Studying can be pretty hard sometimes. We try and try to learn the material, yet we face so many hardships we start to doubt ourselves. At times it can get exhausting and make us even want to quit.
If you are in this situation, you are not alone. Every student, no matter what educational level, has doubted themselves and many have considered dropping out.
This comes as a result of the huge stress that is placed on us. But we can definitely make it somewhat easier. One way to do so is through writing by hand.
Yes, our review of handwriting finds it’s better for learning outcomes when you jog down your notes than typing. So, don’t hesitate to check our article and see what benefits of taking notes we have to present you.
Increases Your Focus
If you are typing your notes on a laptop, tablet, or phone, you’d be inclined to check your notifications, see who’s texted you, browse through Facebook or Instagram.
On the other hand, if you are doing handwritten notes, you’d be much more focused onto what you’re studying.
According to some research, writing to learn has better outcomes in term of how focused are the students on the material they are trying to learn.
Understand the Information Better
Also, if you are writing by hand, you’d see a much bigger improvement in your recollection rate.
Handwriting notes correlates with a better transfer of the information into your long-term memory. You’d be able to understand the information better and process it better, too. That way you’d not simply memorize the material but you’d get to understand it and will be able to practice it later.
So, as well as better concentration, handwriting notes also turns out to be better for understand, comprehension, and recollection.
Better Memory
But things don’t stop here. Putting our notes down on paper by hand has even more benefits. One of them is better memory. Yes, if you are handwriting your notes, you’d find it much easier to recall those notes and the information later. Especially on your exam.
Handwriting leads to an increase in the retention of information. This basically means your long-term memory will retain more parts of the stuff you’ve written down.
Improved Creativity
One big benefit of handwriting your notes during the class you’re in is that it boosts the creativity.
Why is that important, you might ask.
Well, creativity and inspiration together lead not only to more enjoyable learning session but also to enhanced ability to listen, understand, and remember the material presented.
Cognitive processes are improved and enhanced.
You’d be a bit slowed down by the handwriting element but this is in a good way. It leaves more room for your brain to get creative and interested into the topic at hand. So, you’d get more creativity that then leads to improved learning outcomes.
Better Brain Engagement
Typing is a rather automatic process. Handwriting, on the other hand, needs more parts of our brain. More brain areas are engaged which, in turn, lead to better neural connections, improved overall performance, and enhanced mental stimulation.
All of those cause you to remember more and recall the information easier, even after a longer period of time.
Better Information Organization
When you are wondering if you should be writing to learn, remember, one other aspect of handwriting notes is that you’d be able to boost your brain’s organizational abilities.
Via handwriting you’d be able to learn how to plan, how to narrow down the most important elements, how to organize them, and put them in an easy-to-understand yet concise way.
Your brain will improve its abilities to recognize the main ideas and the key parts of the subject and topic at hand.
Learn to Prioritize Better
You’d not be able to write every single word of the class down. It’s actually impossible to do so. Thus, you’d have to learn to prioritize. This is a vital part of getting to learn better and being able to recall the information better at the end.
This ability is further enhanced through writing notes by hand because you’d have to pick what is the most important and then write it down in a concise way that allows you to understand what you’ve written and recall the material you’ve learnt.
Conclusion
If you ask some of the professionals who work for the best essay services how they’ve studied to become masters of their respective fields, they may tell you they’ve handwritten their notes.
Right now, they might be working on a computer to provide you the top essays, papers, and dissertations but a little while ago they were still students in college or university. There they, just like you, had to memorize lots of information to become at the top of their field.
We are certain that most of them got to benefit from handwriting notes.
As we saw above, there are a lot of benefits to writing down notes by hand while you are studying. Those include better focus and memory, improved various mental skills, enhanced creativity, and many more.
Sure, it might prove to be a bit hard to start if you don’t have a lot of practice under your belt. But it’s totally worth it to give it a try.
You’d have to understand how to organize your process and how to pick the most important information to put down.
This isn’t exactly a clear-cut thing due to us being different individuals and learning in diverse ways. So, pick what works best for you – bullet points, key words, jotting down the main concepts, etc.
All of this will later translate to improved retention and recall of the information when you need it. Especially true for your much-dreaded exam.
So, don’t hesitate and give handwriting notes a try. You’d certainly start to enjoy it as soon as you see how much better you learn through it. It also helps you review the information whenever you need to.
So many benefits just by writing down your notes by hand.
About the Author
Laura Fields is a professional writer who specialized in educational materials. She deems it her main goal to provide best advice, resources, and information for students from all ages and all around the world. Laura is deeply motivated to find and show you the top ways to learn and get better in your respective field of studying or work.
