THE ARTS OF NOTES MAKING FOR GATE

THE ARTS OF NOTES MAKING FOR GATE

Many Engineering students opt for GATE examination in final year or after their college. but some of them scare away due to the numerous subjects and humongous syllabus that is mandatory to read for clearing the exam. They find it difficult to learn all the subjects and most of all to revise them right before the exam. Of the various learning strategies that one must use to cover the syllabus, the one which is the easiest and most recommended is ‘Note Making’. Almost everybody makes Short notes for GATE, but only few are aware of the effective way of making notes.

You can make short notes for GATE both in the classroom as well as from the books that you read on your own. If you are taking coaching then it is necessary that you are always prepared with your stationary for the class, you are attentive in the class and most of all that you ask questions if you have a doubt. These three things will always help you in making good classroom notes which you can always supplement with what you read from the books at home. Also make sure to read the coaching study material to supplement your short notes for GATE and make them perfect and easy to revise.

If you are studying at home then most of your note making will be from the books you read. One thing of utmost importance is that you must choose your books and study material very carefully. There are hundreds of books available in the market and reading all may make you perfect in one particular subject, but GATE 2019 requires a JACK of all the subjects. So you must take GATE study tips from some seniors about the books available, but at the end choose the book which you think explains the concepts nicely and is in lined with your preparation. You can also join the GATEFORUM postal course, where we have for your convenience read all the books and picked up the best ways to explain and educate you about your subjects and compiled them into our course material, which perfectly suits your preparation.

Having chosen the books you require, now comes the ‘THE ART OF NOTE MAKING’. Writing short notes for GATE truly is an art; every person has a different way of writing notes, best suited to his/her understanding.

Key points to keep in mind during GATE preparation:

No notes on first reading: When you are reading any book for the first time, sit only with a pencil and just go through the book, read it like you read a novel, understanding and underlining all the important concepts and formulae you find. Don’t write short notes for GATE in the first reading as you first have to familiarize yourself with the book and then only you can understand what is important and what isn’t.

No copying:  During your GATE preparation the notes that you make should not be directly copied from the book, because then it loses the essence and you may end up just making a photocopy of the book you were reading. This is why you can’t make notes on the first reading. It is necessary that you first understand the concept and then try writing it in on your own words in approx half the number of words used in the books. This will provide you good and comprehensive short notes for GATE.

Colorful pens:  While there is no compulsion of using too many different types of pens, at least 2-3 shades must be used, as it would help you later in revising the topics. The brain is pictured in a way that it remembers better if things during your GATE preparation are segregated using some colors or special characteristics.
     

For Ex. :- From Monday Start with thermodynamics revision and make short notes in A4 papers with multi color pens to make it attractive and easy to revise. Write concepts, formulaes and short problems to support Depending on your speed, it will take a day or two or may be three to finish each subject along with short notes. Suppose you finish it by Wednesday. Start TOM (say) from thursday and finsih it similarly by friday (say). Take a break on saturday and jump back to thermo short notes and revise- this time you will need only 8–10 hrs to revise entire thermo. And trust me, this revision time will go on decreasing exponentially with time and number of revisions. Follow this approach to finsih short notes by one month and revise in between by taking one day break after every 3–4 days of short notes making.

Diagrams: While writing is the key to making short notes for GATE, making tree, cyclic, arrow, hierarchy diagrams or mind maps always act as a bonus to your notes. These diagrams help you understand the topics well and are easier to remember during the exam. With practice of making diagrams in notes one can also incorporate them during the ESE mains examination; this will save you time and also will appeal to the examiner.
   
Use loose sheets: We need to always remember that nothing is perfect, there is always scope of addition and improvement, so taking in mind the possibility that during our GATE preparation we may later read some new concept or some example we must always leave the scope of additions/changes. Loose sheets always come in handy during making short notes for GATE, as while revising you don’t have to pick up the entire notebook, but just the sheet of the particular topic you are revising.
   
Digital notes: Nowadays apps like evernote, google notes have made it even easier to make notes; you can also prepare notes on these platforms as they will be easily accessible and very handy. You can revise your notes whenever and wherever you want, during breakfast, lunch, during commutation, during any function. Whenever you feel you want to revise, you have everything on your phone. While digital notes are good for GATE preparation as the exam is conducted online.
    
Choose what suits you best: While every topper or aspirant you meet may have their unique note making style, it is necessary that you understand what suits you best, as in the end your notes are going to be your tool to succeed in the GATE 2019.

    Discipline: While making short notes for GATE make sure to follow a particular discipline and not make notes everywhere and anywhere. Your notes must be neatly and systematically placed in one particular file or notebook, arranged either subject wise, topic wise whatever suits you. Making notes haywire will create a problem for you. As during revision you will first have to spend time looking for all the notes and then revise.

      Read and reread: Just note making doesn’t end the task for you, it is extremely necessary that you read and reread your notes in order to know that you understand them and also so that you remember the facts and score a sixer on the exam’s pitch

     So before you begin your GATE preparation make sure you remember the important GATE study tips and incorporate them in your daily routine. Right now you may feel that note making is a tedious job and you can do without it. But in the long run it will be easier to revise some 5 pages of short notes than revising a book of 500 pages. So as they say ‘Short term pain will bring you long term gain’.

    We wish you all the best for your future endeavor and we would love to hear from you, you can write to us about your query or how you like the blog by commenting below.    We wish you all the best for your future endeavor and we would love to hear from you, you can write to us about your query or how you like the blog by commenting below.

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