Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Taking Notes/Mind Mapping

Hey everybody,

I'm in high school right now and my classes just started two weeks ago. I just had a question about taking notes, even though it has nothing to do with PRing directly.

When I'm taking notes for my classes, currently I am just making mind maps of the lectures as they are being said. Is this different from what it should be? Should I be taking notes in sentences first, and then making mind maps afterwards?

Also, when I make mind maps it's just simple. I have a central theme, encircled by a bubble, and then I have lines connecting to it with other ideas. These too are sometimes encircled. I add a few pictures and symbols here and there. Oh, and I use different colors. So I was wondering, what are some of your methods for mind mapping? I'd be interested in hearing them. Of course, I'm trying to get a copy of The Mind Map Book by Tony Buzan. This is supposed to be of a lot of help.

--ambiguousendeavors--

Getting the Tony Buzan book is a good idea, but I don't know how practical taking mind map notes in class actualy is.

I've tried doing the same at college level and found that a lecture just doesn't give you enough time to organize your thoughts enough to create a good Mind Map. And there are the times the teacher goes back on some matetrial he/she forgot at the begining!

I found that taking traditional notes works best in the classroom because it's not as structured as a Mind Map and you can take corrections along the way. I'd make the Mind Maps at home as I was reviewing my notes and had the time to organize the thoughts properly.

I liked doing it this way because it allowed me to actualy think about subject matter as I was putting the Mind Map together and it gave me time to make the mental imagery in my mind (remembering by associating the links of the Mind Map).

I always regreted not taking this whole technique to its full potential because I felt it could be a very powerful tool for learning.

Cheers!

I have used Mind Maps in lectures and found it much more useful than linear notes. I have taken very chaotic mindmaps, but mindmaps all the same, and then after class I have spent 5 to 30 minutes (depending on how many lectures I am working with at a time etc, how intricate the mind maps become... and how many pretty drawings I enjoy making!).

I never expect to have a perfect mindmap, and I have found that just having the darn thing, however chaotic it may be, inspires me to look over it and clean it up and put it in a form that I can "live" with.

I use this for technical lectures too, and supplement with linear type notes in bits and pieces if this is necessary.

My learning has been far more effective since I started working with mind maps (about six years ago).

Good luck!

Kosmik

Thanks a lot for the response. I think this helps me a lot for my classes. I like the idea that I should go over the notes/mindmaps after the class so that I can not only organize them again, but also review the material, therefore letting the material make a better impression on my mind. I was thinking of this before also. I also wanted to know the kinds of techniques you guys use for making mind maps. I mean they're supposed to be unique, aren't they?

Thanks!

Hello,

I've the Quantum Learning book, where there are described two note taking methods:

Notes taking and making
and Mind Mapping

You know what MMing is about. The first method proposes that you divide the sheet in two parts, the left for what the teacher/speaker says and the right for what you think/feel about what he's saying.

Personally I've used only MMing, just a few times and not for lectures. It scares me out a little to use it with live lectures, but I think it's just a question of getting used to it.

I'll try differents mixtures of MMing and Notes:TM and see what happens, with recorded documentals/lectures for now.

Anyone who has used these or other methods for note taking, please share your experiences and thoughts, they're valuable.

Thank you!

[This message has been edited by Rogin (edited September 10, 2003).]

Depending on how elaborate I want to get I will use just a pen - or full colour pencils. I will sometimes make a mini mind maps on various related/unrelated subjects dealt with by the lecturer, and then put them together when I have more of an idea of how they all relate to eachother. If the lecturer jumps around, or goes back to an earlier point, I find it much easier to go to the right place on a mind map rather than find insert bits in linear notes.

I have never tried dividing the paper and mapping what the lecturer says on one side and my own feelings and thoughts on the other. I haven't heard of it, and it doesn't sound useful to me. If I want to add feelings to my mind map, I simply add them!

I like using drawings and symbols when I can think of appropriate ones. Some subjects provide excellent fertilizer for drawings, others inspire very little.

In my current physics notes I first mapped out the curriculum divided into subjects with only the center being a colour drawing. Each different sub-subject got a separate little mindmap (electronics, thermodynamics, astro physics, post-quantum physics (a cocktail where they throw together relativity, photoelectric effect, x-rays, radiation, antiparticles, etc. etc.)

This gives me a good basis to keep relating what I read to what I am supposed to actually know - helps ask questions, too, in the activation process of photoreading.

Sometimes I make a mind map two or three times before I am happy with it. And when I am happy with it I can enjoy looking at it, which of course helps with revision! Also, redoing the mind map is also revision, and helps connect things and make associations.

I would suggest not being afraid to play around with it. Especially: Don't be afraid of getting it wrong - you can always try again. If you really are worried about missing bits of the lecture (I think you may discover that you actually have more time to pay attention to the lecture, not less), recording it would be a safety net.

Kosmik

Thanks Kosmik for the information! That's exactly what I'm doing with my mind maps right now: experimenting with them to find out the best thing for me. I'm thinking of making my maps color coded, so that I can use them on all of my classes. For example, everything circled in orange is an important person (history class). Or an important definition is colored in a particular color. But I'm still experimenting with it, just the same as I'm doing with PRing, since I'm fairly new to that too.
Once again, thanks for the response.
ambiguousendeavors

I am a first year University student and so far i only used mind maps (i had a practice before) and they work most greatly for lectures. Practice and will become easy.

Ivan, do you make the mind maps as the lecture is being said, or do you take linear notes first, and then make mind maps of them afterwards?

Thanks,
ambiguousendeavors

I create a mind map as the lecture goes using a black pen for words and i have about 5 markers utilized on my belt. Excellent technique which works for me. THe most superior aspect of this system is that at the end of the year people will cry and be bored looking at their linear notes, while i will have fun with my mind maps. :-)