Note-taking is a most useful study skill. It helps you to remember what you hear and read in school. The more information you can get, the more successful you will be. Do you find the teachers talk too fast? Can you keep up with what they're saying? Try speedwriting.

Here are some guidelines for speedwriting:

• Use standard abbreviations. These include abbreviations for states, countries, directions, days of the week, months of the year and other common abbreviations.
  
  
• Write beginnings of words. For example, Congress can be abbreviated as Cong.
  
  
• Delete silent letters. For example, pen could be written pn.
  
  
• Use shortcuts for amounts. For example, 2 billion dollars could be written $2b.
  
  
• Make up your own shortcuts for words you use frequently.
  
  
• Here are some standard abbreviations:
  • b/c (because)
  • b/t (between)
  • ency (encyclopedia)
  • bus (business)
  • w/ (with), w/o (without)
  • i.e. (that is), e.g. (for example)
  • govt (government), natl (national), fed (federal)
  • demo (demonstrate)
  • apt (apartment), appt (appointment)
  • avg (average), mtg (meeting), misc (miscellaneous), rpt (report), attn (attention)
  • h (hundred), th (thousand), tr (trillion)
  • b(billion), m (million), d or $ (dollar)
  • symbols such as < (less than), > (greater than), & (and), % (percent)