Ace
Short answer: take lecture notes in your own words rather than word for word, leave space to add questions afterwards, and review them within a day by testing yourself, not rereading. Cornell notes and the outline method work well for most lectures. Whether you write by hand or type matters less than whether you process the ideas as you go and use the notes for practice later.
What are lecture notes actually for?
Notes do two jobs. Taking them helps you pay attention and make sense of the lecture as it happens, and reviewing them later is what helps you remember. Research on note-taking has long found that both matter, and that reviewing notes adds a lot on top of simply taking them (Kiewra, 1985). So good notes are not the most complete notes. They're the ones you can actually learn from afterwards.
Which note-taking method should you use?
1. The Cornell method
Divide the page into a wide notes column, a narrow cue column on the left and a summary strip at the bottom. Take notes in the wide column during the lecture. Afterwards, write questions or keywords in the cue column, and a two- or three-sentence summary at the bottom. Later, cover the notes column and answer your own cue questions. It builds self-testing straight into your notes.
2. The outline method
Use headings, subheadings and indented points that follow the structure of the lecture. It's fast, tidy and works well when the lecturer is organised and the slides follow a clear order.
3. The mapping method
Put the main topic in the centre and branch out to related ideas. It suits lectures about relationships and systems, like ecosystems, historical causes or how parts of a process connect, and makes links between ideas visible.
4. Annotating the slides
If slides are shared before the lecture, print them or open them on a tablet and add notes beside each slide. Don't copy what's already on the slide. Write what the lecturer adds: explanations, examples and anything they say is important for the exam.
5. The question method
Write your notes as questions and answers. Instead of "Watt patented the separate condenser in 1769", write "What did Watt's 1769 patent add?" with the answer underneath. It takes slightly longer, but your notes become a ready-made practice test.
Is it better to take notes on a laptop or by hand?
A well-known study found that students who typed notes tended to copy lectures more word for word, and did worse on conceptual questions than students who wrote by hand (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). However, a later set of replications found the difference was smaller and less consistent than first reported (Morehead, Dunlosky & Rawson, 2019). The practical takeaway: the tool matters less than the habit. Whatever you use, summarise in your own words instead of transcribing, and close the tabs that distract you.
What should you do with your notes after the lecture?
- Within a day: read through once to fill gaps and fix anything unclear while you still remember the lecture.
- Turn them into questions: write questions in the margin or cue column for the key points.
- Test yourself: cover the answers and try to recall them. Retrieval practice beats rereading for long-term memory (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).
- Space it out: come back to the same lecture a few days later and again the following week.
If writing questions is the step you skip, Ace can turn your lecture slides or PDF notes into practice questions, each answer showing the line from your notes it came from. See also how to study for exams.
Frequently asked questions
Should I write down everything the lecturer says?
No. Aim for main ideas, explanations and examples in your own words. Trying to capture everything leaves no attention for understanding, and the slides usually cover the details.
Is it worth rewriting my notes neatly?
Rewriting for neatness takes a lot of time for little benefit. Spend that time turning your notes into questions and testing yourself instead.
What if the lecture is recorded?
Still take notes, but lighter ones. Mark the timestamps of confusing parts, then rewatch only those sections rather than the whole recording.
What's the best note-taking method for university?
Cornell notes are a strong default because they combine notes, questions and a summary. Choose whichever method you'll keep using; consistency matters more than the format.
Sources
- Kiewra, K. A. (1985). Investigating notetaking and review: A depth of processing alternative. Educational Psychologist, 20(1), 23–32.
- Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168.
- Morehead, K., Dunlosky, J., & Rawson, K. A. (2019). How much mightier is the pen than the keyboard for note-taking? A replication and extension of Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014). Educational Psychology Review, 31(3), 753–780.
- Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
