Making Notes Is Holding You Back - Do This Instead

00:36:52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOj09nQmRAQ

Zusammenfassung

TLDRIn this video, Tom explores the practice of making notes for studying, discussing both its benefits and drawbacks. He highlights that while note-taking can help in collecting and organizing information, it can also be time-consuming and ineffective if done without thought. Tom encourages viewers to be intentional about their study methods and suggests alternatives to traditional note-taking, such as using external databases and focusing on understanding the material through active learning techniques. He emphasizes the importance of transferring knowledge to one's internal memory rather than relying solely on notes.

Mitbringsel

  • 📝 Making notes can help collect information.
  • 📚 Note-taking is often a default study method.
  • ⏳ Making notes can be time-consuming.
  • 🤔 Question the necessity of note-taking.
  • 💡 Use external databases for efficient studying.
  • 🔄 Focus on transferring knowledge to memory.
  • ✍️ Rephrase and reorganize information for better retention.
  • 🚫 Avoid copying information mindlessly.
  • 📖 Engage in active learning techniques.
  • 🔍 Update your knowledge regularly.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Tom introduces the video topic of note-making, sharing his passion and the time-consuming nature of the process. He outlines the video structure, which includes reasons for making notes, reasons against it, and alternative strategies.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The first section discusses the reasons people make notes, emphasizing the importance of collecting information from various resources for future learning and creating a quick reference guide to aid in studying complex subjects.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Tom highlights the benefits of note-making, such as enhancing engagement with the material, organizing thoughts, and improving memory retention through handwriting. He also begins to address the negative aspects of note-making.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    He critiques the default nature of note-making as a study method, encouraging viewers to be intentional about their study strategies rather than following what everyone else does without questioning its effectiveness.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Tom points out that advice from teachers and social media influences can lead to an uncritical acceptance of note-making as the best study method, urging viewers to consider alternative strategies that may be more effective.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    He discusses the downsides of note-making, including its time-consuming nature and the tendency to engage in shallow work rather than deep learning, which can lead to procrastination and ineffective study habits.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:36:52

    In the final section, Tom presents alternative strategies to note-making, such as using external databases for information collection and focusing on transferring knowledge to the internal database through active learning techniques, rather than creating traditional notes.

Mehr anzeigen

Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

  • Why do people make notes?

    People make notes to collect information, help with learning, and organize their thoughts.

  • What are some bad reasons for making notes?

    Some bad reasons include doing it by default, following teacher advice without questioning, and using it as a procrastination tool.

  • What is the alternative to making notes?

    The alternative is to use an external database for information and focus on transferring knowledge to your internal database through active learning.

  • How can I improve my study methods?

    Consider using spaced study sessions, rephrasing information, and engaging in active recall instead of traditional note-taking.

  • Is copying information effective for learning?

    No, simply copying information does not help retention; rephrasing and reorganizing is more effective.

  • What should I do instead of making notes?

    Use ready-made study guides, focus on understanding the material, and engage in active learning techniques.

  • How can I avoid procrastination while studying?

    Be cautious of using note-taking as a way to delay actual learning; focus on engaging with the material directly.

  • What is the external/internal database strategy?

    It involves using an external database for information and focusing on transferring that knowledge to your internal memory.

  • Why is it important to update my knowledge?

    Knowledge and guidelines change over time, so it's crucial to rely on the most current information.

  • How can I make my study sessions more effective?

    Incorporate spaced repetition, active recall, and focus on understanding rather than just note-taking.

