Using Abbreviations To Write Notes Quickly

Many of the questions you find on class tests will be based upon the information your teachers orally present in class. Therefore, you need to write class notes that completely and accurately include the most important information presented by your teachers. This is hard to do because your teachers can talk faster than you can write.

It would be nice if your teachers talked slower so that you could keep up with what they are saying as you write your notes. This is not realistic though. It is up to you to write more quickly. One way to do this is to write abbreviations for words. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word used when writing to represent the complete word. You must be able to recognize the complete word from its abbreviation.

Many words have a commonly used abbreviation. Here are some examples of words that have a common abbreviation:

department can be abbreviated as dept (d e p t)
introduction can be abbreviated as intro (i n t r o)
junior can be abbreviated as jr (j r)
mathematics can be abbreviated as math (m a t h)
weight can be abbreviated as wt (w t)

package can be abbreviated as pkg (p k g)
negative can be abbreviated as neg (n e g)
magazine can be abbreviated as mag (m a g)
foot can be abbreviated as ft (f t)
highway can be abbreviated as hwy (h w y)

You can form your own abbreviation for just about any word. Here are three ways you can do this.

1. Write just the beginning of a long word. Here are some examples of long words that have been abbreviated by writing just the beginning of the word:

different can be abbreviated as diff (d i f f)
incorporated can be abbreviated as inc (i n c)
elementary can be abbreviated as elem (e l e m)
molecular can be abbreviated as molec (m o l e c)
division can be abbreviated as div (d i v)

feminine can be abbreviated as fem (f e m)
population can be abbreviated as pop (p o p)
ambiguous can be abbreviated as ambig (a m b i g)
separate can be abbreviated as sep (s e p)
hippopotamus can be abbreviated as hippo (h i p p o)

2. Leave out the vowels when writing a word. Here are some examples of words that have been abbreviated by leaving out the vowels when writing the word:

century can be abbreviated as cntry (c n t r y)
mountain can be abbreviated as mntn (m n t n)
reason can be abbreviated as rsn (r s n)
popular can be abbreviated as pplr (p p l r)
quality can be abbreviated as qlty (q l t y)

point can be abbreviated as pnt (p n t)
school can be abbreviated as schl (s c h l)
clean can be abbreviated as cln (c l n)
teacher can be abbreviated as tchr (t c h r)
progress can be abbreviated as prgrss (p r g r s s)

3. For words that have just one syllable, write just the first and last letter of the word. Here are some examples of words that have been abbreviated by writing just the first and last letter of the word:

quart can be abbreviated as qt (q t)
tick can be abbreviated as tk (t k)
girl can be abbreviated as gl (g l)
night can be abbreviated as nt (n t)
link can be abbreviated as lk (l k)

land can be abbreviated as ld (l d)
round can be abbreviated as rd (r d)
pack can be abbreviated as pk (p k)
field can be abbreviated as fd (f d)
heart can be abbreviated as ht (h t)

Use common abbreviations of words whenever you recognize them. For other words, form abbreviations by using one of the three ways you just learned. Use the way that best fits the word for which you are writing an abbreviation. Don't try to abbreviate every word you write in your notes. Only abbreviate those words that are important and for which you can quickly form an abbreviation. REMEMBER: YOU MUST BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE COMPLETE WORD FROM ITS ABBREVIATION. Knowing the context in which you wrote the word will help you recognize the complete word from its abbreviation.

Using abbreviations for words will help you take good notes more quickly. Having good notes will help you do better on tests.