LECTURES AND NOTE TAKING - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations

TUTOR Well, how are you both settling in?

CARLOS Fine.

KAREENA Yes, no problems - so far, anyway!

TUTOR Good. Remember that as your personal tutor I'm here to help you - if you do have any difficulties. Now as you know, lectures start on Monday. So I thought we'd look at a few ways of making the most of them, especially in terms of the notes you take. Let's begin by thinking about what you can do before you even go to the lecture. Any ideas?

KAREENA Make sure you're up to date with all the background reading, so you know plenty about the subject already?

TUTOR Yes, that's essential. The lecturer will assume you have that knowledge. Anything else, Carlos?

CARLOS Well, er, check what the topic's going to be. Of the lecture, that is.

TUTOR I'd go a bit further than that and consider what the content may be. Then you could ask yourself some questions that you want answering, and listen out for the relevant information during the lecture.

CARLOS OK.

TUTOR Now that brings us to the lecture itself, and the actual business of writing notes, but there's a lot to deal with there so we'll come back to that later. What I'd like to do for the moment is continue with the process of note taking, and move on to the next stage. Any suggestions for what that might be?

KAREENA When the lecture is over, you mean?

TUTOR Yes, once you're able to sit down somewhere quiet with your notes.

CARLOS Read them?

TUTOR More than that. You need to make sure they'll still make sense to you weeks, months later.

KAREENA Edit them?

TUTOR Yes, that's what's needed. It's well worth spending a few minutes on it. Any missing words, anything difficult to read, details you didn't have time to jot down: now is the time to do so, while everything's still fresh in your mind.

KAREENA Right. And after that, when's the best time to revise them?

TUTOR When do you think, Carlos?

CARLOS Um, I'd say just before the next lecture. In the same subject.

TUTOR Precisely. That's a vital time to look at them again, for obvious reasons. But it's definitely not the only time. When should you revise them again?

KAREENA A month later, maybe?

TUTOR Sooner, and much more often than that. I'd recommend you look at them again once a week. That's why it's so important they're complete and easy to follow.

TUTOR Right, let's go back to note-taking, and begin with the basics, before the lecture has even started. What should you do when you walk into the room?

CARLOS Get a good seat at the front, if you can. Where you can hear clearly and avoid distractions.

TUTOR Yes, though obviously others will have had the same idea, so it's as well to get there a bit early. So, when the lecture's under way and you're busy jotting things down, what should you try to ensure?

KAREENA That you're getting all the main points.

TUTOR And what if you don't catch something, something you know must be important?

KAREENA I'd leave a space, then I could check it later, perhaps by asking a question at the end, and fill it in afterwards.

TUTOR That's an excellent way to deal with it, yes. And there's something else I'd like to mention here, talking about going through notes afterwards: it's absolutely vital that what you write is legible, for one very good reason - it saves time. You'll waste many hours, during the course, if your revision is held up because you can't read what you've written. OK, what else can we do to make listening and note-taking more efficient?

KAREENA Well, I always listen out for signpost words.

CARLOS Sorry, what are they?

KAREENA They're the ones lecturers use to say where they're going. A bit like a signpost at a road junction, I suppose. Things like 'the first reason is ...', 'however ...', 'to sum up ...', and so on.

TUTOR Yes, they can tell you when something important is coming, and help you organize your notes, too.

TUTOR Is there anything else you can add, Carlos?

CARLOS Er ... there's something I think is very useful, but it's later: after the lecture has finished.

TUTOR That's fine. Go on.

CARLOS Well what I do is go through what I've written down, summing up the main points in a few words in the margin, on the left-hand side of the page. I try to use words that'll jog my memory, so that I can remember what everything's about when I look at them again.

TUTOR Yes, that can work very well. What some people do to review their notes is cover up their full notes from the lecture, maybe with a piece of paper or a card, and concentrate just on what they've put in the margin, trying to recall the details. Then they move the cover down a little and check whether they were right.

KAREENA Or you could put your main points on another piece of paper and clip them together. Instead of covering and uncovering, you just hold a page in each hand.

TUTOR Sure. It's down to personal preference, really. Everyone has their own learning style.