Many TEFL PCVs teach TOEFL and various Cambridge exam prep courses. Acquiring or honing academic skills such as taking notes is critical to the candidate’s success on exam day; moreover, these skills aid our students throughout their academic lives and often afterward on the job. This post is one of a series on academic skills.
Note-taking Strategies
- Focus on the main points and ideas. The main ideas can be recognized by the pause that the speaker makes before the essential information, by the repetition of some information, by the emphasis that is placed on certain points, by the use of word signals (three important elements, first, second, essential, and so on).
- Concentrate on important words like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (not on prepositions or determiners). Also, write down names (even if you don’t know how to spell them), dates, numbers, and so forth. Be aware that dates and numbers should be associated with events to allow you to answer Matching questions in the Listening section.
- Listen carefully to the questions both professors and students ask and the answers given (they often refer to ideas that are later tested through questions).
- In conversations identify the main problem or need, the solution, and the main participants in the conversation, as well as the speaker who is more important or whose problem or need is the topic of conversation.
- Be selective in your note-taking: do not write down everything you hear. Omit pronouns, prepositions, determiners, and auxiliary verbs.
- Identify how the information is organized: the stages of a process, major points to minor points, problems and solutions, causes and results, specific events in the life of a person, and so on.
- Write clearly, as the notes will be useless if you can’t read what you have written. As long as you can understand your notes, it doesn’t really matter how you write your notes. Use abbreviations and symbols. Some of these are:
| with – w/at – @times – xpage – pthrough – throthat is – i.e.
pages – pp |
regarding, about – redifference – diffabout, approximately – ~and so on – etcdepartment –deptcompare – cf
before – b/4 |
limited – ltdreference – refespecially – espopposed to – vsprobable – probnumber – #, no
because – b/c |
without – w/othough – thoimportant – imppossible – possfor example – e.g.or – / |
Other ideas for writing abbreviations:
- Use the first syllable of the word and drop the others: normal – nor
- Omit the vowels from the words: position –pstn, movement – mvmnt
- Use an apostrophe: beautiful – beau’l
Outlining and organizing your notes
Outline format example:
I. Pollution
A. Characteristics
- Detail 1
- Detail 2
- Detail 3
B. Causes
- Detail 1
- Detail 2
- Detail 3
C..Solutions
- Detail 1
- Detail 2
- Detail 3
Mind mapping (Bubble or Cluster Map): A mind map is an image diagram that represents semantic or other connections between major ideas. To use this method:
- Write the topic in the center bubble.
- Each key word/phrase should be in a separate bubble below.
- Lines connect to the main topic.
- Each key word may be subdivided into a number of details.
See our post on mind maps: http://teachlikeapcv.com/2015/03/04/writing-series-part-one-brainstorming-with-mind-maps/
Conversations: Make sure to identify clearly who says what. To do this, divide the note-taking page into two sides by drawing a vertical line in the middle and writing Man / Woman (or Woman 1 / Woman 2 or Man 1 / Man 2) at the top of each side. Then write down the information that corresponds to each speaker.
Adapted from: http://toefltactics.blogspot.com/2013/09/toefl-ibt-note-taking.html
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