My first year in college I took so many interesting courses. However, as soon as both the fall and spring semesters came to an end, I threw away all the notes I had taken.
If I could go back in time, I would stop myself from literally throwing away all that knowledge. I had a moment this summer where I realized how important notes can be, wishing I could locate a notebook from my freshman year which held some significant and relative information.
Here are some reasons why you should take notes and why you should hold onto them, even after the class has ended.
It has been proven that physically taking notes with a pen and paper better helps retain what you are learning. Personally, my memory isn’t great so taking notes is a must for me. Every semester (now module) I buy a five subject notebook so that all my notes are organized and easily accessible. Having my notes available for each class is helpful when two of my classes are discussing similar ideas or theories. It's also great to have for the end of the class when writing a final paper or studying for an exam.
While paper notes are my preferred method, notes on either Google Docs, Word, or Pages can also be useful and easier to navigate when searching for a particular topic or idea. Either way, recording what you’re learning in each class is highly beneficial. You’re paying for the content, so you might as well hold onto that information forever.
My first semester at Whittier I took a photography class that covered Photoshop basics. This summer I was editing photos and I was trying to use a specific tool in Photoshop, but couldn’t remember the correct steps for its proper use. I wished I had held onto my notes as I had taken very detailed ones for that class, especially for Photoshop.
In the moment, it might seem like your notes are trivial and only specific to that one class, having little importance once it’s over. However, I guarantee that after that class ends and time passes by, you’ll wish you could look back and recall a specific thing you had learned in that course. This is especially true if your notes cover foundational knowledge that another class will build upon. If not, it’ll still be a neat thing to go through in fifty years when you’re reminiscing about your time in college.
