Lectures and note-taking.

Attending the lectures is the first step if you want to understand what is going on in your module. Even though the classes you have will go deeper into the subjects and help you acquire the knowledge you need, the lectures form the basis of it all. The backside of this is that some lectures are very hard to follow and/or take notes from.

I feel that even though most of what the lecturer is saying might already be on PowerPoint slides, it can be helpful to write down main points or important parts of the lecture anyway. If the lecturer in addition to the slides also uses the board to do diagrams or explanations it can be good to copy these as well.

I myself do not summarize or re-write my notes. I might however take new notes when practicing for a test, from the lecture slides or the book. But looking at the notes I’ve already taken might help if I do so along with the slides and/or the book.

I have experienced that the difference between lecturers are wide. Some are better prepared than others. Some have better lecture slides, or might explain it in a better way. It might be the words they use, how thorough they explain it, or just the way they talk - fast, slow, mumbling, clear. All in all, the times I have not attended a lecture, I might need to work harder on understanding the subject.