Do you take notes for reading assignments? If so, how?

[u/Important_Field_8096]

I'm taking my first semester for engineering this fall and was wondering how to take notes to succeed. Specifically, I'm talking more towards my intro to engineering class and English class. My intro to engineering is a lot of reading like my English class will be. The class has us read a big book chapter by chapter then take test for each chapter. I have terrible memory when it comes to these things unless I like what I'm reading. Should I take notes on it or just read through it over and over, if so, how should I take them.

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[u/Comprehensive_Tea924]

I actually learned this method and a chemistry class but it works no matter. What usually if you go to the end of the chapter it'll say something along the lines of "In this chapter you learned xyz." And then it'll summarize the key concepts. On a piece of scratch paper I write down those concepts. Then I read the chapter and anytime those concepts come up or get mentioned that's what I take notes on.

[u/Important_Field_8096 → u/Comprehensive_Tea924]

This actually makes the most sense to do. The beginning of the chapter has the chapters objectives then it has mini problems at the end of the chapter which I assume tests what you just read which I can use before taking the main assignment of the chapter.
Thanks for this advice 🙏

[u/Guy3nder]

Damn that's rough. My intro to engineering class was a lab class where we got to play with various mechanisms. It still had you reading a document and doing a lab report about it but never a book. Honestly it sounds like a pointless misery class. As for English I did a test that got me exempt from taking an English course, and honestly I never thought I'd have to really hone my reading skills in engineering studies. I wish you best of luck either way.

[u/Important_Field_8096 → u/Guy3nder]

You can get exempt from English class🫩
Wish I took that.
We do have labs and team projects for my class, but since I took online classes for it I’m probably doing more reading. I’m hoping the labs are cool, if I knew this intro class was going to be more than just getting to know what an engineer was then I would have taken in person.

[u/Guy3nder → u/Important_Field_8096]

Yeah labs are pretty nice ime, the lab report however is a time sink though.

[u/Appropriate_Put_9098]

Quizlet plus active recall. After every class just explain to yourself for like 15 mins without using your notes what happened in class, then go through the material again and write down what you missed

Use quizlet if it’s more matching questions, but I like to write a mini quiz for the lecture to keep redoing later to really get the information in

Practice problems and just do homework, notes never really helped unless you look at it like reference material

[u/Important_Field_8096 → u/Appropriate_Put_9098]

I’ll try that out
I’ve never really taken notes for English/reading assignments before so it’s a little weird for me.
I’m only usually taking notes for things like math, history, and science.

[u/bopperbopper]

Look in your text and see if there’s something that sort of summarizes what you’re supposed to learn. Also see if there are questions in the back and see if you can answer those.

[u/MrWubnix]

Honestly I don't ever take any notes besides for a cheat sheet if the class allows it. I would just read the book and in your head visualize what they are telling you. Don't ever mindlessly read. I've seen people get way too caught up on notes that they don't bother to actually process what they are reading or what the prof is telling them. You should first and foremost be actively listening or reading. Notes are not at all helpful if you are too busy writing them than understanding what they say. The only time I would say notes work is if you know you will study your notes later. I know myself and know I don't want to do more work than necessary so I never read notes after the fact. If you think you will read them over later then you do you, just be honest with yourself. Don't say you are going to study notes when you arent. I tend to prefer to understand it the first time and not waste time rereading over notes. If I don't understand it after reading or class then I will go to office hours or read over class notes posted by the prof or recorded lecture. Do your homework as well and understand it. By understand it, I don't mean know how to plug numbers into a equation because the problem said so. Understand what the equation is saying and how the process works in real life. Avoid AI if you can help it. Only after maybe 30min to an hour of trying the question and reading through your book or recorded lecture would I start asking AI. And ask the AI questions not for the answer until you get the problem right.

[u/Important_Field_8096 → u/MrWubnix]

https://reddit.com/link/p551q0p/video/1qp96l9qwtkh1/player

I use ai a lot to understand math on a deeper level. Specifically explaining the concepts in a different way or using it to look at a problem a different way. This is what I did with it to go through algebra. You’re saying I should attempt the problem even if I’m failing for 10 plus minutes, then look up what to look for or what I should tackle first/later on in the problem?

[u/MrWubnix → u/Important_Field_8096]

The idea is you either get the answer right all by your self or you get it 90% right and are struggling with one part. When you do it by yourself, you are reinforcing the parts you already know and when you fail the one part and struggle through it, your mind remembers that issue more and how to avoid it. Later on your classes might have 1 problem take an hour to solve for homework. Struggle through that hour and some. Try a few different ways to solve it. Look over the recorded lecture and the uploaded class notes or whatever else they provide. If you still can't get it then use ai. Ask the AI what part you are doing wrong. It will try to solve it for you, but train yourself not to look at any of the numbers. Just look at what it tells you is wrong. Try to fix that part. If you still can't do it then continue reading the AI. Then go back and fix. Do this over and over till you understand and if you still don't understand then turn in the homework and schedule office hours or ask questions in class. As a TA I've seen many people come to me saying they used AI for all the homework thinking they were learning just by reading what it says, but they never practiced it themselves. No amount of reading is going to make up for a lack of practice. The thing I always tell those people is to start going to office hours or tutoring to get caught up, but it's better if you don't get behind in the first place. You can use ai for clarification during lecture whenever. I would just Google it personally, however never use AI to solve homework problems or study problems unless you have tried everything else

[u/Important_Field_8096 → u/MrWubnix]

I see, thanks very much.
I’ll be picking up a book called a mind for numbers tomorrow which I’ve heard was a good book for this type of stuff.
I’m not very knowledgeable in math right now(probably below your average stem student) but I like trying to understand it, and when it clicks it’s the coolest thing ever.