I'd give half my kingdom for a study technique that could help me to learn college algebra. There are parts of it I have to learn, and I think, "I will never need to use this skill." I can see how other people might need the skill, but for me, the only use is to learn it to pass the final and then mercifully forget it.

I think one thing I need is a binder with dividers labeled for every algebra thing the book covers, along with my notes and my attempts to work the problems.

One thing I think you should cover is how the teacher teaches. A very well-organized teacher makes the note-taking much easier. I attended a community college, and I swear, the biology teacher there should have been teaching at Rice University. The way she lectured, everything was set up in outline form.

For example, "The types of eukaryotes are Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, and Protista." Then she would lecture about Animalia, followed by Plantae, and so on. It made the learning much easier for me and greatly increased my interest. I loved her way of teaching.

I had another teacher, whose lectures were all over the place. She could go off on a tangent at the drop of a hat. She could have learned a few things from my biology teacher about how to lecture and stay on point.