Study ‘The Mind Map Book’ by Tony Buzan. It is an intuitive way to make notes, which will make sense even years later.

http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/mindmap/

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Mindmap/

http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/mindmapping.asp?id=45241

http://www.nova-mind.com/MindMapping/?NMAID=&source=goog&kw=Mind%20Map&gclid=CISzr9TUoo4CFQRHYAodpVfxTg

As I enter class, I label date/chapter for the lecture. Certain instructors veer off and I mark those paragraphs heavily. I paraphrase and summarize. Anytime an instructor says, “This is important”, I add a star.

I use different notebooks for different classes. I always take notes. It amazes me how many students sleep/zone/don’t take notes/don’t show and then want my help/notes. Most of my notes are in outline form. I also use keywords in the left margin. I might reference the text page, add formulas, quotes…I’ve already read the text. Between my notes, text and curiousity research, I make A’s. I no longer loan out my notes. Sometimes, I put research ideas in the margins, outlines…my doodles are thoughts, connections, quotes. It just helps me focus for research and study for tests.

The most effective notes are the ones that jog your brain.

I’ve seen “perfectly” tabbed, indexed, typed notes and their “A” didn’t score any more points, than my scribbled notebook stuff.

Basically, I keep an outline, some summaries, some paraphrases, mostly certain words, and phrases. It’s been my experience that just the act of taking notes during class, is enough.

Good luck to you!

That realy depends on the individual person. I myself write and have developed my own personal shorthand. Of course I’m in nursing and there are many abbreviations that I use in my notes from that. Some people also use tape recorders. Maybe a combination of taping and writing. That way if you miss something you can put a star in the margin and go back and listen later… fill in the holes. I think they should still offer secretarial shorthand and make it mandatory in high school. Would help everyone in college take notes and not miss a thing. P.S. I always keep two different colored pens and a highlighter out. Makes info stand out if I need it when taking notes. Good luck!

I first just write down all the information given during lecture in list style so i know what order they came in and will draw like a branch/arrow if they are connected, then if it is a new idea i will skip a line or two, once i get home I re-write them in a more organized way. I will write neater bunch things together better add my own notes, so that way I get everything the teacher said and then sort it later, in a way which is easy to understand. Normally I will write a point answer and sub answer like a description.

Well I usually use a pen, on paper.

But seriously, here’s what works for me with technical subjects:

– label every page with the course, the date and the subtopic. I numerically number every consecutive page in the course starting e.g. #1..#70. Makes crossreferencing a breeze.

– use colour and headings to organize things

– I try to make mine as dense as possible while still staying legible (single-line spaced, narrow-ruled, both sides of the paper, small margins, use quadrille paper if you like instead of normal paper)

– you have to stay current and on top of the subject to know what the hell they’re talking about, and avoid unnecessary duplicating

– try *not* to take rough notes then rewrite them later, unless your lecturer is an incoherent mess

– don’t take down every word the lecturer says, try to distill and summarise as you go. Because ultimately this is what you will be doing anyway. In that sense, note-taking should aspire to be your first draft of a summary.

– at the end of a complete topic, or before midterms, write your own summary (structural diagram connecting different concepts, essential terms/ definitions/ concepts/ formulae/ whatever)

first i usually listen to the teacher then at the same time write down what they say that i think is important. i also write down my notes first on scratch paper since my handwriting when i need to write fast is really messy. then when i rewrite my notes i look at the scratch paper that i used and i just write it in a way that is organized since sometimes the teacher adds some info later on that will fall under another category of the discussion.