I'll Take 3 Advil Please

It's that time of the semester when everything just seems to hit you at once; You know it's coming, yet you still feel like you just got run over by an 18-wheeler and there's no time for recovery. I'm currently balancing studying for my HTW318 Midterm, writing my WGS101 paper, thinking aboutstarting to study for my NSD225 test but haven't actually done so yet, finishing my Exam Experiment, joining a new club, and running for a position on the Executive Board of my sorority. I hope you feel my pain. While I've been using D's Do's and Due's to manage my time and tasks, and a Target Planner to give myself deadlines, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day to get everything done. Despite my heaping workload, I managed to squeeze in some time to try out a few new note taking strategies.

The first strategy I tried was the "Plug In Notes", where I left space in my notes to create visual aids and test questions. I applied this method to my Women and Gender Studies class, and unfortunately that wasn't the best decision. Since we are evaluated through papers in this course, creating test questions was a little bit difficult. However, I created a few questions that would force me to think in ways that would be helpful for writing my next paper. For example, one question I asked myself was, "Does advertising make you feel like you are sexualized or seen as just an object?"

As for the positives of this strategy, by creating a graphic organizer for each major subject of notes I was able to visually see the connections between the main points. Since I am a visual learner this helped me immensely and opened my eyes to a new way of taking notes.

The other note taking strategy I tested out this week was "1 Plus 3" in my Dynamics of Addiction class (the same course I am doing my Exam Experiment in). I have to say I really enjoyed this method and found it the most helpful and easy to use. The best part of it in my opinion was that everything you needed was in one place; your notes, key terms, graphic organizer, and test questions are all laid out among two pages in your notebook. In order to use this method I had to re-read my notes from class which forced me to review the material and identify which information I thought to be most important. Then, I was able to restructure the material into a format that was more compatible with my learning style, which is visually. By creating test questions I am once again reviewing the material, quizzing myself, and creating a study guide for my future test all at the same time.

Also, I found this strategy extremely helpful because by taking notes this way I was also simultaneously working on my Exam Experiment (the graphic organizers and test questions I created with "1 Plus 3" can also be used for my Study Sheets and Test Questions in the Exam Experiment) ! Now THAT, makes me happy.