Why and how to make notes for studying maths
Summary
TLDRThe transcript emphasizes the importance of effective note-taking for enhancing memory, especially for students progressing to higher academic levels. It suggests that merely reading notes is insufficient; instead, students should actively engage by writing their own notes, which aids in better retention. The speaker advocates for creating personalized notes from various resources, highlighting the significance of understanding and memorizing formulas as 'shortcuts' in mathematics. Additionally, the speaker recommends including key examples and solutions in notes, encouraging students to dissect and encode these examples to improve their understanding and memory.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Your memory is a hard worker and is important for managing multiple subjects.
- 📝 Making notes is the first step in helping your memory.
- 📚 Reading someone else's notes or textbook notes is better than nothing, but it's only a basic level of learning.
- ✍️ Copying notes by hand (not typing) is more effective than just reading because it engages active thinking.
- 🖋️ It's even better to create your own notes by gathering information from different sources like textbooks, worksheets, and friends.
- 🔢 For subjects like math, focusing on formulas (shortcuts) is important. They save time by providing quick solutions.
- 🔧 Formulas are essentially shortcuts that simplify complex calculations, making problem-solving faster.
- 📐 In math, learning how to use formulas, like the one for calculating a side in a triangle, can make problem-solving more efficient.
- 🎯 Key examples and tough questions should be included in your notes to help you practice and highlight important steps in solutions.
- 🎨 Use highlighting, colors, and other visual aids to emphasize important steps in your notes and make them easier to remember.
Q & A
What is the primary advice given for improving memory when studying?
-The primary advice is to make notes, as it helps in retaining information better than just reading notes or textbooks.
Why is it beneficial to take your own notes instead of reading someone else's?
-Taking your own notes is beneficial because it involves active engagement with the material, which helps in better understanding and remembering the content.
What is the significance of copying notes by hand rather than typing them?
-Copying notes by hand is suggested to be more effective because it engages the brain differently and can aid in memory retention.
How does creating your own notes from various resources enhance learning?
-Creating your own notes from different resources like textbooks, worksheets, and friends' notes allows for a more comprehensive understanding and personalized learning experience.
What role do formulas play in studying mathematics according to the script?
-Formulas are considered as shortcuts that simplify complex calculations and should be included in notes for quick reference and better understanding.
Why is it recommended to think of formulas as shortcuts rather than something to memorize?
-Thinking of formulas as shortcuts helps in understanding their utility and makes them easier to remember, as opposed to viewing them as tedious memorization tasks.
What is the importance of including key examples in your notes?
-Including key examples in your notes helps in understanding how to apply concepts and formulas to solve problems, making the learning process more practical and effective.
How can highlighting and underlining be useful when studying from your notes?
-Highlighting and underlining help in identifying and remembering important steps and concepts within solutions, making it easier to recall and apply them later.
What does the speaker suggest as a method to better understand and remember complex problems?
-The speaker suggests dissecting tough problems into steps, understanding the logic behind each step, and then encoding or marking these steps in your notes for better retention.
Why is it important to use different colors and markings when creating notes?
-Using different colors and markings can help in visually distinguishing between various types of information, such as steps in a solution or different concepts, thereby enhancing memory and comprehension.
What is the overall strategy for effective note-taking as described in the script?
-The overall strategy for effective note-taking involves actively engaging with the material by creating personalized notes, using them to understand and remember key concepts and formulas, and employing visual aids to enhance learning and recall.
Outlines
🧠 How Memory Works and the Importance of Note-taking
This section explains that memory is a 'hard worker' and highlights how students are required to remember various subjects and information. As students progress, the workload increases. To support memory, the speaker advises making notes as the first step to improving retention. Simply reading notes is a basic level of engagement, and a more effective method is actively copying and creating personalized notes using various resources.
✍️ Effective Note Creation
Here, the speaker elaborates on different approaches to note-taking. Reading others’ notes or textbooks is useful but not optimal. Copying notes by hand, rather than typing, engages the brain more effectively. The best method is to create your own notes by using multiple sources like textbooks, worksheets, and discussions with friends, allowing for a deeper understanding of the material.
📏 Understanding Formulas: They’re Just Shortcuts!
