This document provides a step-by-step method for effectively studying notes to prepare for exams. The key steps include organizing notes into categories, highlighting important information in different colors, creating a review sheet to test yourself on each category, and repeatedly testing yourself on the material over multiple study sessions. It emphasizes active studying techniques like talking through the concepts aloud and testing yourself, rather than just re-reading notes. Group study is also recommended to reinforce learning through discussion. The goal is to fully understand and master all important concepts through this structured review process leading up to the exam.

2. DO YOU TAKE GOOD NOTES…
BUT STILL DO NOT DO AS WELL
AS YOU WOULD LIKE ON EXAMS ?
Perhaps you are just not studying and
learning from your notes effectively

3. 1. GIVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF TIME
2. BITE IT OFF IN SMALL CHUNKS
3. TAKE BREAKS
4. STUDY IN AN APPROPRIATE AREA WITH NO DISTRACTIONS
5. DO NOT TAKE NOTES IN COMPLETE SENTENCES
6. TAKE NOTES IN YOUR OWN WORDS (do not just copy from the textbook)
7. ORGANIZE YOUR NOTES
8. USE HIGHLIGHTERS (SPARINGLY—MORE ON THIS LATER)
9. DO NOT “CRAM”. WE WILL DISCUSS HOW TO PROPERLY “REVIEW” INSTEAD
10. TAKE NOTES ON YOUR NOTES (WE WILL SHOW YOU HOW EASY THIS IS)
11. STUDY WITH OTHERS WHO ARE WELL PREPARED
12. COME TO THE EXAM WELL RESTED AND CONFIDENT (this presentation is
designed to help you do this !)

4. Many students—read their notes over and over.
Often, what you are doing is merely “staring” at your notes.
…And going through the same ineffective step over and over !

5. This means that
you are…
You will do something with your notes that
requires “movement” and taking more steps

6. You have taken good notes—now what ???
GET ORGANIZED
1. Organize your notes: By chapter, date of lecture, etc.
2. Materials needed:
A. Various colored highlighters
B. Writing paper
C. Pencil

7. Step 1.
Determine at least four or five “categories” into which you can re-organize your notes
EXAMPLE: In “History” classes it might be
a. Dates
b. Names
c. Events
d. Vocabulary
e. Other
IMPORTANT: You should begin the following 2 or 3 days before any exam !

8. Step 2. HIGHLIGHT
Go through all of your notes highlighting all things you
find in each category
Do just one category at a time
IMPORTANT: Highlight only the date, the name the
vocabulary term, etc.
DO NOT HIGHLIGHT THE ACTUAL NOTES THAT
FOLLOW EACH OF THESE
Once you have gone through all of your notes highlighting one category –
Go back through your notes and repeat the process with each of the other
categories one at a time.
USE DIFFERENT COLORED HIGHLIGHTERS FOR EACH CATEGORY

10. Step 3.
On a blank sheet of paper—
Make five columns and label these with your category choices
(or the same number of columns for the number of categories you have selected)
Transfer each highlighted term or word to the appropriate column
Example:
DATES NAMES EVENTS VOCABULARY OTHER
1763 Jefferson Boston Tea Party mercantilism parliament
1765 Sam Adams Boston Massacre salutary neglect Continental Congress
1765 Washington Gaspee incident tarring/feathering
1766 Franklin Repeal of Stamp Act smuggling
1770 Lord Greenville Midnight ride committees of correspondence
1773 Paul Revere Lexington Battle Sons of Liberty

11. MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF YOUR
HIGHLIGHTED WORDS ARE
TRANFERRED INTO THE APPROPRIATE
COLUMN
You may end up generateing a list with dozens
of items in each category

12. Step 4.
Using just this sheet (put your actual notes aside)—go
through each term in each column and “test” yourself
You may find yourself talking out loud as you try to repeat everything you can remember about
each word
If you are satisfied (be very honest with yourself) that you completely understand everything there
is to know about a word, then lightly cross it out in pencil
If you are unsure about a word, then do not cross it out. These are the things you will go back and
review in your notes.
For example. You may discover that you have only crossed off 10% of the
words on your self-generated “Review Sheet”—Go on to the next step