Weitere Video-Zusammenfassungen anzeigen

Erhalten Sie sofortigen Zugang zu kostenlosen YouTube-Videozusammenfassungen, die von AI unterstützt werden!
Untertitel
en
Automatisches Blättern:
  • 00:00:00
    Hi, I'm Tom. Welcome back to the
  • 00:00:02
    channel. This video is going to be about
  • 00:00:05
    making notes. And making notes is
  • 00:00:07
    something I've been passionate about
  • 00:00:09
    since my GCES. Um, passionate about not
  • 00:00:13
    making notes. The reason being that I've
  • 00:00:17
    always found it to be very time
  • 00:00:19
    consuming. So, we're going to really
  • 00:00:21
    dive into detail in this video about why
  • 00:00:25
    people make notes.
  • 00:00:27
    um what the process of making notes
  • 00:00:28
    looks like for a lot of people uh why
  • 00:00:31
    you shouldn't make notes and then also
  • 00:00:33
    to give you a good alternative strategy
  • 00:00:36
    to making notes. So let's jump straight
  • 00:00:39
    into the video. So the first question,
  • 00:00:42
    the first thing we need to look at
  • 00:00:44
    is why do
  • 00:00:47
    people make
  • 00:00:52
    notes? And I think it's uh important to
  • 00:00:55
    start with why people are doing this in
  • 00:00:58
    the first place so that we can address
  • 00:01:01
    um address those reasons really. So the
  • 00:01:04
    first reason uh which is a good reason
  • 00:01:07
    is to collect information.
  • 00:01:17
    Whoops.
  • 00:01:19
    Information. So
  • 00:01:21
    essentially when you study a course like
  • 00:01:24
    medicine or even your A levels any type
  • 00:01:27
    kind of course engineering whatever it
  • 00:01:28
    is you need to collect together
  • 00:01:31
    information that you need to learn. Um
  • 00:01:34
    so there's loads of different resources
  • 00:01:36
    that you you have access to. You'll have
  • 00:01:39
    your lectures, your clinical placements,
  • 00:01:41
    textbooks, online resources, videos,
  • 00:01:44
    podcasts, whatever. There's so many
  • 00:01:47
    different resources you can use to study
  • 00:01:49
    from. And so the process of making notes
  • 00:01:53
    is essentially collecting together all
  • 00:01:56
    of that information in one place. And it
  • 00:01:59
    can either form kind of a quick
  • 00:02:01
    reference
  • 00:02:05
    uh and guide. So you've got a really
  • 00:02:09
    complicated textbook. It's full of
  • 00:02:11
    horrible uh long paragraphs that are
  • 00:02:14
    very detailed. You've got lecture
  • 00:02:16
    slides. You've got stuff you've picked
  • 00:02:18
    up on clinical placements. You've got
  • 00:02:20
    all these different resources. And
  • 00:02:22
    rather than keep going back to all of
  • 00:02:25
    them again and again, you put them in a
  • 00:02:27
    set of notes and that creates a quick
  • 00:02:29
    reference guide. It's a very good
  • 00:02:32
    reason. And the other thing is for
  • 00:02:34
    future
  • 00:02:38
    learning. So you are reading through a
  • 00:02:41
    textbook and you think I need to know
  • 00:02:43
    this information.
  • 00:02:44
    I'm going to create a set of notes to
  • 00:02:47
    put that information in a place where I
  • 00:02:49
    can learn from in the future which also
  • 00:02:52
    seems like a great
  • 00:02:53
    reason. Second reason for making notes
  • 00:02:57
    which I also think are is a good reason
  • 00:03:01
    is to help you
  • 00:03:07
    learn. So when you when you uh talk to
  • 00:03:11
    people and they and you ask them why do
  • 00:03:14
    you make notes and they say well this is
  • 00:03:16
    the best way that I've learned. I've
  • 00:03:18
    found that making notes helps me learn
  • 00:03:20
    the information that's why I do it. So
  • 00:03:23
    essentially the idea is that it
  • 00:03:26
    increases your
  • 00:03:29
    engagement. So you're reading through a
  • 00:03:32
    topic rather than just passively reading
  • 00:03:34
    through that topic. Making notes helps
  • 00:03:37
    you feel like you're engaging with the
  • 00:03:39
    material and um actually taking more of
  • 00:03:42
    it in. Second reason is to organize a
  • 00:03:50
    thoughts. So you read through a topic
  • 00:03:53
    and by making a set of notes on that
  • 00:03:55
    topic you feel like you've organized the
  • 00:03:58
    thoughts into your set of notes. Sounds
  • 00:04:00
    very good. And the third thing is by
  • 00:04:04
    actually
  • 00:04:06
    writing this improves the
  • 00:04:10
    memory. So by handwriting
  • 00:04:13
    information there's that has actually
  • 00:04:16
    been shown to improve how much you
  • 00:04:18
    retain that information. So again really
  • 00:04:22
    good reason for that. Now we're moving
  • 00:04:24
    on to some reasons that I think are uh
  • 00:04:28
    bad reasons for making notes. So if
  • 00:04:30
    these apply apply to you, have a good
  • 00:04:32
    think about uh whether it's sensible to
  • 00:04:35
    be doing
  • 00:04:36
    that. So reason number three is that
  • 00:04:39
    this is the
  • 00:04:41
    default study
  • 00:04:46
    method. So you might be saying to
  • 00:04:48
    yourself, well, um I just thought that's
  • 00:04:51
    how everybody studies. That's kind of
  • 00:04:53
    the the way to do it. So this is like
  • 00:04:56
    everyone
  • 00:04:59
    We'll put this in speech marks is doing
  • 00:05:03
    this. So, everybody makes notes. That's
  • 00:05:06
    just what you do. You go to the library,
  • 00:05:08
    you get your textbook out, and the way
  • 00:05:10
    that you study is you make notes from
  • 00:05:12
