How to take notes effectively?!

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gander123: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 50; Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:47 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times

by gander123 » Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:14 pm

My dear GMAT community,

Im currently preparing for the GMAT test in January 2013 in order to be admitted to a "better" European Business School. I'm aiming at 650-700 points. However, I frequently find myself left alone with some serious questions on the GMAT. So here's one of them:

Especially when I take the medium / hard questions on the GMAT Prep software, I really benefit from taking notes on a sheet of paper. However, I realized that you easily run out of time if you elaborate for too long on your paper.

So what do you think, how much note taking is advantageous ?! What harms your performance?

Awaiting your response.

Cheers from Germany !

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:14 pm

Kasia@EconomistGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 646; Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 7:08 amFollowed by: 143 members; Thanked: 322 times

by Kasia@EconomistGMAT » Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:28 pm

Taking notes is a very good idea and it definitely can save you a lot of time. What I would recommend is to compile your own code - to use symbols instead of phrases and to substitute words with their abbreviated versions.
Note-taking is definitely indispensable when dealing with RC and CR.

Kasia
Senior Instructor
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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:08 am

I agree with Kasia. Taking notes is a good idea.
However, rather than take our word for it, I think it's a good idea for students to convince themselves that this is a worthwhile strategy. Take a practice test without taking many note and see how you do.

If you're interested, I wrote an article for BTG about the advantages of slowing down (taking notes, etc.) when taking the GMAT: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/05/ ... owing-down

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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arun@crackverbal: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 234; Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:50 amFollowed by: 60 members; Location: Bangalore; Thanked: 47 times

by arun@crackverbal » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:34 pm

Here is a way in which you can see "note taking":

The brain can do one of 2 things: take in the data, and process that information. So when you are reading it you are really reading stuff like "In Verland last year there was a decrease in blah blah....HOWEVER, blah blah....... Therefore, blah blah". The brain is trying to take in the information so it can build a context around it. It is when you make a quick diagram or write a few words to summarize that you read it helps assimilate the information.

The analogy is chewing food (reading information), and digesting food (understanding the info).

Don't make it an elaborate exercise. You are just giving your brain time to "breathe" so it should be short of doodling.

Arun

Founder of CrackVerbal - India's fastest growing GMAT Prepration and MBA Admissions Consulting Company. https://gmat.crackverbal.com

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