You should ask your teachers to give you some sort of outline or schedule of what you will be covering and in what order, very much like a syllabus that you would get in college. You might also ask if they have a study guide. Read the material in the textbook about the topic the night before your teacher covers it in class. When you read the passage in the textbook, look for vocabulary words and definitions, major points, and the answers to any questions asked in your textbook. Also, if you are able to highlight in your textbook, do so. The next day in class, you should be much more prepared to take notes – the idea is not to write down everything the teacher says but rather what the teacher emphasizes is important. Don’t rewrite your notes unless you cannot read them at all or they are completely unorganized, then only do it once. When you rewrite the notes, your not really “reading” them or comprehending what you are reading. Instead, just read over the notes, make additional notes in the margins if you remember something your teacher said that you did not write down or if you have made some sort of connection in your head that you think is important enough to write down, and highlight important points.

Good luck.