    that textbook or you bring up the
  • 00:05:13
    lecture slides, you make notes from the
  • 00:05:15
    lecture slides, or you go on a YouTube
  • 00:05:17
    video and you make notes of what's
  • 00:05:20
    written in that YouTube video. So, this
  • 00:05:22
    is kind of like the default thing. This
  • 00:05:24
    just what everybody does. If it's your
  • 00:05:27
    default strategy and you've not really
  • 00:05:29
    thought about it, that's uh um that's
  • 00:05:32
    what I want to kind of discourage with
  • 00:05:34
    these videos. I want to make you more
  • 00:05:36
    conscious and intentional with your
  • 00:05:39
    study strategies. So, you're not just,
  • 00:05:41
    you know, doing something by default.
  • 00:05:43
    You're actually thinking about it and
  • 00:05:45
    you have a reason for doing it. So if
  • 00:05:47
    anything you're doing is kind of the
  • 00:05:49
    default, you've not thought about it,
  • 00:05:52
    then I would encourage you to really
  • 00:05:54
    give some thought about why you're doing
  • 00:05:56
    it that way. Have you tested whether
  • 00:05:58
    that way actually works and would you be
  • 00:06:00
    better off doing it a different
  • 00:06:02
    way? Second thing here is it could be
  • 00:06:06
    advised by teachers.
  • 00:06:11
    So when you're in school or you're at
  • 00:06:13
    university and the teachers say you
  • 00:06:17
    should go and make notes on this topic
  • 00:06:19
    because that will help you learn it or
  • 00:06:22
    some something to that effect. What
  • 00:06:24
    you're doing is taking advice from the
  • 00:06:26
    teachers but that teacher may not have
  • 00:06:28
    actually thought about um whether that's
  • 00:06:32
    a good strategy. That might just be
  • 00:06:34
    their default. Maybe when they were at
  • 00:06:37
    university they were told to uh just
  • 00:06:39
    make notes on topics. They didn't think
  • 00:06:41
    about it. That's what they did. It got
  • 00:06:43
    them through their exams and now they're
  • 00:06:46
    passing on that advice to you without
  • 00:06:48
    really looking at, you know, whether
  • 00:06:49
    this is the best
  • 00:06:51
    strategy. And then the other one is uh
  • 00:06:56
    Instagram. So this is where you you you
  • 00:06:59
    know Susie Suz's always in the library.
  • 00:07:03
    She's got a beautiful set of notes. They
  • 00:07:05
    look stunning and you're always envious
  • 00:07:08
    of her notes. And then you turns out
  • 00:07:10
    Susie's on Instagram. You go on her
  • 00:07:13
    Instagram and the notes look absolutely
  • 00:07:15
    beautiful and she's got hundreds of
  • 00:07:17
    thousands of followers and she's got
  • 00:07:20
    sponsorship deals and she does really
  • 00:07:21
    well. In fact, she sells her notes and
  • 00:07:24
    she's uh now a millionaire and she
  • 00:07:26
    doesn't have to study medicine anymore.
  • 00:07:28
    So, you want to be like Susie? Well,
  • 00:07:31
    that's great. I mean um having beautiful
  • 00:07:34
    notes and putting them on Instagram and
  • 00:07:35
    becoming an influencer is is great but
  • 00:07:39
    that doesn't mean that um make making
  • 00:07:42
    notes is the optimal way to uh to
  • 00:07:45
    actually study for your exams and this
  • 00:07:46
    is what we're talking about here. So
  • 00:07:49
    let's move on to the next thing.
  • 00:07:53
    Number four reason, which is again not a
  • 00:07:57
    great reason, is you're not really sure
  • 00:08:01
    what
  • 00:08:04
    else you can
  • 00:08:08
    do. So, I've heard this reason before
  • 00:08:11
    say, "Why do you make notes?" And either
  • 00:08:13
    it's the default, um, you know, that's
  • 00:08:15
    what everybody does, or I'm not really
  • 00:08:18
    sure what else to do. What else would
  • 00:08:20
    you do? how how else can you learn if
  • 00:08:22
    you're not making notes? Um so therefore
  • 00:08:26
    making notes must be the way to do
  • 00:08:29
    it. And number five is that it's low
  • 00:08:37
    effort. And this isn't a this isn't a
  • 00:08:40
    reason that somebody would give
  • 00:08:42
    consciously. I don't think if I asked
  • 00:08:45
    them why' you do it, they wouldn't say
  • 00:08:47
    well it's easy. Um, or maybe they would,
  • 00:08:51
    but making notes is kind of shallow
  • 00:08:55
    work. And what I mean by that is you can
  • 00:08:58
    go to the library for 10 hours a day,
  • 00:09:01
    sit down at a desk, and just copy stuff
  • 00:09:04
    out from a textbook. And while you're
  • 00:09:06
    doing that, you can be flicking
  • 00:09:08
    backwards and forwards to your phone,
  • 00:09:09
    you can be chatting to other people. we
  • 00:09:11
    can go and get coffee and and everything
  • 00:09:13
    can be very nice and easy and chill
  • 00:09:15
    because you're just, you know, just
  • 00:09:17
    copying a textbook. It's quite
  • 00:09:18
    straightforward. This is shallow work
  • 00:09:22
    and it's easier than doing the hard work
  • 00:09:26
    of really trying to learn the
  • 00:09:29
    stuff. Um, making notes is kind of like
  • 00:09:32
    the easy option. It's much easier than
  • 00:09:35
    really trying to get your head around
  • 00:09:36
    top a topic, really trying to learn it,
  • 00:09:39
    testing yourself, free recall, all the
  • 00:09:43
    things I've been through in the other
  • 00:09:44
    videos. Um, making those is kind of an
  • 00:09:47
    easier strategy and you can do it for
  • 00:09:49
    longer. So if you're doing deep work, I
  • 00:09:52
    found that if you're doing deep work,
  • 00:09:54
