How to learn

How to take notes

Notes are useful exactly as far as they make you think. A paragraph copied from the textbook gives almost nothing, while a short note in your own words with a question in the margin gives a lot. Here are several methods and how to choose yours.

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Why take notes at all#

When you listen or read, everything seems clear. The test is simple: close the source and try to retell it. Notes are that retelling, done on the spot. They move material from "I have seen this" to "I can put this into words", and that is why they help you remember.

Hence the main rule: write in your own words. Copying definitions word for word feels like work but requires no understanding. If you really need a definition verbatim, set it apart and explain next to it what it means.

The Cornell method#

The page is divided into three parts. On the right, in a wide column, go your notes during the lecture or reading. On the left, in a narrow column, go questions and keywords about those notes, added later the same day. At the bottom go two or three sentences of summary: what the whole page was about.

The strength of the method is the left column. Cover the right part and answer the questions on the left — a ready-made self-test. In digital notes the same thing is simpler: the question as a heading, the answer below it, the summary at the end of the file.

Notes as questions#

Instead of statements, write questions with short answers. "How does a list differ from a tuple in Python? — A list can be changed, a tuple cannot." Such notes are ready for review at once: read the question, answer, check. The questions you cannot answer are the ones to review first — the technique is covered in active recall.

Diagrams and tables#

When the material is about connections between ideas, text is worse than a diagram. A comparison of three historical reforms works well as a table: rows are reforms, columns are causes, content and consequences. Empty cells show at once what you do not know. Arrows suit processes, and a tree suits classifications.

What to do with your notes afterwards#

Notes you never return to are nearly useless. This order works:

  1. The same day, reread them and add the questions and the summary.
  2. A few days later, answer the questions without looking at the answers.
  3. Before a new topic, skim the old summaries — new material settles better on top of something freshly reviewed.

Keep all notes for a subject in one place and name files predictably: the topic number and its title. When there are hundreds of notes, order in the names saves more time than any app.

Pretty or useful#

Beautiful notes with coloured headings are pleasant to keep, and if that helps you keep going — great. But ask yourself how much time went into decoration and how much into understanding. If decoration eats half, simplify: one colour for questions and one for what matters is enough.

Step-by-step plan

  1. Before the sessionA heading with the topic and date, an empty column for questions.
  2. DuringShort notes in your own words, examples, a '?' where something is unclear.
  3. The same dayAdd questions in the margin and a two- or three-sentence summary.
  4. A few days laterAnswer the questions with the notes covered; write out what is still unclear.
  5. Before a new topicReread the summaries of earlier topics.

Start learning this in your own space

The plan goes into your repository: tick off stages, keep notes — the change history shows how far you have come.

Start the plan

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