Note-making

1. Overview

One reading exercise gives you an article and asks you to complete notes under two (sometimes three) headings, such as Benefits of... and Problems with.... Each heading has a few bullet lines, and each line is one short answer. It looks easy, and the reading is not hard, but marks slip away when an answer sits under the wrong heading, repeats a point, or is too vague to show you understood. A clear method makes this exercise reliable marks.

Key Definitions

• Heading: The label above each set of bullet lines. It tells you exactly which kind of point belongs there, for example advantages or advice.
• Point: One separate idea from the text that fits the heading. Each bullet line holds one point.
• Note: A short answer of a few words, not a full sentence, that still carries the full meaning of the point.
• Focus word: The key word in a heading that decides what counts, such as reasons, advice, disadvantages or first.
• Repeated point: The same idea written twice in different words. It only counts once, so the second line is wasted.

Core Content

The method

1. Read the headings first. Underline the focus word in each (benefits, problems, advice, how to...). The headings split the text's ideas into groups. Some headings start with an example already filled in: that point is used up, so do not write it again.
2. Read the whole article once. Points for the headings are often mixed together, so do not expect all the benefits in one paragraph.
3. Mark and label. Go back through the text and mark every idea that fits a heading. Write a small 1 or 2 beside it to show which heading it belongs to.
4. Count the lines. The number of bullet lines (and the mark beside each set) tells you how many points to give. There is usually one more correct point in the text than there are lines, so you do not have to find every one.
5. Write short, complete notes. One point per line, a few words each. Keep the word that carries the meaning: cheaper to heat is a point; cheaper on its own may not be. Make each note fit the heading: under How to... or Advice, start with a verb (check the tyres, not tyres).

Worked example, built in stages

Source text (read this as if it were on your paper):

Every Saturday morning, a group of volunteers in the town of Kellby opens a "repair cafe" in the community hall. Residents bring broken lamps, toasters and bicycles, and the volunteers show them how to fix the items themselves. The organisers say the cafe keeps a surprising amount of rubbish out of the town's landfill site. Visitors also save money, since a repair is free and a new toaster is not. Many people simply enjoy the morning: neighbours who had never spoken now chat over a cup of tea while they work. Running the cafe is not always easy, however. Some items, such as modern phones, are sealed shut and cannot be opened without special tools. The volunteers are all retired, and the organisers worry that few younger people have offered to help. Finding replacement parts for older machines can also take weeks.

Complete the notes.

Benefits of the repair cafe:

• ...
• ...
• ...

Difficulties faced by the repair cafe:

• ...
• ...

Stage 1 - mark and label. Benefits (1): people learn to fix things themselves; less rubbish going to landfill; saves visitors money; neighbours meet and talk. Difficulties (2): some items are sealed shut; no younger volunteers; parts take weeks to find.

Stage 2 - check the focus. "Every Saturday morning... in the community hall" is true but it is not a benefit: it only says when and where. Four benefits fit but there are only three lines, and three difficulties fit but there are only two, so choose the clearest.

Stage 3 - write the notes.

Benefits of the repair cafe:

• less rubbish sent to landfill
• visitors save money
• neighbours get to know each other

Difficulties faced by the repair cafe:

• some items (e.g. phones) cannot be opened
• few younger people volunteer

Each line is one point, short but complete. "Phones" alone would not be enough: the difficulty is that they cannot be opened. "Learn to fix things themselves" and "parts take weeks to find" would also have been correct.

Using the text's words or your own

This is a reading exercise, so short phrases taken from the text are fine, as long as they are the right words and you cut everything else. You do not need to change the wording. You do need to keep the note short enough to read at a glance and full enough to make sense.

How note-making is marked

Each line that gives an acceptable point scores, and the whole exercise is worth just over a tenth of the Reading and Writing paper. Points under the wrong heading, repeats and notes too vague to carry the meaning do not score. The marks for each set of lines are printed on your own paper.

Exam Focus

• Headings first, text second. Know what you are hunting for before you read.
• One point per line. A line is marked as one answer, so two ideas squeezed onto one line cannot earn two marks.
• Match the focus word exactly. A reason is not a piece of advice, and a disadvantage is not a rule.
• No repeats. If two of your lines say the same thing in different words, swap one for a new point.

Common Mistakes

• ❌ Wrong: Writing a point under the wrong heading.
  • ✓ Right: Label each idea 1 or 2 in the text before you write.
• ❌ Wrong: Copying a whole sentence onto one line.
  • ✓ Right: Keep only the few words that carry the point.
• ❌ Wrong: Cutting a note so short it loses its meaning (cheaper, phones).
  • ✓ Right: Keep the key word that shows the point (cheaper to heat, phones cannot be opened).
• ❌ Wrong: Giving the same point twice in different words.
  • ✓ Right: Each line must be a new idea from the text.
• ❌ Wrong: Adding your own ideas or examples.
  • ✓ Right: Every note must come from the article.

Exam Tips

1. Underline the focus word in each heading before reading.
2. Label ideas 1 or 2 as you go through the text.
3. Let the number of lines tell you how many points to give.
4. Write one short, complete point per line.
5. Re-read your notes: is each one under the right heading, and is each one different?

Practice task

Read the passage and complete the notes: Reasons the school started a garden (2 lines) and Problems with the garden (2 lines).

Last spring, Hillside School turned an empty corner of its playground into a vegetable garden. The head teacher wanted students to learn where food comes from, and the science department hoped to use the beds for experiments on plant growth. The first summer brought problems. Nobody watered the plants during the school holidays, so many of them died, and pigeons ate most of the young lettuces.

Check yourself: Reasons: for students to learn where food comes from; to use for science experiments on plant growth. Problems: plants died because no one watered them in the holidays; birds (pigeons) ate the young plants. Short, one point per line, each under the right heading.

Related skills

• Reading question types - short-answer questions on the same kind of article.
• Summary writing (papers up to 2023) - the older exercise that used the same point-finding skill.