    meaning really intense, cognitively
  • 00:09:56
    demanding tasks where you're really
  • 00:09:59
    trying to learn stuff, after maybe an
  • 00:10:02
    hour or up to 3 hours, your brain is
  • 00:10:06
    fried. So when I was revising for for my
  • 00:10:08
    finals, I found that I could almost just
  • 00:10:11
    max out at like four hours or 5 hours in
  • 00:10:14
    a day. Um, once I hit that level, my
  • 00:10:17
    brain was so tired from trying to
  • 00:10:19
    process and retain information, I just
  • 00:10:22
    couldn't do any more work. So, if you do
  • 00:10:25
    this deep work, people might find it so
  • 00:10:29
    challenging that after a few hours, they
  • 00:10:32
    can't do anything more for the day and
  • 00:10:34
    they think, "Oh, this is this is not a
  • 00:10:37
    good strategy because it's so tiring."
  • 00:10:39
    So they go to note takingaking which you
  • 00:10:41
    can do for 12 hours a day without much
  • 00:10:44
    effort because it's easy and they think
  • 00:10:47
    well 12 hours must be better than two
  • 00:10:49
    hours but in fact when it comes to
  • 00:10:51
    learning the two hours of deep intense
  • 00:10:53
    work is much better than the 12 hours of
  • 00:10:56
    kind of shallow easy
  • 00:10:58
    work. The other thing here is it's like
  • 00:11:01
    procrastinate
  • 00:11:07
    procrastinating. Sorry about if any of
  • 00:11:09
    my spellings are wrong on these videos.
  • 00:11:11
    I'm not I'm not good at
  • 00:11:13
    multitasking. So, there's this
  • 00:11:16
    procrastinating aspect of it. So,
  • 00:11:18
    there's always this I don't know if
  • 00:11:20
    you've ever said this to yourself. I'll
  • 00:11:23
    start
  • 00:11:27
    learning
  • 00:11:29
    after making notes.
  • 00:11:34
    So there's this idea that you'll finally
  • 00:11:37
    start learning the information after you
  • 00:11:40
    have your all your notes organized, set
  • 00:11:42
    up in in one place, you know,
  • 00:11:45
    um put on a shelf in a beautiful ring
  • 00:11:48
    binder colorcoded, labeled up,
  • 00:11:50
    highlighted, everything else, then
  • 00:11:53
    you'll start learning. The problem with
  • 00:11:55
    this is um of course that you never get
  • 00:11:58
    to that stage and you never start
  • 00:11:59
    learning. But be careful if you're kind
  • 00:12:02
    of putting off the hard work of actually
  • 00:12:04
    learning it and making notes as a kind
  • 00:12:08
    of excuse procrastinating activity to
  • 00:12:11
    put off the hard work. Be cautious about
  • 00:12:15
    that. All right, let's move on to the
  • 00:12:17
    next
  • 00:12:18
    thing which
  • 00:12:21
    is
  • 00:12:24
    reasons not to make notes.
  • 00:12:35
    Okay. Reason number one is that it's
  • 00:12:38
    time
  • 00:12:42
    conssuming. So making notes takes hours.
  • 00:12:50
    when it comes to to making notes uh and
  • 00:12:53
    transferring information from one place
  • 00:12:56
    to another that's going to take you
  • 00:12:59
    hours and hours and hours um putting
  • 00:13:02
    together your own resource from scratch
  • 00:13:05
    uh takes takes you forever. So for
  • 00:13:07
    example when I wrote the zero to finals
  • 00:13:10
    medicine book uh the first edition in
  • 00:13:15
    2018209 it took me 9 to 12 months of
  • 00:13:19
    really really intense hard work to put
  • 00:13:21
    together that book. Now, if you're
  • 00:13:23
    revising for
  • 00:13:25
    finals and you've got three months to
  • 00:13:28
    revise and your idea is to create
  • 00:13:31
    something equivalent where it's like a
  • 00:13:33
    set of notes that you can revise from
  • 00:13:35
    for finals, how are you going to squeeze
  • 00:13:38
    in what took me 9 or 12 months as
  • 00:13:41
    somebody who'd already learned that
  • 00:13:42
    information and was working as a doctor
  • 00:13:45
    at that point for a couple of years? How
  • 00:13:48
    are you going to squeeze that into this
  • 00:13:50
    three-month period and then have enough
  • 00:13:52
    time to do multiple repetitions of each
  • 00:13:54
    topic um before your exams? It's just
  • 00:13:58
    too labor
  • 00:14:00
    intensive. And the problem is you have
  • 00:14:03
    limited time.
  • 00:14:08
    whatever sort of course or exam you're
  • 00:14:11
    you're working
  • 00:14:14
    towards, you need to uh go through the
  • 00:14:18
    content of that course multiple times
  • 00:14:21
    leading up to the exam. And you may have
  • 00:14:23
    two, three, four months to to get all
  • 00:14:26
    that information together, then cover it
  • 00:14:28
    multiple times. And if you're going to
  • 00:14:30
    create a perfect set of notes that's,
  • 00:14:32
    you know, beautifully colorcoded and
  • 00:14:34
    everything else before then, plus go
  • 00:14:37
    through it multiple
  • 00:14:38
    times before your exam, um, you're
  • 00:14:42
    you're going to be in a difficult
  • 00:14:45
    position. I give you an example. When I
  • 00:14:47
    did my third semester of medical school,
  • 00:14:49
    which was the first semester of my
  • 00:14:51
    second year of medical school, I decided
  • 00:14:54
    to put as much effort into that semester
  • 00:14:57
    as I'd ever put into any exam or more in
  • 00:15:01
    fact. And my goal was to, you know, do
  • 00:15:04
    really well come top of the year and
  • 00:15:07
    really excel in that
  • 00:15:09
    semester. So, I put in more time to that
  • 00:15:12
    semester than any other semester and any
  • 00:15:14
    exam that I've done since. I was
  • 00:15:16
    literally doing 12 14hour days every day
