Unfortunately, many students go at note-taking as if they were on a marathon to jot down each word that spews from their tutor. This results in stacks and stacks of books that make it hard to find the key ideas in various sections leave alone to highlight the connection between various concepts. 

This article will tackle various tips for note-taking for different types of learners. This guide will help you gain objectivity when taking your notes and ensure that you boost recall and comprehension. 

Creative note-taking ideas

The key to note-taking is to understand the medium through which you learn best. Some learners, for instance, learn better from listening to recordings while others depend on visual content.

Before settling on any particular approach for note taking, apply varied methods and take tests to determine the best method for you. Without further ado, let’s investigate various note-taking methods you could employ.

Note taking for visual learners

Visual learners are those who rely on pictorial presentations to grasp various concepts. Some characteristics of visual learners include:

• learns best with visual representations
• tend to visualize ideas to make meaning of ideas
• easily distracted when the lecture method is used without aids

Visual note-taking method: Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is an effective note-taking style for the visual learner. This approach relates the central idea to other concepts with branches, helping a learner make a mental image of various concepts. 

You may also couple this approach with color coding to highlight keywords, making it easier to recall a concept in totality. When possible, we recommend that a visual learner consult various videos and charts to find the best illustration of various topics. 

Note taking strategies for auditory learners

Auditory learners often do better with audio as opposed to written words or pictures. As such, this type of learner requires to have summaries of concepts in audio form to enhance their recall capacity.

For this, a learner may acquire a recording device, pay attention to the lecture, and revisit the recording later to make note of the essential content. If no audio is available on a topic, the auditory learner may record themselves reading out the summary of a lesson and easily come back to the summary during revision. 

Note taking tips for kinaesthetic learners

This category of learners employs a hands-on approach to learning and does better with interactive activities. Some of the tactile learner study tips include:

• act our various ideas to engage your motor memory and boost your recall of ideas via various physical cues
• Take breaks as you study to retain focus and reflect on various ideas in action
• Find hand-on activities that allow you to manipulate objects and see how various mechanisms work
• Draw graphs and flow charts of concepts to further cement your comprehension
• Take questions of a similar kind over and over again to find patterns in information/calculations and foster a better understanding
• Study with a partner to get a range of reactions and cues that will come in handy for better recall

Note taking tips for read-write learners

A read-write learner prefers information in print and can easily extract ideas from books as opposed to audio-visual media. Ideally, a read-write learner should employ the Cornell note-taking approach.

The Cornell approach ensures the neatness of your work by organizing your notes into three columns. The left column usually comprises keywords you have come across in a topic while the right column contains the notes taken during a class.

The bottom column provides a summary, allowing for more efficient revision. This approach also makes it easy to connect various topics by keywords, ensuring easier revision. 

Tips for efficient note-taking

• Practice active listening to determine the key points discussed within a lecture
• Revise notes with friends to fill in areas you might have missed
• Connect new ideas with prior knowledge to facilitate easier recall and to build on ideas
• Have a separate book for each subject to avoid confusion during revision
• Highlight keywords and phrases in your notes to ensure easier comprehension

Final take

Quality notes are essential for your revision, comprehension, and recall. We hope you have found these tips useful for determining your ideal note-taking style and working towards improving your note-taking approach. 

What is high school burnout?

High school burnout is a psychological syndrome characterized by lethargic energy toward any academic activity. Often, this negative mental reaction impairs your capacity to perform the simplest tasks and brings about a lack of motivation and endless exhaustion.

This state often dooms you to low academic engagement, resulting in a negative deviation of your scores. 

Symptoms of an academic burnout

Like all psychological conditions, mental burnout manifests itself gradually and might thus escape your notice until it becomes unbearable. Some of the tell-tale signs of academic burnout include:

1. Exhaustion

When suffering burnout in high school you may feel tired regardless of the amount of rest you get. This tiredness is best defined when addressing your academics as opposed to other activities. In extreme cases, you may suffer headaches or stress if you try to study. 

2. Feelings of hopelessness

The lack of motivation is a common sign of struggle. However, burnout may cause you to feel lethargic and hopeless for no apparent reason. When in this state, you tend to downplay your success and magnify your failures, reducing your productivity.

3. Neglecting responsibility

A common characteristic of academic burnout is the failure to commit to your obligations regardless of the repercussions. Often, you may find yourself prioritizing sleep and other activities at the expense of your classes and assignments.

You may also feel bored of activities that previously gave you joy, slowly detaching from your academic duties. 

How to prevent a high school burnout

Like all ailments, prevention is better than curing high school burnout. The tips in this section should come in handy to prevent exhaustion, ensuring optimal performance:

1. Engage in activities that bring you joy

Obsessing about academics has its downsides. After spending a substantial amount of time glued to books and ruminating on the negative scores, you may find yourself working so hard and thus, wearing your brain out.

We recommend that you find an activity to partake in daily, letting off steam and ensuring quality sleep. This will allow you to approach each day with fresh energy, ensuring a decent score without various negative repercussions.

2. Get help

Sometimes, you may have a ton of assignments that encroach on your free time. Instead of burying yourself in these assignments, consider delegating some portions to meet deadlines without compromising your mental well-being.  

For this, you could reach out to expert tutors or consult your friends to chip in on tasks such as editing and proofreading.

3. Set achievable goals

The pressure we exert on ourselves is often our undoing. When you set over-ambitious goals, you may feel the pressure to go an extra mile, often forfeiting essential breaks.

This may extend to surpassing your sleeping time, a downward spiral bound to result in mental burnout after a short duration. 

4. Avoid harsh comparisons

The key to life and education is in appreciating your performance and setting goals for yourself as opposed to gauging your success by the performance of peers. Comparisons may often set a fleeting target that you can barely achieve, fostering hopelessness regardless of your improvement.

We thus suggest that you set targets and celebrate your success when you meet your goals. Also, acknowledge your limits and seek the necessary help instead of beating yourself up over your failures. 

How to recover from high school burnout

There’s no need to lose hope if you are caught in a rut and can’t bring yourself to perform the smallest academic tasks. Here is how to deal with school burnout and restore your optimal performance. 

• Seek help

Since academic burnout is a psychological syndrome, it could help to see a therapist. These experts will diagnose your predicament and guide you towards recuperation. They may also help you determine if you are simply suffering from burnout or a more serious issue.

• Let go of some responsibilities

After pushing yourself so much, you may feel overwhelmed and incapable of the least commitments. To recover, cut off any obligations that are burdening you and leave yourself to handle the few activities you can do with ease.

You could start by identifying your sources of burnout and delegating these tasks until a time when you are motivated to resume the activities.

• Recognize your achievements

A life spent ruminating on failures is a life filled with misery. Celebrating your achievements helps you to appreciate your abilities and thus leads to healing over time. 

Final take

High school burnout is an overbearing syndrome many students suffer throughout their studies. We hope that this guide comes in handy to help you overcome and avoid mental exhaustion. Feel free to reach out to us for help if you have more activities that you can wrap your finger around. We will guide you towards academic success without compromising your mental wellness.