In this part, the speaker addresses the common struggle students face when memorizing formulas, particularly in subjects like math. Instead of viewing formulas as burdensome, students are encouraged to see them as shortcuts to solving complex problems more efficiently. For instance, working out a triangle’s side length can be a time-consuming task, but using the right formula simplifies the process significantly.
🔑 Key Examples and Problem-Solving Strategies
The final section stresses the importance of including key examples and challenging problems in notes. Students should analyze tough questions, break down solutions step by step, and highlight or color-code key steps. This active process of solving and understanding problems strengthens memory and comprehension, making it easier to recall during exams.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Memory
💡Notes
💡Subjects
💡Formulas
💡Key Examples
💡Encoding
💡Shortcuts
💡Active Learning
💡Resources
💡Highlighting
Highlights
Your memory is a hard worker and will have to handle more as you advance to senior students.
Making notes is the first important step to help your memory.
Reading someone else's notes or textbook notes is better than not reading at all, but it offers only basic benefits.
Copying notes by hand is better than just reading because it involves active engagement with the material.
Writing your own notes from different resources (textbooks, worksheets, friends) is the most effective strategy for remembering material.
For subjects like math, focus on memorizing key formulas, which are actually shortcuts to solve problems faster.
Formulas are not a burden to memorize but rather shortcuts that simplify solving problems, especially in math.
The formula mentioned (c = a + b - 2ac) helps to find the length of a side in a triangle, given two sides and an angle.
Writing your own notes helps you filter out what is important and express the material in your own words.
Key examples, particularly tough problems, are crucial in your notes as they help you apply the concepts.
Analyzing tough questions and breaking down their solutions into clear steps will improve understanding.
Highlighting different steps and concepts in a solution with colors and underlines reinforces memory.
Using visual aids like colors, underlining, and highlighting enhances the retention of important steps in problem-solving.
Memory retention improves when you actively encode information, such as by creating your own notes and using visual aids.
The key to mastering subjects like math is combining formulas, personal notes, and worked-out examples for deeper understanding.
Transcripts
now um your memory your memory uh is a
hard worker okay when you think about
all the different kinds of things you
have to remember people um subjects how
many subjects do you study at the same
time it just gets um bigger when you go
into next year you become senior
students so do your memory a favor okay
the first thing to do is to make notes
okay when it comes to notes
right there are a few different things
you can do with notes right and they're
not all the same for instance you can
read someone else's notes or the notes
from the textbook something like that
and um that's good that's better than
not reading at all okay but don't be
under any illusion that just reading
notes is going to get you all that much
benefit okay it's it's it's basic level
right what would be better than that is
to actually take your notes and copy
them out because that's you getting your
pen not don't type it okay it's not the
same and actually try to take what you
got and think about what's important
okay and copy some of that down putting
your own words so on but what's better
than better than copying better again is
to actually create your own notes get a
few different kinds of resources right
different textbooks different worksheets
different friends right and then put
together your own notes that's what I
mean by not just any notes okay um the
kinds of things you want to
include um for maths right you want to
think about formulas okay now I know we
hate formulas because it's like oh it's
so impossible to remember like honestly
who can remember that c = a + b - 2 a c
seriously anyone okay now well yeah I
just did but you know I've been teaching
this for years now the way I think about
formulas is rather than thinking man
it's a pain to memorize
formulas a better name for
formulas is really
shortcuts that's what they are okay
because you know what this is for is for
working out the length of a side in a
triangle given the other two sides and
an angle okay now you can do that from
scratch without a formula and it will
take you forever right but someone who's
done the work to think about a shortcut
that will just get you there in one line
okay so that's how I think about those
um now in your notes you've got your
formulas shortcuts okay one other thing
that's really useful for you is to have
some key
examples okay find some tough questions
find the ones you know you struggle with
okay and then think about okay how did
they do that how did the textbook put
out a solution right you know you write
out your solution it's going to be this
many lines okay and then you don't just
have this solution there you highlight
Parts you're like okay this is step one
I had to do this okay here's another
step down here right that represents
something different how do I remember
that okay encode it highlight underline
use colors all those kinds of things
will help okay
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