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Make It Click – Note-Taking

Learn how to take better notes and make studying less stressful! 📓 This guide from the NWACC Library supports our Make It Click: Note-Taking in 30 workshop. Explore easy, proven note-taking strategies for college students.

Review & Quiz Yourself

Turn notes into memory with short, regular reviews.

  • The 24-hour rule: revisit new notes within a day; add margin questions and a 2-sentence summary.
  • Blur & recall: cover your notes and explain the concept out loud; uncover and fix gaps.
  • Weekly checklist: retitle notes, star must-know ideas, list confusions, draft 3 practice questions.

Tips for Long-Term Memory

  1. Rewrite or condense notes.

  2. Quiz yourself (with friends or AI).

  3. Connect notes to assignments or real-world examples.

Analyze with AI Tools

Use AI to process your own notes for summaries, practice questions, and glossaries.

  • ChatGPT / Copilot / Gemini — paste your notes and ask:
    • “Summarize these in 3 main points.”
    • “Create 5 quiz questions (with answers).”
    • “Make a glossary of key terms with one-sentence definitions.”
    • “Turn these into a Cornell-style summary.”
  • Flashcards — convert Q→A pairs into Quizlet or Anki.

Don’t upload assignments or ask AI to take notes for you. Use it to review what you already captured.

Pro tip: AI can quiz you, summarize, and highlight key terms—but you still need to show up, take your own notes, and follow your instructor’s policies.