  • 00:15:20
    for the whole semester and putting
  • 00:15:22
    together a beautiful set of mind maps.
  • 00:15:25
    So I was taking information from every
  • 00:15:27
    resource that I could think of from the
  • 00:15:29
    books, from the um from the tutorials,
  • 00:15:32
    from the PBL sessions, from the
  • 00:15:34
    lectures, from everywhere. And I was
  • 00:15:36
    putting it all together and creating
  • 00:15:38
    these beautiful mind maps. And I had
  • 00:15:40
    this massive folder of mind maps that
  • 00:15:42
    covered everything I could think of.
  • 00:15:45
    But the problem was I then didn't have
  • 00:15:48
    enough time to actually learn those mind
  • 00:15:50
    maps at the end. So I ran out of time
  • 00:15:53
    and I'll talk about this
  • 00:15:55
    uh this semester a couple of times as we
  • 00:15:59
    go through the other
  • 00:16:00
    reasons. Second reason is
  • 00:16:04
    copying doesn't
  • 00:16:09
    help. So let's illustrate what I mean
  • 00:16:12
    when I say just copying out notes. So
  • 00:16:15
    sitting in the library, you've got a
  • 00:16:18
    textbook that you're trying to learn
  • 00:16:20
    from. You're creating a set of notes and
  • 00:16:22
    then you've got your notepad which
  • 00:16:25
    you're going to put into a folder, keep
  • 00:16:27
    for later and study. So you you sit down
  • 00:16:32
    at the uh desk in the library, I open
  • 00:16:34
    the book. Let's say you're studying
  • 00:16:36
    sepsis. And what you do then is
  • 00:16:39
    literally almost wrote copy this. So
  • 00:16:43
    you're doing a topic on
  • 00:16:46
    sepsis, right? And then you're um
  • 00:16:50
    reading through this. Sepsis involves a
  • 00:16:52
    large immune response to an infection.
  • 00:16:55
    So you put
  • 00:16:58
    sepsis
  • 00:16:59
    large
  • 00:17:02
    immune
  • 00:17:04
    response to
  • 00:17:08
    infection. And then this
  • 00:17:11
    causes
  • 00:17:15
    causes
  • 00:17:17
    systemic
  • 00:17:22
    inflammation and
  • 00:17:25
    organ
  • 00:17:28
    dysfunction. So literally copying out
  • 00:17:31
    almost word for word from the textbook.
  • 00:17:34
    And then you put a nice colorful box
  • 00:17:36
    around
  • 00:17:37
    this and you highlight some important
  • 00:17:40
    words. So large immune response,
  • 00:17:44
    systemic inflammation, organ
  • 00:17:47
    dysfunction and you need to highlight of
  • 00:17:49
    course infection. So what you're doing
  • 00:17:53
    here is just making it look really nice
  • 00:17:55
    and
  • 00:17:56
    pretty. And then the next thing is you
  • 00:17:59
    move on to pathophysiology.
  • 00:18:02
    So the pathophysiology is macrofasages,
  • 00:18:04
    lymphosytes and mar
  • 00:18:07
    cells recognize pathogens and release
  • 00:18:09
    cytoines. So
  • 00:18:15
    macrofasages,
  • 00:18:19
    lymphosytes and m
  • 00:18:22
    cells. So they recognize pathogens and
  • 00:18:26
    release
  • 00:18:29
    cytoines such as interlucans and tumor
  • 00:18:32
    necrosis factor. So
  • 00:18:37
    interlucans and tumor necrosis
  • 00:18:47
    factor and to activate the immune
  • 00:18:56
    system. And then to make this look
  • 00:18:59
    pretty, you put a box around each one of
  • 00:19:06
    these. And
  • 00:19:08
    then these
  • 00:19:11
    here, what they're essentially doing is
  • 00:19:14
    just copying this out. And you can do
  • 00:19:16
    this for hours at a time because it's
  • 00:19:19
    not
  • 00:19:20
    particularly cognitively challenging.
  • 00:19:23
    And so at the end of 12 hours they have
  • 00:19:27
    uh you know a beautiful set of notes
  • 00:19:28
    that basically just represents the same
  • 00:19:30
    textbook that they used originally. This
  • 00:19:33
    is not a this is not a good way to learn
  • 00:19:36
    the
  • 00:19:37
    information. Copying doesn't help you
  • 00:19:40
    retain the information that well. There
  • 00:19:43
    is some good evidence that
  • 00:19:47
    rephrasing or reorganizing
  • 00:19:53
    is
  • 00:19:56
    better. So if you read through the whole
  • 00:19:59
    topic and so you read through the whole
  • 00:20:02
    of sepsis and then you try to reorganize
  • 00:20:05
    the idea and reexlain or reproduce the
  • 00:20:08
    idea but in your own words and your own
  • 00:20:11
    phrases, reorganizing it in some way or
  • 00:20:13
    using mind maps to kind of visually
  • 00:20:16
    structure what you've just read. That's
  • 00:20:19
    better um than just
  • 00:20:23
    copying. However, let's move on. So,
  • 00:20:26
    this is what I did. Um this is the
  • 00:20:29
    strategy I used when I did my third
  • 00:20:32
    semester of medical
  • 00:20:34
    school. So, number three is over
  • 00:20:42
    reliance or using it as a crutch.
  • 00:20:46
    So once you have those set of notes,
  • 00:20:50
    your brain then says, "Oh, I've got the
  • 00:20:52
    information there. I don't need to
  • 00:20:56
    retain it." Um, so essentially your
  • 00:21:00
    brain says, "This is not worth me
  • 00:21:03
    retaining because I know it's just in my
  • 00:21:05
    set of notes."
  • 00:21:07
    So, you might have this experience where
  • 00:21:09
    you're in your exam and a question comes
  • 00:21:12
    up and you
  • 00:21:13
    think it's in my
  • 00:21:18
    notes, but you don't have it retained in
  • 00:21:21
    your head. What really really matters is
  • 00:21:24
    how much information is retained in your
  • 00:21:26
    head. And the fourth reason
  • 00:21:30
    is that you don't know enough.
  • 00:21:34
