Addressed to all upcoming high school graduates:

So you’re going to college, are you? Looking forward to pranking people with your dorm hallmates, pigging out at the dining commons without Mommy telling you to eat your veggies, and going on deep, meaningful, soul-searching trips with friends on breaks?

Well, guess what—even if you do find the time for all that nonsense, you’ve forgotten one key part of college that’ll hang over everything else you do—academic anxiety. With every waking moment, some corner of your brain will be utterly preoccupied with school-related crap—upcoming projects and exams, the work you were supposed to get done for today but never did, the grades on past assignments and tests that you should be getting back soon—all of it is running through your noggin' at some point.

I’m not saying that I have the end-all, be-all solution to anxiety in college. Trust me--if I did, I’d either be hoarding it for myself or selling to the highest bidder. However, what I do have is something that you guys don’t have quite yet—firsthand college class experience. And lemme tell you, I’ve been in the thick of it—fighting to make sense of what a professor just said in his lecture while simultaneously scrambling to finish writing down what’s on the current powerpoint slide before it disappears and the next one pops up and the whole vicious cycle starts over again and it starts leaving you feeling like— Yeah. Well, at any rate, it ain’t pretty. So, the least I can do is offer some tips on how to get the most out taking notes in your college classes. I could go into more detail on the topic, but basically, it all boils down to two major points.

#1 Note paper or laptop?

Do you type faster or write faster? Do you get more distracted by doodling or Googling (both of which can be excellent stress relievers—within reason)? Figure out what works better for you and stick with it. If you’re gonna write all your notes down, get your hands on a college-ruled notebook—preferably a five-subject model with spiral binding and folder separators so you can keep notes and handouts from multiple classes all in the same place. If you choose to type all your notes down, pick a word processing app that you like and stick with it—Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or even a generic notepad app—just be sure to find a program with an interface that you like and a font that appeals to you. This is a pretty important detail, when you think about it. I mean, you’re gonna be staring at that text for God knows how long as you write it down and study it later—might as well type it in a font that you actually like, right?

#2 Surrender to the inevitable! You will fail to write everything down.

I’m not trying to discourage you or anything! It’s just easier to acknowledge that ahead of time—you’re only human, after all. There’s no way that you’re going to be able to record everything that is said or shown in class. So, you’re gonna have to learn how to cut things down to the bare essentials. Learn how to shorten a sentence-long definition by half and turn it into a few short phrases. Cut out nonessential article words or “connectors” like “a,”, “an”, and “the”. Also, train yourself to write smaller. This is easier for some people than it is for others, but it’s critical. The smaller and neater than you can write, the more you’ll be able to fit onto a page at a faster rate. And whatever you do, be sure to network with your classmates in case someone misses the notes. Try to find friends in your class or at least people who you get along with, and establish an agreement with them—you’ll help them out when they miss notes if you do the same. Just bear in mind that this is a full-on responsibility and agreement here. They won’t be interested in covering for your butt if you don’t stay vigilant and do the same for them.

This isn’t a foolproof guide to success in your college classes, but it should definitely put you on the right track to getting there. In short—figure out the best way that you take notes and stick to it. Realize that you’re gonna miss notes every now and then, so have a backup system of friends or classmates who will lend you their work to catch up. Don’t copy things word for word, but break statements down into smaller, essential phrases. Do your best, and good luck!