Although I dislike notetaking as a study method since it’s not very effective, I do like making my work look nice. Whenever I do past papers, make flashcards, or do practice questions, I try to make sure my revision looks pretty. It might not help me actually learn, but by making my work look good, it motivates me to study even more. If you want to incorporate active recall into your revision but still make it look good, this post might help you 🙂
Neatness
The first thing you’ll want to do is do your work neatly. I realise this sounds super obvious, but whether you’re doing a past paper or writing a practice essay, just make sure your handwriting is tidy. Of course, if you’re doing your work under timed conditions then don’t worry about this so much. Also, if you make any mistakes or have to cross anything out, use tippex or just cross it out once. Unfortunately, I’ve got first-hand experience with how terrible my work looks when I scribble over mistakes.
Split your page in half
If you’re studying a subject like maths, which requires you to do working and might lead to a lot of empty space, then you can fold your page in half. If you don’t want to fold your page, you can always draw a pencil line down the middle. Either way, you’ll have two columns to write in, which can make your work look more organised.
Headers
To add some colour into my work when I revise, I like to use highlighters for my main header. When I’m studying something with multiple units, I like to add in subheadings that also include colours, just to brighten up my work a little. I personally think that this is a really simple thing to do, but it does have a really nice effect on your work, making it look much more organised and colourful. It’ll also help you for when you need to look back at your work. To add some colour into my work when I revise, I like to use highlighters for my main header. When I’m studying something with multiple units, I like to add in subheadings that also include colours, just to brighten up my work a little. I personally think that this is a really simple thing to do, but it does have a really nice effect on your work, making it look much more organised and colourful. It’ll also help you for when you need to look back at your work. I know people like to do calligraphy for their headers, but I’m really bad at it 🙁 You can look at the picture above for some header ideas! Also, I that know people like to do calligraphy for their headers, but I’m really bad at it 🙁
Boxes and notes
For key concepts, definitions, and formulas, I like to draw boxes on the side. Not only does it ensure that I know the information, but they tend to be brightly coloured, which is very attention grabbing. If you want to capture key information, use highlighted boxes or post-its. It’s colourful, pretty, and functional!
Colour coding
Some people like to use different colours for definitions, formulas, key concepts and other parts of their work. Since I don’t often take notes, I don’t really colour code like that. What I prefer to do is assign each subject a colour, which I use for all the headers and highlighted sections. Personally, I feel like this makes my notebooks look much nicer later. For example, when doing maths practice papers, I’ll use a blue highlighter for the heading and blue pen to check my work.
Swap out your stationary
If you feel uncomfortable with buying new stationary, maybe skip this section, but I do have some simple swaps that might help you. If you’re using pencil to make your notes, switch to black pen. It looks much cleaner and simpler. If you want to add in some colour instead of highlighters, you can even use coloured pen for important words. While on the topic of highlighters, use pastel highlighters. If you don’t have pastel highlighters, then you can even use felt-tips. I just feel like the classic neon highlighter colours are very bright and hard on the eyes.
Bullet points
If you do have to make notes, make them brief! One of the best ways to do this is by using bullet points. To make your bullet points neater, make sure the lines match up to where the original text is. It’s hard to explain, so I’ve included an example. As well as this, to mix things up, you can use arrows instead of the classic dots for bullet points. A friend showed me this, and I feel like they add a little more fun to your notes 🙂
I know active recall methods don’t usually result in Pinterest-worthy notes, but I hope that some of these tips helped your work look a little nicer. Don’t forget to check out some of my other posts about incorporating active recall into your studying, since it might help you discover some new and effective study methods! If you’ve got any questions, you can leave a comment or ask me on my tumblr 🙂