13. DATES NAMES EVENTS VOCABULARY OTHER
1763 Jefferson Boston Tea Party mercantilism parliament
1765 Sam Adams Boston Massacre salutary neglect Continental Congress
1765 Washington Gaspee incident tarring/feathering Etc.
1766 Franklin Repeal of Stamp Act smuggling Etc.
1770 Lord Greenville Midnight ride committees of correspondence
1773 Paul Revere Lexington Battle Sons of Liberty
Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.
HINT: As you go over these items and think about what you need to know
about each one—TRY TO ANTICIPATE THE KINDS OF
QUESTIONS THE EXAM MAY ASK ABOUT EACH ONE.

14. Step 5.
Go back to your actual notes and re-study each word, term, concept, etc. on your “Review
Sheet” that you had not crossed off
Talk to yourself as you re-study each of these. Be honest with yourself that you thoroughly
understand each term before you go on to study the next one.

15. Step 6.
Go back to your review sheet (put your notes aside) and re-test yourself on all of the
items on your review sheet that you just studied.
Hint: Try waiting a few hours or even a day before you do
this. This will let you know how much you really retained from your study
of these items
Once again, cross off the items lightly in pencil if you are satisfied that you
thoroughly understand each one (be very honest with yourself).
How many have you been able to cross off this time?
How many do you still have to go back and study?

16. DATES NAMES EVENTS VOCABULARY OTHER
1763 Jefferson Boston Tea Party mercantilism parliament
1764 Sam Adams Boston Massacre salutary neglect Continental Congress
1766 Washington Gaspee incident tarring/feathering Etc.
1766 Franklin Repeal of Stamp Act smuggling Etc.
1770 Lord Greenville Midnight ride committees of correspondence
1773 Paul Revere Lexington Battle Sons of Liberty
Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.

17. Step 7.
Go back to your notes and re-study just those items you did not
cross off this time (Step 6)
Wait awhile and then go back to just your “Review Sheet” and test
yourself again, crossing off each item that you are now satisfied
that you have mastered.
Keep repeating this process until you have gotten to the point
where all of the items have been crossed off.

18. DATES NAMES EVENTS VOCABULARY OTHER
1763 Jefferson Boston Tea Party mercantilism parliament
1764 Sam Adams Boston Massacre salutary neglect Continental Congress
1766 Washington Gaspee incident tarring/feathering Etc.
1766 Franklin Repeal of Stamp Act smuggling Etc.
1770 Lord Greenville Midnight ride committees of correspondence
1773 Paul Revere Lexington Battle Sons of Liberty
Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.

19. Step 8.
Congratulations. You have now “studied actively”.
If you have completed all of these steps at least a day before the upcoming exam,
then the night before the exam you should go back and re-test yourself on every
item on your list. Hopefully you will be satisfied that you have mastered most of
them.
If there are a few that you have forgotten or are unsure of, then you will have
plenty of time to go over those again in your notes.
This is called a “review”.
It is much easier than “cramming” the night before.
You may even want to “review your entire list quickly the morning of the exam one
more time. Give yourself time to still look up a few of the items.

20. Go through all of the steps just described a day or two prior to the exam.
Get together with one or more students who have used the same method of
preparing for the exam.
Using just your lists, test each other on the items on your list (each student may have
things you do not have on your list. Discuss each item thoroughly. Refer back to your
notes as each of you gives your take on an item.
Each member of the group can add items to their lists that others may have.
You can also cross off items lightly on you lists as the group agrees that they have
mastered them.
BENEFITS OF GROUP STUDYING:
1. You have a better chance at not having missed something important.
2. You will be doing “oral” studying. Talking, listening and hearing others
discuss each item will help to “re-enforce” your knowledge and understanding.

21. --CAN BE USED FOR MOST COURSES
--CAN BE MODIFIED FOR THE
INDIVIDUAL STUDENT