Summarize Your Class Notes Using the GIST Method
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Whether you review your notes immediately after class or condense them later to use the Feynman Method , you’ll need a reliable system for extracting the most important information and converting it into a readable and easy-to-remember form. This is where the GIST method can be extremely helpful.
The worst-case scenario for studying is reading and reading and reading, but retaining almost nothing. This is even worse than not studying at all, because you’ve wasted all that time, and it can be extremely demoralizing. GIST can help you avoid this fate if you do it right.
What is the GIST method?
The GIST method is an aptly named system for compressing your notes (or anything you’ve read, like chapters in a book) to make it as easy to read and review as possible. The idea is to help you grasp the gist of a block of content. Got it?
This approach requires you to resist the natural urge to overload your notes with too much detail. The GIST method helps you break this habit. It will help you practice boiling down each idea to about 25 words. This may seem insufficient to fully convey everything you’re learning—and it isn’t. It’s enough to give you a solid, fundamental understanding of the material, which you can build on once you’ve mastered the basics. Instead of reading thousands of words and memorizing only a few because you lack a true fundamental understanding of the concepts, you develop a more concrete understanding of the most basic parts.
“GIST” is an acronym for “Generating Interactions between Schema and Texts.” The name sounds awkward because it was obviously repurposed to fit the word itself. “GIST” is a perfect example of using associative memory to remember steps in a sequence. Simply put, it means creating a structure between the text you’re working with (whether it’s a full class note or a textbook excerpt) and your abbreviated notes. Once you’ve identified the GIST for the material you’re studying, it can serve as a guide for your review, so you can focus on the most important details.
You ask yourself several questions: What’s happening? Who’s doing it? When is it happening? Where is it happening? Why is it happening (or why is it important that it happen)? How is it happening? It’s helpful to remember the familiar “Five Ws and an H” framework. Once you’ve gathered all this information, write it down in a short block.
To be clear, GIST itself isn’t what you’ll study. Its purpose is to help you identify the main message or idea of a text and drill down until you understand it at the most basic level. From there, you can move on to more complex, obscure sections, and techniques like mind mapping will help you do this.
How to Start Using the GIST Method to Summarize Your Class Notes
The GIST method begins with close reading of your notes/chapters/assigned text. ( Here’s a complete guide to close reading.) It’s better to work with short chunks of information rather than multiple chapters or lessons. Then, grab a sticky note or notepad and write down who, what, when, where, why , and how . Answer the questions simply, using information directly from your notes or reading. Then write a paragraph, limiting it to about 25 words. The paragraph should summarize the answers to the above questions.
Let’s say you’re studying the Boston Tea Party. Who participated? It was colonialists and the Sons of Liberty. What did they do? They protested a British tax law. When did they do it? December 16, 1773. Where did they do it? In Boston Harbor. Why did they do it? They protested taxation without representation. How did they do it? They seized British ships and dumped tea into the harbor.
Once you’ve written down these basic answers, you can write your paragraph like this: “In December 1773, American colonists protested British taxes by dumping tea into Boston Harbor, protesting the Tea Act and taxation without representation.” This paragraph will be the starting point for everything else you’ll learn. Everything else you read or study after this will make more sense when compared to this simpler distillation method.
You can use a ready-made GIST template to make things easier, although some limit the GIST to 20 words . For condensed notes or higher-level learning, 25 words is a good number, as it allows you to expand on complex concepts with just a little more information, but not too much.