Summarize Your Class Notes Using the GIST Method

Whether you review your notes immediately after class or condense them later to study using the Feynman method , you’ll need a reliable system for extracting the most important information and distilling everything into something digestible and easy to store. This is where the GIST method can be extremely useful.

What is the GIST method?

The GIST method is a system for compressing your notes (or anything you’ve read, such as a chapter in a book) so that everything is as easy to read and view as possible. This method requires you to resist the natural urge to fill your notes with too much detail. The GIST method will help you break this habit; it’s designed to help you get to the heart of your content and break down each point into about 25 words.

“GIST” is an acronym for “Generating Interaction Between Diagrams and Texts.” Simply put, this means creating structure between the text you’re working on (whether full class notes or a textbook excerpt) and your abbreviated notes. Once you’ve identified the gist of what you’re studying, it can serve as the basis for your review sessions so you can make sure you’re focusing on the most important details.

You ask yourself a few questions: What’s going on? Who does this? When does this happen? Where does this happen? Why does this happen (or why is it important)? How does this happen? It may be helpful to remember the familiar “Five Ws and Hs.” Once you have collected all this information, simply write it down in a short block.

To be clear, GIST itself is not what you will learn. The goal is to help you identify the main message or idea of ​​the text and hone it until you understand it at the most basic level. From here you can also move on to the more complex and time-consuming parts, and techniques such as mind mapping will help you with this.

How to Get Started Using the GIST Method to Summarize Class Notes

As American University advises , the GIST method begins with carefully reading your notes/chapter/assigned text. ( Here’s a complete guide to close reading.) It’s best to do this in shorter chunks of information rather than multiple chapters or lessons. Then take a sticky note or notepad and write down who, what, when, where, why and how in a column. Answer questions simply, taking information directly from your notes or reading. Then write a paragraph below, limiting yourself to about 25 words. The paragraph should summarize the answers to the questions above.

You can use a prepared GIST template to help you with this process, although some limit your GIST to 20 words and some even require 10 . For condensing notes or studying at a higher level, 25 words is a good number because it allows you to expand on complex concepts with a little more information, but not too much.