Notable or Not?

One of the things I'm finding most difficult about high-school course work is re-mastering the art of note-taking. By the end of university, I had it down pat: I could identify exactly what would be relevant for the test, paper or exam, and once I had neatly highlighted it or jotted it down, I was on my way.

Now - partially because it's been so long, and partially because I'm so unfamiliar with the subject matter - I have no idea what will be relevant. I spent most of yesterday reading "Lesson 1" of the first unit of my biology course, and writing down pretty much everything I came across. I even added information I googled to fill in my knowledge gaps (thank, Wikipedia). And yet, when I got to the "support questions" at the end of the first section, I had no clue how to answer it. It seemed that the single, solitary thing I had neglected to leave out of my copious note-taking was the one thing the writers of the section had felt to be important. I know because, after I sat there looking for confused for a few minutes, I consulted the Suggested Answers for the support questions to see what the hell they were talking about.

I found that the answer was actually a pretty obvious one, and one I could have come up with by flipping back a few pages and regurgitating facts from the text. I've always had a tendency to over-think things, which has sometimes been my downfall when it comes to taking tests. After working at a school and sitting through many faculty meetings, I've learned that teachers rarely try to trick you - if you look at a question and think it looks straightforward, it's probably because it is. Yet I still find myself returning to my tendency to either spit out every bit of knowledge that may be relevant to the subject at hand (at least I'll get some marks), or sitting frozen as the feeling of panic rises in my chest, not knowing what to do or what to say. The latter was the case yesterday, until I looked at the answer and felt silly. Not so promising a start.

Today, though, is a new day, and after watching the Hamilton Ticats soundly thump the Toronto Argonauts, I'm ready to do an hour of homework before I go to bed and rest up for my second first day of school - it's the day after Labour Day, and the kids are back. Once more, I know exactly what they're going through.