Note taking

Have you ever found yourself frantically scribbling notes in a desperate attempt to keep up with your professor, pushing through hand cramps and a mild panic attack to perfectly transcribe what's on the board—only to find you've hardly heard a word of what your professor said and you don't understand any of what you just wrote down? This experience is as frustrating as it is futile—what's the point of all that note-taking stress if you can barely make sense of your notes?

Lectures are more enjoyable and easier to understand when you can relax during them—in particular, when you don't feel pressured to personally preserve it's contents. One thing that can ease some of the anxiety here is knowing that a lot of what is written on the board is also written in the book. This means you can shift your focus toward what your professor is saying, which will often include useful analogies, anecdotes, emphasis, or explanations that aren't in the book.

Now then, once you've cracked open the textbook and have seen the variety of things that have been written down for you, how can you effectively take notes on everything else? There are a lot of note taking strategies out there and you should explore some to find what works best for you. Below is a particular strategy for taking notes that I've found useful [1]—don't be afraid to take bits and pieces from different strategies to create your own hybrid!

• Prepare a note skeleton. Before class, take 5–10 minutes to review the textbook or source material. Make a rough outline of the headings, definitions, or learning objectives to be discussed that day in class—include the date, too! Think of this as a table of contents for your notes. It will keep you organized both during and after class. Previewing the material will also make lectures feel less overwhelming since you'll already have a general idea of where the class is headed and the concepts to which you'll want to give special attention.

• Give yourself room to think. Draw (or imagine) a vertical line dividing the page into two sections: (1) the primary space where you'll take notes during class, and (2) a 'free space' where you can add your own thoughts, questions, or annotations. You can use the free space to help locate important ideas later, put an explanation in your own words, note connections/relationships to previous material, draw a concept map, or even just let your mind wander and doodle a bit. What's important is using the free space to facilitate interaction with the material and engage some creative/diffuse thinking.

• Process—don't parrot. It is rarely useful to take notes verbatim—in fact, taking notes by hand is more effective than taking notes on a computer precisely because it's easier to take notes verbatim on a computer [2]. When taking notes by hand, you are forced to filter and process the information, which helps you internalize the ideas. To promote this, keep your notes concise, making liberal use of abbreviations and simplifying language whenever possible.

• Review, reflect, and summarize. After class, take 5–10 minutes to review your notes. Write down a brief summary of the main ideas in your own words. Use this process to reflect on your understanding -- jot down any lingering thoughts or questions you have and bring them to the next class (or office hours, the Discussion Forum, the Math Lab, etc.).