Take Effective Class Notes

Taking excellent lecture notes is an essential skill. Unfortunately, high schools often do not prepare students properly for taking notes in a college classroom environment. This can be a serious disadvantage, as effective notetaking is just as important as learning how to write a term paper or take an exam. And if you go to a big university, taking good notes is especially important because you're going to have to take large lecture hall classes.

Here are some notetaking survival tips for college students.

1) Active listening. "Passive" listening is what you do when you watch a sitcom or have a casual conversation. In contrast, active listening is when you listen carefully to make sure you understand and learn the information that is being conveyed. Here are some things you should do to listen actively.

* Listen for the main point and major subpoints. Don't just write everything down. Listen carefully and make sure you understand what the purpose of this lecture is. As you take down notes, keep the main point in mind and make sure you understand how these notes are related.
* Listen for an organizational structure. Unless the teacher is a terrible lecturer, his or her notes are probably organized into some kind of outline. Listen carefully to figure out how the ideas are organized and they will make more sense. Of course, if your professor provides an outline by writing on the board or using PowerPoint notes, take advantage of this.
* Pay attention to organizational cues. Listen carefully for words and phrases that reflect the organizational structure of the lecture. Pay close attention to the introduction, as it will probably indicate how you should organize your notes. If the lecture begins with, "Today I'm going to talk about three ethnic conflicts in the Middle East," then you have a good idea of what's going to follow. Listen for "signpost" words to indicate a transition for one point to the next, such as "next" and "finally" and numerical signposts like "first" or "third."
* Listen with your eyes. Speakers communicate information through nonverbal communication. Watch the professor, and be aware of how he or she uses hand gestures, eye contact, and other body language to convey points.
* Remove distractions. Don't tempt yourself! Put away the campus newspaper, your Sudoku puzzle, your cell phone, and anything else that might be more interesting than the lecturer.
* Practice. Learning to concentrate and listen actively is an endurance skill. Make yourself do it, and it will get easier over time.

2) Proper techniques for writing and lecture notes. Learning to write down all the important information in an organized way is a challenge as well. Here are some tips to help you out:

* Write down the date and the topic of the lecture. This will help trigger your memory when you are studying.
* Learn to write quickly. Or type quickly, if you're using a laptop. Use lots of abbreviations. Don't worry about getting down every word, especially words like "a" and "the." Don't worry about writing neatly. As long as you can understand your notes, it's neat enough.
* Write down definitions. If your instructor defines a term, make sure you write it down and understand what it means. .
* Don't copy outline or PowerPoint notes word for word. Here's a common problem: a teacher puts a PowerPoint slide up, and students are so busy writing down every word on the slide that they stop listening to the lecture. This causes them to miss information that was discussed in the lecture but not written on the slide, and it also makes active listening impossible. Instead, use the notes to help you follow along.
* If your instructor indicates that something is important, mark it. This is a strong clue that something may be on the test.
* If your instructor is going too fast or is unclear, say something. Even the best lecturers get a little garbled sometimes. There's nothing rude about asking your teacher to clarify a point.
* Err on the side of writing down too much. Excess notes are probably not going to hurt you on the exam. Not writing down enough will.

3) Reviewing your notes. This is very important, but students don't do this nearly enough. Review your notes to make sure you understand all the information and to keep it fresh in your head. Here are some note reviewing tips:

Week 2 Assignment: Smart Notes

This week we’re focusing on taking notes in class. To better target my advice, I’ve identified three major types of classes: non-technical (history, english, etc.); technical without math (biology, psychology, etc.); and technical with math (calculus, macroeconomics, etc.). Below, I’ve provided a specific notetaking strategy for each of these three types. This week, I want you to adopt the appropriate strategy for each of your courses.


(1) Streamline Your Notes in Non-Technical Classes

Adopt the Question/Evidence/Conclusion format first presented in part 2 of the red book. The concept is simple: instead of transcribing exactly what the professor says, capture the big ideas. To do so, reduce your notes to a series of questions paired with conclusions. Between each question and conclusion should be a collection of evidence that connects the two.

In this scheme, the question is the setup for the big idea being presented by the professor, the conclusion is his conclusion to the question (it’s probably not a definitive answer), and the evidence are the arguments he used to get from the question to the conclusion. This takes practice. It also helps to spend 5-10 minutes after class cleaning up your thoughts.

To study using these notes: proceed from question to question. For each, try to recreate, without peeking, the conclusion and a sampling of the connecting evidence. Say your answers out loud, as if lecturing a class. If you can do this without major errors, you’ve mastered the big idea. If you can’t, review your notes and try again later. (This is what I call the quiz and recall method.)

For more information on this strategy read this article or see the example in the first step of part 1 of the red book.

(2) Streamline Your Notes in Technical Classes Without Math

The key here are focused question clusters. This approach works as follows:

1. Take notes in the form of short questions followed by short answers.
2. Group together the questions that cover the same topic into a cluster.
3. Add a few general background questions regarding the topic at the end of the cluster (e.g., asking you to overview the topic or explain how it differs from other similar topics).
4. If the professor is using powerpoint slides — for example, to show graphs or diagrams — reference the slide number in the questions that refer to it (e.g., “What does the red line in the graph on slide 19 indicate?”)

To study using these notes: print each cluster onto its own page. Format the answers so that they’re not on the same line as their question. Proceed through the cluster, trying to answer each question out loud without peeking at the answer. (I use a sheet of blank paper to block the answer.) If you get more than one answer wrong, then treat the entire cluster as unlearned and return to it later.

For more information read this article.

(3) Streamline Your Notes for Technical Classes With Math

The key here is to record as many sample problems as possible with as many intermediate steps as possible. When you don’t understand a step made by the professor, either raise your hand to ask about it or make a note to ask after class. When the professor makes a particularly difficult leap in the proof, annotate it in your notes with an explanation so you’ll remember the insight later.

To study from these notes: create a practice test that includes at least one sample problem from every major topic covered. If you can solve a problem from scratch, replicating the intermediate steps, and truly understanding the insight behind these steps, then you’re done with that problem. Otherwise, review your notes, review your textbook, and, if needed, meet with the TA, to bolster your understanding. Then return later and try to solve the problem from scratch again.

Coming Up…

That’s all for week 2. If you have questions or want to report on your progress, please leave a comment on this post so the other students can learn from your experience. Next week we’re moving on to the biggest time sink of all: your assignments!