By Brigitte Whyte
Change the "View" to Outline view
As someone who spends the majority of their time writing notes - both revision and LPC SGS prep notes, I have learned a few tricks that helps me speed up my process.
When preparing my notes during my LLB and LPC, I would really struggle with condensing all information from different sources into one place. I would try to copy text from the slides, and with Powerpoint presentations including 80+ slides, this would take up a huge chunk of my time.
To make my process faster, I have found a different view that allows me to copy text from the slides all at once without having to go through all the slides one by one.
By changing the "View" to Outline view, you can copy the plain text from the presentation without the formatting and without having to go through the different slides.
This way, you get to copy the plain text from the left hand side
and create your own set of notes using the slides as a guide.
Another trick I have been using, especially for writing down the facts of a case or long explanations, is the dictation function on Word. It has become more reliable over the years and I have been using it more and more as it has the potential to really speed up your work process. Any errors can be easily picked up once you start editing and formatting your document.
If dictation does not work on your Word: you also have the option to use Google Docs which has the dictation function and it is completely free. If you prefer to use Microsoft Word, you can always copy the dictated text from Google Docs to add any finishing touches to your work.
I hope these quit tips and tricks will help you speed up your time spent on making notes/summarising SGS materials, as these have helped me immensely.
Good luck!