By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. I came across an Instagram post the other day that said, “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you already have 6 blank notebooks at home.” At first, I laughed. But then I allowed my honest reaction to come …
Better Notes, Better Grades: How Good Note-Taking Changes Everything
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Getting good grades in school is about way more than being smart. In fact, being smart doesn’t have much to do with it. Students with the highest grades tend to have the most efficient systems for doing school. When your systems …
How to Use Dual Coding to Study (And Why You Should)
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Dual coding is a study strategy that can shorten how long you study and increase how much you learn. Dual coding works best when combined with other study methods, especially interleaved practice, the Feynman technique, the 3-2-1 Method, and any study …
3 Note-Taking Secrets of Straight-A Students
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. It’s no secret that top-performing students take notes. They take notes in class, they take notes when reading text, and they take notes while watching videos. Why? Because they know their notes serve an actual purpose (more on that in secret …
Annotating vs. Note-Taking: Differences, Tips, and When to Use Each
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Annotating and note-taking are both school skills (and work skills!) that allow you to get more from the text you’re reading. But like with any skill, you need to know how and when to use it. In this blog post, I …
Digital Notes vs. Paper Notes: The Pros and Cons
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. If you regularly take notes in class, you’re far ahead of students who don’t take notes in class. Even if you’re taking notes on a napkin, that puts you light years ahead of students who don’t take notes at all. So, …
5 Tips for Taking Digital Notes
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. If you’re looking for tips for taking digital notes, and you’re a student or a working professional, this blog post is for you. Note-taking is both an art and a science. In other words, the best note-taking systems incorporate a few …
How to Study Using Mind Mapping: A Study Method for Visual Learners
By Katie Azevedo M.Ed. In this blog post, I am going to teach you how to study using mind mapping. Mind mapping is a great strategy for brainstorming, taking notes, and studying. It’s a particularly helpful study method for visual learners, or students who prefer …
How to Take Notes That Are Easy to Study From
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. The entire point of taking notes is so that they become something useful to you. If you’re taking notes that are disorganized, unclear or incomplete, they’re not useful, which is a waste of your time. In this blog post, I teach …
What to highlight when annotating novels
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. There seems to be endless confusion around annotation techniques. “What do I highlight?” is one of the most common skill-based questions I’m asked, and so this blog post teaches you what to highlight when annotating novels. In a future blog post, …