How to make notes of content

[deleted421268]

For the 7 book subject review for KAPLAN should I just be taking notes of each section I read of each chapter on answering the learning goals which are given at beginning of each section and concept checks at end or take notes as I read of each important or informative thing of each section and chapter? Like separate notebook for each subject book where I write down notes as I read each section and chapter of each individual book. Should I focus my notes on just answering the learning goals of each section or take notes of every important and major information I come across as i read each section and chapter?

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[Zenabi90]

No experience with Kaplan, but I did this with my TBR chapters. I tried to whittle each chapter down to 1-3 pages of concise notes (regular handwriting). After doing practice questions and passages, go back and highlight whatever was tested on, and add anything that was missing. On break days, I would take an hour or two and rewrite them to be 2 pages, so that I could open my notebook flat and see the whole chapter all at once.

This may work well for you. This may also be a complete waste of time. Many will say don't worry about notes and use the practice passages to solidify your retention. I don't trust my brain enough to do that.

 

[deleted421268]

No experience with Kaplan, but I did this with my TBR chapters. I tried to whittle each chapter down to 1-3 pages of concise notes (regular handwriting). After doing practice questions and passages, go back and highlight whatever was tested on, and add anything that was missing.

when you mean 1 page do you mean like 1 page meaning front and back filled with notes? So yo did practice questions and passages after every chapter you read? Did you just do practice questions and passages related to that chapter question and passages only?

 

[Zenabi90]

Page meaning one side of a piece of paper. So 2 pages is front and back.

Yes. Whenever you do a chapter, you should do some practice problems to solidify the concepts and make sure you really understand them to the point where you can apply them. Checking your comprehension in this manner is very important. TBR makes this really easy by putting practice passages after each chapter. I am not familiar with how Kaplan lays out their materials these days, sorry.

Then once I finished TBR, do AAMC QBanks.

 

[deleted421268]

Also thus far I've been following the approach of taking notes in each section of each chapter and been averaging like if front of one page is one page and back of that same page is considered two pages than 4-10 pages per chapter dependent on the particular subject book rather than just taking notes on answering the learning goals of each section while I read and take not on those answers

 

[Zenabi90]

Also thus far I've been following the approach of taking notes in each section of each chapter and been averaging like if front of one page is one page and back of that same page is considered two pages than 4-10 pages per chapter dependent on the particular subject book rather than just taking notes on answering the learning goals of each section while I read and take not on those answers

This sentence is painful to read. Please don't write like this in your personal statement or secondaries. Not trying to be overly critical, but it's not effective communication.

4-10 pages of notes per chapter? That's like almost as long as the actual chapter (not counting pictures and in-text examples). It doesn't seem an efficient use of time or energy.

 

[deleted421268]

4-10 pages of notes per chapter? That's like almost as long as the actual chapter (not counting pictures and in-text examples). It doesn't seem an efficient use of time or energy.

The chapters are like 20-40 pages long depending on what specific subject book I am reading

 

[deleted421268]

Anyone who has used this book set and has had success with it, how do I go about note taking?

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @Fuarky -

To answer your question, I would lean towards taking notes on the learning goals and concept checks, because I generally think that less is more when it comes to note-taking, but I also think it's important to emphasize that note-taking is more about you than the textbook. MCAT materials generally provide a fair amount of guidance about what information is especially important -- for example, Kaplan has concept summaries at the end of each chapter that distill the essential material into bullet points. So for it to be worth note-taking, whatever your note-taking process is has to be more useful than just photocopying those pages, stapling them together, and studying from them, and note-taking has to be useful enough to be worth doing instead of more practice problems, etc. This is why I suggest minimal if any note-taking directly from the textbook.

If you do take notes, I'd suggest focusing more on stuff you don't know and less on stuff you do. Writing down stuff like "the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" and "amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which are the building blocks of biological life" is not a good way to spend time. Remember that your notes aren't going to be taking the MCAT -- you (& what's in your head) will. So the point of notes is to be a helpful intermediary in the process of getting information and insight from the page or screen into your head. Although everyone's learning style & time obligations are different, and of course you have to make a decision about what works best for you, my general suggestion would be to take very concise notes, if any, and to use the time you save for practice problems.

Hope this is helpful, & best of luck as you study!

 

[deleted421268]

Hi @Fuarky -

To answer your question, I would lean towards taking notes on the learning goals and concept checks, because I generally think that less is more when it comes to note-taking, but I also think it's important to emphasize that note-taking is more about you than the textbook. MCAT materials generally provide a fair amount of guidance about what information is especially important -- for example, Kaplan has concept summaries at the end of each chapter that distill the essential material into bullet points. So for it to be worth note-taking, whatever your note-taking process is has to be more useful than just photocopying those pages, stapling them together, and studying from them, and note-taking has to be useful enough to be worth doing instead of more practice problems, etc. This is why I suggest minimal if any note-taking directly from the textbook.

If you do take notes, I'd suggest focusing more on stuff you don't know and less on stuff you do. Writing down stuff like "the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" and "amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which are the building blocks of biological life" is not a good way to spend time. Remember that your notes aren't going to be taking the MCAT -- you (& what's in your head) will. So the point of notes is to be a helpful intermediary in the process of getting information and insight from the page or screen into your head. Although everyone's learning style & time obligations are different, and of course you have to make a decision about what works best for you, my general suggestion would be to take very concise notes, if any, and to use the time you save for practice problems.

Hope this is helpful, & best of luck as you study!

what if I take notes on stuff I don’t know but that stuff not apart of answering learning goals or part of concept summaries after each chapter. Should I still include those in my notes or just 100’percent focus on answering learning goals while I read each section?

 

[Fidelio17]

Anyone who has used this book set and has had success with it, how do I go about note taking?

Well, if you have 7 book set from Kaplan, I assume you also have the Kaplan quicksheets. I'd use those as a mental framework around which to organize all of the other info. I'd suggest picking a quicksheet section, jotting down the main points from it, & then finding the corresponding section in the kaplan books for more detail if you need it/haven't learned it yet. & even then, the bulleted chapter summaries are probably your best bet for concise review.

 

[deleted421268]

Well, if you have 7 book set from Kaplan, I assume you also have the Kaplan quicksheets. I'd use those as a mental framework around which to organize all of the other info. I'd suggest picking a quicksheet section, jotting down the main points from it, & then finding the corresponding section in the kaplan books for more detail if you need it/haven't learned it yet. & even then, the bulleted chapter summaries are probably your best bet for concise review.

So your saying generate notes based off the quicksheets? The quicksheets have like terms and notes on them themselves. What about solely taking notes as I read each section with main goal of answering all the learning goals as I read each section of each chapter?

 

[Fidelio17]

So your saying generate notes based off the quicksheets? The quicksheets have like terms and notes on them themselves. What about solely taking notes as I read each section with main goal of answering all the learning goals as I read each section of each chapter?

I think I was pretty explicit about what I'd suggest, but that's what would work for me. You do you.

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @Fuarky -

I think a recurring theme here is that there is not necessarily a single objectively "right" way to take notes that will be the same for everyone. Note-taking always involves a tradeoff between the time and energy you invest in it and its payoff in terms of helping to get knowledge into your head. Different people learn differently, have different levels of background knowledge, etc., so the specific details of what works best is something that you need to figure out for yourself. From having worked with many students over the years, I would give the general guidance that less is more for note-taking, but the details are going to be person-specific. One idea might be to just try a certain way of taking notes with the first chapter or two that you study and then to step back and assess how useful & time-effective it was, and then to make adjustments as seems right to you. I think there's a limited degree to which you can optimize this in advance, if that makes sense.