How to Take Notes in Class: The 5 Best Methods - College Info Geek

What's the best way to take lecture notes? In this video, I'll go over five of the best note-taking systems out there.

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[ThoughtProvokingVlogs]

Outline Method - 0:32
Cornell Method - 1:34
Mind Map Method - 2:28
Flow Method - 3:24
Write On The Sides Method - 4:29

[nicknick]

You can memorize efectively information if you:1.understand the meaning; 2. know the content; 3. use different senses while memorizing. So I used Thomas Frank's videos to create my own method which also applies to the 3 points.
1. Cornell's method. Write the notes with a hierarchy, bullet points using different colours (Outlining) in the main area. [2]
2. Shortly explain the content to an imaginary kid (simple language and analogies) in the summary area. [1]
Now you know both the content and understand it, but you'll forget it soon so:
3. An adaptation to Loci's method for memorization. Create a ridiculous image which links cronologically all of the information in your notes. For example I learned: Metals, types of metals and their properties. So I drew an amusement park which starts with a ferris wheel(ferrous metals), which blast off into space and the fire destroys all of the furniture below (ferrous metals are produced in blast furnaces). Nearby people are protesting against ferris wheels( non-ferrous) while listening to electromusic(non-ferrous metals produced by electrolysis). A man nearby slips on oil(Alloy) and his girlfriend called SMEP runs to help (each letter stands for a property). [3]
You can have a whole notebook with these drawings and i guarantee when you'll look at it, you'll definitely remember the notes.
4. Use spaced repetition to look at the method and/or drawings regularly but in increasing amounts of time( 1 day, 2, 4, 8, 16).

[coralaisly]

I had a teacher in high school who insisted mind maps were the greatest thing on the planet and insisted all of our notes be in that form. I've never struggled so hard in a class. They just simply do not work for me. I hate them, I hate how messy they look, and after I'm done creating them, I want to be as far away from them as possible. They also don't really prompt me to recall information very well when I do use them.

I hear other people sometimes have great success with them. Just goes to show everyone's different.

[fedup]

I'm currently note taking on a note taking video, oh the irony

[slightlyferalraccoon]

What I took from this video is that Hannibal isn't a duck.

[Itania]

Am I the only one who finds mindmapping extremely chaotic and not at all helpful? When I look at a mindmap I always feel like I know less than I did before :D

[Funfunfun]

There’s always a classmate who takes bad notes / no notes but has everything in the brain.

[Thomasfrank]

Isabelle Walker - it's called Coggle and it's a free web app for mind-mapping. If you check out the companion blog post linked in the description, you'll find a link to it :)

[KatiePrescott]

I have to go with the lazy write on the slides methods in lectures, because the lecturers go through everything too fast to write my own notes from scratch plus there are lots of complicated diagrams. but then I rewrite the notes using the outline method afterwards :) around exam time I turn my notes into flashcards and summary sheets for revision :)

[Thomasfrank]

Kyle - If you're taking most of your notes straight in Evernote, you'll never even come close to the upload limit. Text files are super tiny, so no worries there. If you upload the occasional scanned page of paper notes, you'll be fine as well - but if you want to do that all the time, you might hit the limit since pictures can be pretty big. However, Evernote Pro is $5/month and removes the cap, so look in to that if you're wanting to go that route.

[zannettos]

i tried the cornell method for a while ( i can confirm that it's really good) but then since i was a lazy fuck i just printed the lectures and followed the write on the slides method.

[colleenanne]

I am 30 years out of college and recently began working in a new industry. I am immersed in a new industry and supporting very different people doing very different tasks. This is super helpful. I am frantically taking notes as I am on the phone with my team while tasking.

[ledidex]

I'd like to start taking notes in the flow method, since it seems interesting in the sense that it makes it so you learn your own way. My only struggle is that there are some things I plan on learning on my own through online resources and when I take notes off them, I end up just writing it out in an outline method since it's what I've grown accustomed to which I feel isn't very effective for me. It's hard to figure out what i necessarily need to learn since I'm self teaching so I start to think every little thing is important.

[ABeardedDad]

One point about the slide method that you didn't mention.
- It's helpful to have a summary of the lecture already written down because you can focus on taking down notes for all the little fleshy bits and extra information that's not included in the slides. This is great because it also gives a context to the fleshy bits, and you're also not losing too much 'active' learning capacity because your still thinking and problem solving as you go. This also helps you to remember the lecture better because when you review your slides and you see the extra notes it gives you a little reminder.

[Darlagayle]

I've been reading your blog, listening to your podcasts and watching your videos for about two straight days now, haha. I'm currently preparing for the second semester of my sophomore year. I'm planning on experimenting on whether outlining, writing questions instead of notes (tip from Ryan Nguyen) or the flow method works best for me. I have a feeling, though, that the method would also depend on the kind of subject I'll use it for.

Thanks for all the help you make available for college students like me who have big dreams! Stay awesome, Thomas!

[jonathanseto]

Thank you for making your videos fun, educational, and productive. Love your work!

[ducis]

My AP World teacher ruined Cornell notes for me. Each weekend, she would make us write at least 10 pages of them from a 1, 000+ page text book. Most. Tedious. Shit. Ever.

[keelzte]

Thank you for this video. I'm tired of being flooded with videos of girls showing how they take notes, with fancy pens and intricate handwriting

[vaibhavirastogi]

You are absolutely brilliant. I've watched six videos of yours right now in a row and I will look forward to the ones you post later. Thanks so much. A very happy new year.

[MH-inhz]

I love how you bonded the notes techniques with Street Fighters characters, a little flavor to the subject make it more interesting, I use the first, before-the-last and last techniques, didn't know there were techniques for taking notes.