    This is really
  • 00:21:40
    important and this may be even the most
  • 00:21:43
    important reason why you shouldn't make
  • 00:21:44
    notes. So when you create a set of notes
  • 00:21:48
    that you're planning to then use later
  • 00:21:50
    on. So you're going to use this set of
  • 00:21:52
    notes to revise from in preparation for
  • 00:21:54
    your exams. Let's say you're making that
  • 00:21:56
    notes the first time you come across
  • 00:21:58
    this material. The issue is you don't
  • 00:22:02
    have enough knowledge and understanding
  • 00:22:04
    at that point to create an optimal set
  • 00:22:07
    of notes. So when you go through that
  • 00:22:12
    content from your notes, you're learning
  • 00:22:14
    from the ignorant version of you. So
  • 00:22:18
    when I made my mind maps for uh medical
  • 00:22:21
    school in my third semester and I put I
  • 00:22:24
    I collected information from various
  • 00:22:27
    sources to make a mind map on say
  • 00:22:30
    Crohn's disease or say the um uh motor
  • 00:22:35
    neurons in the body because it was a
  • 00:22:37
    physiology uh
  • 00:22:39
    semester. I was putting down into my
  • 00:22:42
    mind maps my limited knowledge from my
  • 00:22:45
    first review of that topic. And so when
  • 00:22:48
    I went back to that mind map and tried
  • 00:22:50
    to learn it, what was I learning from? I
  • 00:22:53
    was learning from my ignorant self who
  • 00:22:56
    didn't know much about that topic.
  • 00:22:59
    So when you're trying to learn something
  • 00:23:03
    uh you need multiple
  • 00:23:08
    repetitions of that topic, right? So the
  • 00:23:11
    first time you learn something, your
  • 00:23:14
    understanding of it is a bit impaired.
  • 00:23:16
    It's not great. You might kind of
  • 00:23:18
    understand it a bit. Um this is a bit
  • 00:23:21
    like if you watch a movie, you'll kind
  • 00:23:24
    of understand the movie. You watch the
  • 00:23:25
    movie the second time and suddenly you
  • 00:23:28
    realize all these details that you
  • 00:23:30
    didn't get the first time. Then you
  • 00:23:32
    watch it say six months later and
  • 00:23:35
    suddenly there's a whole new meaning to
  • 00:23:36
    the movie where you think oh I
  • 00:23:39
    completely missed this this part of the
  • 00:23:41
    the movie and this is happening when you
  • 00:23:44
    go through content multiple times.
  • 00:23:47
    You'll read through a topic, you'll get
  • 00:23:49
    a general gist of it, but you might be a
  • 00:23:51
    bit confused on some aspects. And if you
  • 00:23:53
    put that down in a set of notes, and
  • 00:23:56
    then you try and learn from that set of
  • 00:23:57
    notes, you're learning from your first
  • 00:24:02
    impression of that topic. So when you
  • 00:24:05
    make some notes, you're
  • 00:24:08
    capturing your
  • 00:24:12
    current
  • 00:24:19
    understanding and therefore you're
  • 00:24:22
    limiting your potential. If you're
  • 00:24:24
    revising from your current
  • 00:24:27
    understanding, future you is never going
  • 00:24:30
    to get any better. So going back to the
  • 00:24:32
    original sources helps you to really
  • 00:24:34
    pick out even more detail. And this I've
  • 00:24:37
    seen over and over again with my uh own
  • 00:24:40
    learning over the course of A levels,
  • 00:24:43
    medical school, then post-graduate exams
  • 00:24:45
    and even now as a GP when I keep going
  • 00:24:48
    back through things, rewriting these
  • 00:24:50
    textbooks and so on, my level of
  • 00:24:52
    understanding is increasing with each
  • 00:24:55
    iteration. And so if I was just relying
  • 00:24:58
    on my original kind of impression, I
  • 00:25:01
    would never get any
  • 00:25:05
    better. At at the same time, everything
  • 00:25:07
    is
  • 00:25:08
    updating. So um things are
  • 00:25:16
    changing. You're I I've heard people
  • 00:25:18
    even as sort of GP trainee saying, I'm
  • 00:25:21
    going back to my medical school notes.
  • 00:25:23
    Well, by the by the time you've been a
  • 00:25:25
    GP trainee from medical school, the
  • 00:25:27
    guidelines have changed, research is
  • 00:25:28
    updated, treatments are updated, things
  • 00:25:31
    that used to be recommended and no
  • 00:25:33
    longer recommended and so on. So, um,
  • 00:25:36
    you want the most up-to-date information
  • 00:25:39
    and you don't want to rely on your older
  • 00:25:41
    self who didn't understand it as well as
  • 00:25:43
    you do now. So, the next question is
  • 00:25:46
    what to do instead. So,
  • 00:25:48
    what to do instead?
  • 00:25:54
    So, you don't want to make notes. You're
  • 00:25:55
    kind of convinced that making notes is
  • 00:25:58
    not a great use of time and is not going
  • 00:26:00
    to
  • 00:26:01
    um help you improve your exam scores.
  • 00:26:05
    So, there's two good reasons in my
  • 00:26:08
    opinion to to make notes. One is to
  • 00:26:10
    collect
  • 00:26:12
    in
  • 00:26:14
    sorry, one is to
  • 00:26:17
    collect information.
  • 00:26:20
    So what you're doing is you've got all
  • 00:26:22
    these different sources of information.
  • 00:26:24
    You've got your lectures, books, and so
  • 00:26:26
    on. And you want to get all that
  • 00:26:29
    information in one place. Um, and you
  • 00:26:32
    want to have it there so that when you
  • 00:26:34
    come to do space repetitions, learning
  • 00:26:36
    that topic, you've got a source of
  • 00:26:39
    information to come back to and learn
  • 00:26:42
    from. This is a good reason because
