New Feature: Notebook to Boost Your SQL Learning

You want to learn SQL effectively but you keep forgetting queries? Now you can use  LearnSQL.com’s new notebook feature in all our courses! This new tool will help you memorize and recall content.

I remember when I first started to learn SQL. I was moving quite smoothly through most of the lessons, taking a lot of notes in my paper notebook. (I have a lot of old school paper notebooks). It was working well for me – or so I thought.

Then I took a few weeks off from learning SQL. When I returned, I’d forgotten a lot (to my surprise) and I was struggling to complete the next level. Fortunately, I had my notes. Unfortunately, the hints that were obvious to me some time ago were now not helping. I had to go back a few lessons to catch up. And after another break, I couldn’t find my notes at all.

As much as I love paper notebooks, saving your notes on a hard drive or the Cloud has an advantage: You can be sure that your notes will be waiting for you when you need them.

Fortunately, from now on all SQL courses on LearnSQL.com have our brand-new built- in notebook feature. This is a text editor that’s specifically designed to let users take notes as they progress through a course. We developed this idea based on feedback from users. The LearnSQL.com team genuinely listens to its customers; we’re always open to suggestions and innovative solutions, all in pursuit of the optimal learning experience.

When I started learning SQL, I decided to try the SQL Basics interactive online course. It’s a perfect solution for those who are encountering SQL for the first time. It leads you step by step through the most important aspects of the language. In each lesson, there is a short bit about theory and then a practical example. Users can write real code and get immediate feedback. The course is interactive and engaging, so you learn and have fun at the same time.

How Taking Notes Can Help You Learn

Before I explain how the new notebook feature works, let’s focus on why taking notes is important in general. Whether you are listening to a lecture or working through an online course, there are major advantages to taking notes. They include:

• Learning actively. By writing it down, you process new information and stay active while learning. This increases the likelihood that you will remember more.
• Focusing on priorities. You can note what is important or difficult; in the future, you can easily access these crucial points.
• Organizing information. While taking notes, you filter information and put it in logical and helpful order. Your notes contain key points that will help you learn in the future.

Note-taking can enhance your comprehension, boost memory recall, and help you apply learned concepts. If you learn SQL, you might write down a complex command as a note that you can revisit in a later exercise, thereby improving comprehension. Furthermore, the act of writing or typing out notes can help reinforce the information in your memory, making it easier for you to remember key learning points.

The forgetting curve shows that, with time, we gradually forget the content we have learned. After a week without any repetition, most of us will forget around 90% of new content. Fortunately, the rate of forgetting can be minimized with each repetition. Reviewing knowledge regularly will give you great results. Check your notes after 24 hours, then after a week, a month, and 3 months. This method will help you retain almost 100% of the new information you acquire.

Getting to Know the LearnSQL Notebook

When going through the SQL Basics e-course, the first lessons were quite easy for me; I didn’t need to make any notes. But with each new task – and as the level of complexity increased – I figured that even if I thought it was simple, I would still probably forget a lot. I started to make short notes of the commands that I didn’t remember from the last time I was learning SQL.

With the LearnSQL notebook, there are two ways of accessing your existing notes. One is simply inside the course you are currently taking:

The Notebook tab is located on the left side of the screen, but the notebook text editor opens up on the right side. You can easily edit the text and change some basic formatting options like bold, italic, font size, margin style, etc. After you type it, the note is saved automatically.

When you go to the next lesson, the notebook feature is automatically hidden. You can bring it back by clicking on the icon on the left side:

You can type the code by yourself, but with more complex queries you can simply copy and paste if from the Instruction tab or from the hint. Copied text is highlighted in black and the editing is according to SQL rules. This is an additional advantage because it helps you recall the proper structure of the query.

Personally, I needed to write longer query notes when I came to the summary sections. I thought that I remembered a lot, but I still needed to check things in a notebook. Even using my notes, my answer was not correct, so I used a hint. I then copied the whole response to my notebook so that I could return to this summary when I moved to another section.

Another way you can access your important tips is via your Dashboard, where you can track progress of your courses. Thanks to this, you can recall the important (and probably difficult) parts of the course without going back into the exercises.

When I was about to start another level of SQL Basics, I first used my notebook to review what I’d already learned. To do so, I went to my dashboard. The notebook is assigned to a specific course; you can access it after clicking the three dots next to the progress bar.

Having the summary of my previous learning was really helpful when I wanted to move on with the next module. All the most important information was in one place.

Learn SQL Effectively

If you start to learn SQL, be sure to use trusted courses and platforms. Starting with a reliable and interactive online course is key to success. I described my first steps in the SQL world with SQL Basics; if you want to make quick progress and have access to a huge amount of knowledge, try our SQL From A to Z learning track. It contains 7 courses and hundreds of hands-on exercises. You can go from very basic to advanced levels with it.

If you are not sure how to plan and manage learning SQL, check out the helpful articles from the LearnSQL.com blog. You can get motivated with articles like How to Learn SQL Faster or How to Learn SQL in a Week.

The new notebook feature is available in all courses to help you learn more effectively. So learn, make notes, review them, and become an SQL master!