Transcription
[Music] Hey guys, welcome back to my channel and welcome to the very first video in my note-taking series. I'm going to be doing a video on how I take notes for each of my different subjects, so there will be five videos in total because I do take six subjects, but two of them are maths, so I'm going to group them together.
But today's video is on how I take notes for economics, which is one of my favorite subjects to take notes for because there is so much content you need to know in economics, so there's lots of stuff to write notes on. So, let's just get right into my note-taking method for economics.
So, the first thing you need to do when you're making notes for any topic is to go to your syllabus document. So, in Western Australia, which is where I live, for Year 11 and 12, we have the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, and they put out a syllabus document for every single subject for Year 11 and Year 12. So, for economics, I will go to the economics syllabus for Year 11 and I will go scroll down to find the topic that I'm going to make notes on. So, for example, market failure is one of the topics that we did. So, I'll go down to market failure, and that will be a heading because that is one of the topics. And underneath that, it will have all the little dot points on everything that you need to know about market failure.
And this is so important for you to look at because that is exactly what you're being tested on. You are being tested on the information in those pointers. So, if you know that information in those pointers and then understand it and you can apply it to questions, then you're going to be fine in your test. So, those pointers are really, really important. So, you need to go and find them, or your equivalent wherever you live, you should have an equivalent like syllabus document with like pointers of information that you need to know.
And basically, I will then use those pointers as the basis of my notes. So, to make my notes, I would just go through the pointers, make notes on the pointer. So, for example, the pointer might say, "Explain the difference between competitive and imperfect markets." And then I will make a section of my notes on competitive versus imperfect markets, as I have done here, nicely demonstrated. See, can you see? Yes, competitive versus imperfect markets. Yeah.
So, basically, I'll just go through all of the syllabus points and make each one a different section on my notes. And the syllabus points have like what you need to understand, but they don't have like the actual information. So, like they'll have, "You need to be able to explain the difference between competitive and imperfect markets," but they won't actually say what that difference is. So, then I'll say that I need to know that, and then I will go to my notes that I've made in class and the work we've done in class and see what we have done on that little piece of information. And then I will make my notes using the information that we have done in class and the learning that we've done in class and any notes I have made in class.
And if I feel like the stuff we've done in class hasn't really covered all of that syllabus point, then I will go to my economics textbook, which is really, really helpful. It's such a good textbook this year, honestly. It makes a big difference when you have a good textbook. But yeah, I will go to my economics textbook and find more information about it in there. And if I still feel like I don't have a solid understanding or like I don't have enough information to give me a solid understanding on the information in that pointer, then I will go to my teacher and ask her.
Okay, that's how to complicate it up. I'm not very good at explaining things simply. Basically, I will look at the pointer and then I will go away and find the relevant information from my class notes and from my textbook and make a section in my notes on that pointer. And that is basically how I go along and make my notes. That's where I kind of base them off. And I'm going to show you kind of the structure of them and how I make them colorful and like, I don't know, the structure of them.
Okay, so here is my example that I found. By the way, I keep all of my notes for each subject in one of these, which just has like clear plastic sleeves in it, and I just put all of my notes in this thing for all my different topics. So, I have them all together. So, by the time it comes to the exam at the end of the year, when I'm being tested on all the information and all of the topics I have done throughout the year, I can just go to this and it's just all in there.
So, let's say I'm being tested on market failure. So, here are the notes that I made for it. At the top, I have written "Market Failure." And then next to it, I write the definition of market failure. And I'll go through my highlighting color key in a minute, but I write the definition of it next to it because in economics, definitions are super important because you always need to define your terms. So, I have that there at the top, and then I just have a little bit more information about it. And then I just have a diagram because when making notes in economics, I would highly recommend using diagrams to explain your point because that's what they're looking for in tests and stuff. When you have extended answers, you're expected to use diagrams to like show what happens in a situation and changes in the market and whatever. So, definitely put diagrams in your notes because then you can just easily replicate them in the tests. So, yep, get those diagrams in your notes.
And also, it helps me to understand and kind of visualize what is happening because economics is a very content-heavy subject. And I find for content-heavy subjects, what works best for me is to well and truly understand the concepts. So, I don't just go through and try and memorize everything. If I understand what I'm learning, then memorization definitely comes a lot easier. And using diagrams can definitely help you to understand the information and see what's actually going on. So, yes, I just have title, definition, diagram, and then I will have my little subsections which are based on the pointers. So, the first kind of thing, market failure one, market power. And then the first pointer was about competitive versus imperfect markets. So, I have those as my titles. And then underneath each one, I just have like competitive, and then the feature of a competitive market, and then imperfect, and the features of an imperfect market, and some examples.
