Read the following case studies that accompany Essential Study Skills, 5e, Chapter 9. These case studies appear only online; they are not available in your textbook. Type your response to each case study. After you complete this exercise, you can either PRINT your responses or EMAIL them to your instructor.

Richard is determined to do well in school "this time around." He tried school several years ago, but he didn't take the time to learn how to study or how to be prepared. In frustration, he quit. Richard is a strong reader, so he wasn't bothered by the fact that this time most of his classes have considerable amounts of reading. The method he decided would work best would be to take notes and to spend most of his time studying from the notes. He would copy as much of the information as he could straight from the textbook and then highlight the information in his notes that he thought was important. He would read and reread his notes numerous times. This took many hours since he would often take thirty or forty pages of notes for each chapter. Richard knew that you were a successful student, so he showed you his system and wanted your honest opinion. What suggestions would you give Richard?



Warren has never had problems taking notes from his textbooks. He likes the Cornell format because it less complicated than outlining and he is able to state ideas clearly. Warren decided to shorten the Cornell system by eliminating the steps he thought were unnecessary. He made notes as he read and then he highlighted the important information. He would look away from his notes and review silently. He would turn his notes over and write summaries to show how much he remembered. He started getting frustrated with his process because his summaries lacked accurate details and he had problems expressing the ideas clearly. Which steps should Warren learn to use more consistently and efficiently to reduce his frustration and bring better results?



Allison is very limited in her approaches to taking notes from her textbooks. She only uses the Cornell notetaking system for several reasons. First, if used textbooks are available, she buys those textbooks. Usually they are so marked up that she finds it impossible to do her own highlighting. The previous owners of the used books did not mark the books the way she would have, so she tries to ignore all the markings. Second, if the book is new, she wants to sell it back for a few dollars at the end of the term, so she refuses to make any kind of notes or markings in the book. Allison is finding that taking complete sets of Cornell notes for every textbook is very time consuming and identifying what should be in her notes is difficult. Allison needs to examine the situation more carefully and realistically. What would you recommend?



During a class discussion, Jamie said that she changes the form of note taking she uses depending on the complexity of the material she is reading. The teacher praised her methods for adjusting the forms of note taking used. Robert, with a puzzled look on his face, asked Jamie to explain what she meant. He thought there was only one way to take notes and that was to write them down on paper. Discuss the options that Jamie could explain to Robert.