How do you take notes? Is there a method to your madness?

When I take notes, I tend to switch back and forth between The Cornell method and The Outline method.

i don't know what the hell those are, i just write down whatever the guy writes on the board or says that sounds important. then i don't look at them again until before the test. i find that in a class based heavily on a textbook, notes aren't much use to me. if it's a class based heavily on notes, the prof is usually the type to tell stories and give memorable examples, so i remember things better that way. definitely never take notes while reading anything, unless i was reading sources for a paper i was preparing to write.

Cornell Method always seemed really weird to me.

I always used outlines when taking notes. Makes too much sense logically IMO. Plus I never wanted to be one of those people that went back and HAD to re-write their notes because they're so unorganized. I just get them right the first time around.

I don't take notes. My mind stores the info until i actualy need it.

I love people that have to make stuff up online to complete strangers in order to stroke their egos.

i don't know what the hell those are, i just write down whatever the guy writes on the board or says that sounds important.

Truth

I don't take notes or usually read the book. Lectures are all thats important since lectures are whats on the test. This has worked good so far for business classes and got me in the top 7%. It doesn't work for science classes tho, I had to memorize a bunch of molecular structures=rote memorization.

I know the work, if there's something I want to hear talked about I ask what session it's in.

Otherwise I ask before I waste time writing, wasting paper and my attentive ears if the powerpoint they has with their prattle put into dot points will be made available to us.

In other circumstances I'll write down the things I wouldn't have thought of, or would have thought of last/forgotten to mention in my own work.

I use the Cornell method.

Use tables to organize main points covered in lectures

(At home) Go over textbook to supplement notes taken in class

Reorganize/retype (retyping it makes it stick)

Print and read/study

In lectures? I hardly make notes. mainly things not on the lecture slides. Or anything that the lecturer hints will feature in their exam questions.
This used to be all that I needed to do, as it used to be 'if its not in the lecture, it's not in the exam'

Not anymore.

Out of lectures, I make summaries of other sources, with careful emphasis on diagrams. I absorb the information in pictures much better than text.

For my classes, most of the stuff the professor goes over is already in the book. So I usually just bring the book, follow along and when ever he prefaces a sentence with "its important" or "remember that" I always write it down

When not playing Warcraft III I'll write down what the teacher writes on the blackboard in Microsoft Onenote, with a folder for class and subfolder for topic, like English - George Orwell or Math - Calculus. I'll also add something they say if I feel like it's important.
Also none of this is grammatically correct, since I just finished classes and now only got exams left until I don't need to take notes ever again.

Now, when I was young. I didn't have to write a single thing. I memorized everything. I was beyond two standard deviations. These days, I take notes.

I always find it depends on the class. I have two weeks to determine my style of notetaking in the class. I've gained a form of rhetoric, a form of Tao, of how I should do things in the class. This often determines my success rate; and I've liked my philosophical approaches so far.

Regardless of what class it is, reading the book and material before having a lecture is what matters. It helps so freaking much. I make As in my classes and most often don't read the book till after the lecture. That's because I'm playing with my hobbies (computer hacking, glassblowing, looking at stupid shit like wikipedia's entry on "squirrel fishing," etc.) instead of my courses. But when I do read the book ahead of time, I quickly pinpoint what in the discussion is unusual and the professor might put on the exam.

If I read the book, I know what is in the book. I know what to expect. If the professor talks about something in class that wasn't in the book, that's a red flag. In other words, a possible thing that will be on the exam. I write those things down. If something even sounds the slightest bit unfamiliar, I write it down. If it sounds intelligent or profoundly stated, I write it down; it becomes a learning experience to help me form a more educated language mastery of my field.

Another interesting thing is identifying what the professor keeps repeating. What does the professor put emphasis on? This means the professor wants you to remember. I mean, professor's aren't god-like orators. But they try to imply, "This is on the exam. Remember it." I think they do this to prime student's skills for future classes and exams in those future classes. They want you to learn how to identify what will be on the exam.

Other than that, I find each class is different. Some professors draw tons of chemical structures with chalk. Other professors use slideshows. Some use hybrid methods.

I've also learned that turning the notebook 90-degrees works so much better when writing/drawing things from the board. Writing things top-down doesn't work because of the size of the paper. When the notebook is turned, it becomes like a smaller chalkboard. The lines make things look ugly, but whatever; that's not the focus.

I've often come to believe that whatever is written on the board, as soon as I see that chalk/marker hit the board, should be written in my notebook. That's worked as a good rule of thumb.

I mean, if you take notes, you might not hear what's being said. I'm past the college-level, so I've learned to adapt: I can listen and take notes like a reporter.

I think undergraduates should use voice recorders if possible. That takes away the need to listen and take notes. They can focus more on what is being said. But they should ween themselves from it as they go farther in education.

depends on the subject

anyway, for note taking, i get a piece of A4 and split it down to 3 columns, some people prefer 2, but i have small writing so its fine.

for maths - generally, i just copy down a few examples and for each, put in captions on how to do them

for chemistry - i have a copy of the lecture notes in front of me and i write down things i believe build on the notes. examples too if needed.

for computing - pretty much like maths, but i just write down a glossary of new syntax as well as steps on how to do certain codes.

for engineering design - dont need notes :)


edit: actually, after looking up what the outline method was, i find that thats what i do

I just write down anything of relevance, then go over the notes after and sum it up.

Notes are for fools. Everything I need to know I already know or someone has already written down. Why take notes when other people have already done so?

I use a laptop, type very quick, and omit non-important words and vowels.

It's amzng hw mch u cn stll rd w/o mny vwls.

i just copy what they put on the board, and anything important.

Chaos.

Usually I start at the top of the page; the VERY top, where you're supposed to put your name and shit. Sometimes my text will be tiny sometimes huge, most of the time the size has no relevance to importance. 40% of my writing is done without looking at the paper, so a lot of words are curved. Usually I try to stay within the lines; simple stuff like 1776=US rev is usually placed in the margins. I never waste a single square cm. I'll draw large pictures in the middle of my text with several arrows pointing to them. Nothing is given a designated space; whatever I hear (that isn't obvious) I place wherever I can (or wherever the mood strikes me). I denote important text with exclamation marks, with three exclamation marks denoting a crucial concept. Usually I'll circle the words "STUDY THIS!" and point to important things. Boxes around formulas or equations (or methods in math). I use pen and subsequently a good 10% of the paper is filled with scratch marks crossing out irrelevant info. Since I use both sides it's often difficult to read, but I do well enough.

No Studying>Studying.