#122 Importance of Taking Notes

There are a variety of different methods that an individual might use to study for a particular examination, interview, or other similar purpose, but one of the most common and certainly one of the most useful methods is taking notes. To many individuals, note taking often seems like nothing more than a boring, monotonous task, but an individual that is able to take notes effectively will often find that his or her knowledge of the particular subject that he or she is studying and his or her exam scores will benefit from the notes that the individual takes. This is because note taking not only helps the individual remember the material, but it also helps the individual identify key details of the material quickly without having to reread long passages or entire chapters. For example, an individual that is attempting to answer a question on a worksheet may not have to reread the entire chapter to find the answer to the question he or she is trying to answer if he or she can find the answer in his or her notes. Finding the answer in the individual's notes allows the individual to save a large amount of time that he or she would have wasted if he or she had to reread the entire chapter to find the answer. However, answering a particular question is not the only way that effective note taking can be useful to an individual that is attempting to study for an exam or interview.
In fact, there are a number of other study methods that rely heavily on effective note taking in order for those study methods to work in the way that they were intended. For example, a study group is usually not very effective if all of the members of the group know nothing about the topic that a particular chapter covers. If all of the members of the group do not know the material, the entire study group will most likely spend the entire study session allowing each individual to read the chapter individually and the study group will not actually be able to study the material as a group. As a result, it is essential for each member of the group to take effective notes prior to studying the material so that each individual knows what the chapter covers and which parts of the chapter are most important.