  • 00:26:44
    there are so many different sources. But
  • 00:26:47
    um like we've said there's all these
  • 00:26:50
    limitations. So what I would do here is
  • 00:26:53
    suggest this external
  • 00:26:57
    uh
  • 00:27:00
    internal database strategy.
  • 00:27:06
    So your external database this is your
  • 00:27:10
    kind of uh
  • 00:27:12
    notes and the external database is one
  • 00:27:15
    source of information where you keep all
  • 00:27:17
    the things that you need to learn and
  • 00:27:19
    the internal database is what you
  • 00:27:23
    know and this is actually what's
  • 00:27:26
    retained in your in your brain in your
  • 00:27:28
    memory. So the external database is
  • 00:27:31
    where you put stuff externally so that
  • 00:27:33
    you can learn from it. And the internal
  • 00:27:36
    database is what you have in your mind.
  • 00:27:39
    And your goal is to transfer things from
  • 00:27:42
    the external database to the internal
  • 00:27:44
    database. And you want to create an
  • 00:27:46
    external database as quickly and rapidly
  • 00:27:48
    as possible.
  • 00:27:50
    The difference between this and
  • 00:27:52
    traditional note takingaking is that
  • 00:27:54
    people think that the note takingaking
  • 00:27:57
    which is kind of creating the external
  • 00:27:59
    database is the actual activity itself.
  • 00:28:02
    But in this uh
  • 00:28:05
    strategy this process is the activity
  • 00:28:08
    transferring it from the external to the
  • 00:28:10
    internal database. So you want to
  • 00:28:14
    um create an external database as
  • 00:28:16
    quickly as possible. So what you do is
  • 00:28:19
    start with a readymade
  • 00:28:26
    uh set of
  • 00:28:30
    notes study
  • 00:28:34
    guide. And maybe years ago this wasn't
  • 00:28:38
    as practical, but nowadays there's such
  • 00:28:40
    good resources available that you don't
  • 00:28:42
    need to make your own notes. You can
  • 00:28:43
    just get started straight away. So an
  • 00:28:47
    perfect example of this is the zero
  • 00:28:49
    tofinals medicine book. This is designed
  • 00:28:52
    um to cover medicine and there's also a
  • 00:28:54
    surgery, pediatrics, obsini book and so
  • 00:28:56
    on. But if you're doing A levels,
  • 00:28:59
    there's great study guides available. If
  • 00:29:01
    you're doing GCSEs, same thing. If
  • 00:29:03
    you're studying um any other topic,
  • 00:29:06
    there will be an equivalent to this.
  • 00:29:09
    And you can also um if you don't have
  • 00:29:13
    anything available nowadays you've got
  • 00:29:16
    things like grock or chat GPT where you
  • 00:29:18
    can say make me a set of notes on this
  • 00:29:21
    topic. It'll make it and you can just
  • 00:29:24
    print that out, put it in a folder and
  • 00:29:26
    you're good to go. That's an external
  • 00:29:28
    database. Obviously, you want to double
  • 00:29:30
    check some of the key facts because
  • 00:29:31
    sometimes they're a bit unreliable, but
  • 00:29:34
    they're probably 90% reliable and
  • 00:29:36
    they're going to
  • 00:29:37
    be more often than not um as reliable as
  • 00:29:42
    you would be if you were making the
  • 00:29:43
    notes yourself. So, yeah. So, you want
  • 00:29:46
    something like this. So, it's got uh key
  • 00:29:51
    information in a really succinct format.
  • 00:29:54
    So every time you come to learn that
  • 00:29:56
    topic, you can go straight to this and
  • 00:29:59
    start learning from it. Um, and then
  • 00:30:02
    let's say
  • 00:30:04
    you're where did my pen go? Let's say
  • 00:30:07
    you're you come across some kind of
  • 00:30:10
    information here that you want to add
  • 00:30:14
    in. Um and so let's say you're going to
  • 00:30:18
    a lecture and your lecture is about uh
  • 00:30:23
    liver
  • 00:30:24
    cerosis, right? So you're covering liver
  • 00:30:27
    cerosis for your lecture and liver
  • 00:30:29
    cerosis is already a topic in your
  • 00:30:31
    external
  • 00:30:33
    database. But so ideally before your
  • 00:30:36
    lecture you study this so that during
  • 00:30:39
    the lecture you have that information at
  • 00:30:42
    the front of your mind ready to go. So
  • 00:30:44
    ready to um you know incorporate the new
  • 00:30:48
    information from the le lecture into
  • 00:30:50
    your existing understanding of the
  • 00:30:55
    topic. And then during the lecture if
  • 00:30:58
    you find that they go through some kind
  • 00:31:00
    of detail that's really important that
  • 00:31:04
    you know is missing from your existing
  • 00:31:06
    external database you can add in the
  • 00:31:10
    detail. just put it in here as a as a
  • 00:31:14
    very succinct detail that um you know in
  • 00:31:18
    the white space that you can then learn
  • 00:31:21
    from
  • 00:31:22
    later. And this way you're not starting
  • 00:31:24
    from scratch. You're not creating
  • 00:31:25
    anything. You've already got an existing
  • 00:31:28
    external database, but you're adding
  • 00:31:29
    small details. And worst case scenario,
  • 00:31:32
    if you need quite a lot of information
  • 00:31:34
    to add, you can just put a page in with
  • 00:31:37
    your additional scribbles, but very very
  • 00:31:40
    succinct. Don't put too much information
  • 00:31:43
    because with your external database, you
  • 00:31:45
    want to be able to study it. You don't
  • 00:31:46
    want to be overwhelmed by it that
  • 00:31:48
    there's just too much information
  • 00:31:50
    there. So, that's the external
  • 00:31:53
