academy/university level during your first year/semester of an academy/college. In other words, did your high school experience thoroughly prepare you for lecture note taking?

Will my daughter have difficulties at an academy (if she gets an appointment—fingers and toes crossed) without essential note taking skills? And, should we invest some time in a tutoring course that will teach note taking?

And while I’m asking, what other skills do you wish you had learned with regard to learning/studying before entering the academy/college? (i.e., understanding an expository text structure to increase learning outcomes)

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to read this and reply!

Cheers!

 

[hornetguy]

If she needs to learn how to take notes....she will learn quickly. I found that I was fine with my preparation. The instructors are really good about disseminating all the class material (like powerpoints) as well.

 

[PDub]

I agree...taking notes in class is extremely important. I never got tutoring, it was mostly learning the hard way and then finding out what my classmates did differently and then trying out what worked for me. I think that's the best way, finding out things that work for yourself. AP courses in highschool definitely helped me, simply because the material difficulty and quantity is very similar to that of a college level course, and I think if you can do reasonably well in 3+ AP courses at one time in high school you're probably good to go. The hardest part about the Academy is finding the motivation to actually do the work and not waste any time.

 

[raimius]

The value of note taking is very dependent on the class. For many of the core classes and/or techie classes, getting details on paper is extremely important. As a history major, I didn't take an excessive amount of notes. I took a LOT of notes in HS, but not as many at the academy. That may be because most history classes focus more on themes and "big picture" than very specific details (that physics formula requires perfection every time, where the history essay can use whichever facts you care to use as arguments).