And so, I basically just go along like that with my little subheadings and then sub-subheadings and then the information in dot points. I always do it in dot points because that's just like your notes. I think your notes should be in dot points. You don't want to be running out being paragraphs in your notes. You want to kind of be summarizing information, not writing full sentences, that kind of thing. And I always try to make my notes a little bit more interesting by putting in like, here I have a table, just things that are going to stick in my mind rather than just words, words, words, onwards, onwards. I put in like diagrams and tables and arrows and flowcharts. And this is very good for economics in particular because there are lots of like cause and effect and grouping of things and diagrams, demand, supply, aggregate demand, aggregate supply diagrams that you can use. So, there are lots of like ways to incorporate that into your economics notes. And like I said, because it's such a content-heavy subject, it's good to break up the words and the information with diagrams that explain what you mean.
And then next to every subheading, if this subheading is like a term that I need to know the definition of, I will write the definition right next to it. So, here, like this heading is "Natural Monopoly," and then right next to it, I've written like the definition of a natural monopoly. So, that is important for economics because you need to be able to like, you basically need to just memorize the definitions. So, having them right there in your notes is kind of a necessity.
So, my color coding key for every subject varies, but for economics, I have my definitions that I highlight in pink. And then all of my subheadings I highlight in yellow. And then for general information, I highlight in orange. And then for, I don't really know how to explain this, it's like the factors of something. Like, for example, the features of a competitive market, or the factors that influence income elasticity of demand, or something like the factors or features of something that you kind of grouped together, I highlight in green. My green highlight is actually a bit like a turquoise, but that's a side note. Yeah, I kind of use orange to highlight just general information. And then green to highlight like features and factors of things. I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah.
And then in blue, I highlight any statistics or information that is relative to contemporary stuff. So, in economics, it's quite important to have an understanding of what's going on in your economy at the moment, and what the current unemployment rates are and inflation rates and stuff like that. So, that is all the information that I'll highlight in blue. And that is definitely information that's very like worth remembering because examiners are always impressed when you can kind of put your knowledge of contemporary issues, contemporary economics issues, into your answer. That's always a good way to round off the end of an economic answer to just discuss what's happening in, like, for example, for me, it's obviously the Australian economy at the moment.
So, I just had my economics exam yesterday, and I do like an extended answer on unemployment and the different types of unemployment and how and why the government wants to like reduce unemployment. And then at the end of my answer, I put in a little paragraph about the current rate of unemployment in Australia. It's 5.4 percent, and it's been on a modest decline for the past few years, and part-time work hours have risen while the levels of underemployment remain a concern. So, that's always a nice way to kind of end up an answer, and it shows that you're kind of learning beyond the textbook and memorizing definitions, stuff you've gone above and beyond that. And it shows an interest and an understanding of economics. And at the end of the day, but supposedly there is in your learning, all of this information is to apply it to the real world. And it's much more interesting if you know what's going on in the real world. And that's one of the reasons why I love economics as a subject because there's so much you get to kind of learn and understand about the workings of the world. And it also just makes you feel very smart knowing about all this stuff.
But yeah, so going back to my notes, let's not get sidetracked here. That is basically how I take them. So, basically, to sum up, in my notes, I put heading, the main heading, which is the topic, market failure. And then definition, and then a diagram to kind of explain and illustrate that. And then I just go through and base my headings on the pointers. So, I have heading, and then information, heading, information, heading, information, using that color coding key that I talked about. And that will go through. And then at the end, I have a little another heading about contemporary issues in Australia in that topic, like in unemployment or market failure or whatever. And the statistics and all of that stuff, just have that in a little section at the end. And that quite often actually is one of the pointers, as an only a pointer about being able to explain the current issues in the Australian economy and stuff. So, yeah, I definitely always put that in at the end. And those basically how I make my notes.
So, I'll go through and write it all out, and then I'll go back over and highlight it. So, I don't highlight as I go. I highlight at the end because I find that writing the notes out like helps me to go through the information once. And then I go back over and highlight it, and it helps me to go through the information again. And then I go back over and read through, and I go through it again. So, for me, just going through my notes a lot makes the information stick in my head. So, yeah.
So, this is what my year of economics notes looks like. I have had to split into two books because there is so much information I need to know. But yeah, that is how I make my notes for economics. Let me know if you enjoyed this video by giving it a thumbs up. And this is the first video in my note-taking series. I'm going to do, as I said, videos on how to take notes for all of my different subjects, and I do have different methods for each one. So, if you are interested in seeing those videos, then feel free to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss them. But anyway, I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you very soon. Bye.
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