    uh internal database strategy. So,
  • 00:31:56
    you're starting with an external
  • 00:31:58
    database. you're adding details as you
  • 00:32:01
    need to and then you're um then you're
  • 00:32:05
    learning from those
  • 00:32:07
    details repeatedly doing repeated study
  • 00:32:10
    sessions. So let's uh add that here. So
  • 00:32:13
    you start with a readym made set of
  • 00:32:15
    notes, add details
  • 00:32:20
    uh as
  • 00:32:23
    needed. And the other benefit to reading
  • 00:32:26
    through it before you you go into a
  • 00:32:28
    lecture as well as helping you
  • 00:32:30
    understand the lecture better and
  • 00:32:32
    incorporate the new information means
  • 00:32:34
    that you don't have to take notes in
  • 00:32:36
    that
  • 00:32:36
    lecture. And um so you're not spending
  • 00:32:40
    the whole lecture just kind of
  • 00:32:41
    frantically trying to write down
  • 00:32:43
    everything that you're going to need to
  • 00:32:44
    know for later. You can really focus on
  • 00:32:47
    absorbing the information and just add
  • 00:32:49
    in the details when you need to. And
  • 00:32:52
    then the fourth thing is spaced
  • 00:32:56
    uh study
  • 00:33:00
    sessions in order to transfer it to your
  • 00:33:05
    internal database.
  • 00:33:07
    So that's the external internal database
  • 00:33:10
    method which solves this problem of
  • 00:33:13
    collecting together information by kind
  • 00:33:16
    of rapidly collecting information and
  • 00:33:18
    then transfer and focusing on
  • 00:33:21
    transferring it to your internal
  • 00:33:22
    database which is what's in your memory.
  • 00:33:25
    So the next question is or the next good
  • 00:33:28
    reason for making notes is uh to help
  • 00:33:33
    you with
  • 00:33:37
    learning. So this is actually the
  • 00:33:39
    process of um creating your internal
  • 00:33:42
    database. people think that but the
  • 00:33:44
    process of taking information from a
  • 00:33:47
    textbook and putting it in your own
  • 00:33:48
    notes helps you to you what you're doing
  • 00:33:52
    when you're doing that is actually
  • 00:33:53
    transferring it into your
  • 00:33:56
    mind. Um so importantly this is only
  • 00:34:01
    beneficial
  • 00:34:03
    if only if you're
  • 00:34:08
    rephrasing slash reorganizing
  • 00:34:17
    slashteing. So if you're taking that
  • 00:34:19
    information, you're reading the whole
  • 00:34:20
    topic, not like the example I showed
  • 00:34:22
    you, but reading the whole of sepsis and
  • 00:34:25
    then reorganizing that information in a
  • 00:34:28
    novel way that can help you learn. But a
  • 00:34:32
    better way, in my opinion, is not to
  • 00:34:35
    make notes. You're not creating a set of
  • 00:34:37
    notes. What you're doing is taking your
  • 00:34:39
    external database and you're studying it
  • 00:34:43
    in a way that transfers it straight to
  • 00:34:46
    your internal database. And you if you
  • 00:34:49
    want to know how to do this, go to my
  • 00:34:51
    video on read and
  • 00:34:55
    recall. So this is the strategy for
  • 00:34:58
    taking information from the page or from
  • 00:35:00
    your external database and transferring
  • 00:35:02
    it to your internal database. You're not
  • 00:35:05
    making
  • 00:35:09
    notes, but you can be writing things
  • 00:35:14
    down or
  • 00:35:18
    rephrasing or
  • 00:35:21
    teaching. So, what do I mean by this?
  • 00:35:24
    Well, you're going through your external
  • 00:35:25
    database or the textbook or whatever
  • 00:35:27
    you're using to study and instead of
  • 00:35:30
    making notes, what you're doing is
  • 00:35:31
    jotting things down, reorganizing
  • 00:35:35
    ideas. You can do free recall or
  • 00:35:38
    explaining it to somebody else as a way
  • 00:35:40
    to learn. But then at the end of the
  • 00:35:42
    study session, instead of having a set
  • 00:35:44
    of notes that you're keeping for future
  • 00:35:47
    revision, you've got a set of scribbles
  • 00:35:49
    and ideas that you then throw away and
  • 00:35:52
    you get rid of them. And so you're
  • 00:35:55
    getting the benefit of um you know, note
  • 00:35:58
    takingaking for learning, but you're not
  • 00:36:02
    taking for keeping the notes. You're
  • 00:36:04
    just doing it for learning. And so
  • 00:36:06
    you're not precious. They don't have to
  • 00:36:07
    look pretty. They're not um you know
  • 00:36:09
    going on Instagram. They're just
  • 00:36:11
    scribbles that help you while you're
  • 00:36:13
    making them to learn, but you're getting
  • 00:36:16
    rid of them. And then the next time
  • 00:36:17
    you'll go back to your external database
  • 00:36:19
    and do it that way. So, that's the end
  • 00:36:21
    of the video. We've been through why
  • 00:36:24
    people make notes, why you shouldn't
  • 00:36:27
    make notes, and the solution uh to to
  • 00:36:31
    making notes, the alternative to making
  • 00:36:33
    notes. Hopefully, you found that video
  • 00:36:35
    helpful. Um, do leave me a comment
  • 00:36:37
    below. Um, if you have any further
  • 00:36:40
    questions or any ideas or you disagree
  • 00:36:42
    with what I'm saying or you have another
  • 00:36:44
    reason for making notes, I'd love to
  • 00:36:46
    hear about it. and I'll see you in the
  • 00:36:49
    next video which will be
Tags
  • note-taking
  • study strategies
  • active learning
  • information retention
  • external database
  • internal database
  • procrastination
  • effective studying
  • learning techniques
  • education