How To Take Good Notes

Contrary to what you might think, notes are not a literal transcript of what a teacher is saying. You are not writing down every single word, but paraphrasing and summarizing the information necessary to understand the topic. Using your notes, you should be able to communicate this information to others via a presentation, report, or exam. Notes are often short, condensed bullet points. Your goal when taking notes is to pick out the essential pieces of information in a lecture or presentation and record as much information in as few words as possible. 

It’s important to find a note-taking strategy that works for you. There is no “right way” to take notes. Everyone absorbs and communicates information differently. There are many standard methods for note taking such as the Cornell method, the box and bullet method, and mind map (also known as the concept map) method, to name just a few. I have a friend who loves taking Cornell notes, but I can’t stand the Cornell method and prefer to ‘freehand’ my notes. I have another friend who loves drawing sketches and Venn diagrams in her notes. Some people love to use different colored pens while others prefer writing in plain pencil or pen. While I prefer to write my notes on paper, I know many people prefer to type their notes using apps like Notion or OneNote, and some type their notes and rewrite them later in their notebooks. It’s really up to you! 

The way you take notes may also differ depending on the subject. My notes look very different depending on whether I’m taking notes in history, math, or biology. My math notes tend to have lots of graphs and boxes around different equations to make them stand out, while my bio notes are covered in doodles to help me visualize concepts such as enzyme reactions. Finding your favorite way to take notes takes some trial and error. Look for a system that feels natural so that you can focus on the content of the notes you’re writing, not the way you’re taking notes. 

Note Taking Tips: 

1. Practice: Not everything you hear a teacher say needs to be included in your notes but this takes practice. You’ll get better at quickly sorting through information to pick up on the key points, as well as writing (or typing) faster.

2. Listen for key words, phrases, and vocabulary from your teacher that will indicate what you should focus your notes on. For starters, copy down titles and information that is written on slides or on the white board. Pay attention when you hear phrases like “importantly…” or “this will be on the test” or “here’s an easy way to remember this…” or particular words or phrases that are often repeated or connect back to the subject of the lesson. 

3. Paraphrase what is said in class in your notes and then use your textbook, notes from your classmates, and lesson slides to fill in the holes in your notes later. You don’t have to get all the details the first time your teacher says them, you just want to absorb as much information as you can and transcribe it on paper. 

4. Don’t write in complete sentences Writing in complete sentences takes a lot of time and more space than writing incomplete sentences. As long as you can understand what you’re writing down, who cares if you’ve ignored a few grammar rules? 

5. Create your own abbreviations for common words  Many people will write “w/” in their notes instead of “with” or “&” instead of “and” or “bc” instead of “because”. When I write notes for biology, I often shorten words that show up frequently to save time and space. For example, instead of “DNA replication” I will often write “DNA rep”. In physics and chemistry there are already a lot of symbols for words that you can use (such as T for temperature or v for velocity). Another easy way to shorten words is to take out the vowels, just writing the consonants. I often use symbols such as arrows to indicate transformation, increase, or decrease. 

6. Split your notes into sections I highly recommend splitting your notes into sections with titles, headings, and subheadings. This will make it easier to find information when you’re reviewing for a test and make it much more pleasant to read. Another tip for DP students – be sure to clearly label your notes with SL or HL at the top!  

7. Leave space in your notes The goal of note taking is not to fit as much information as possible into a single piece of paper. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking spacious notes can really help you! Leaving some blank space, skipping a line between bullet points, and leaving large margins can really help make your notes easier to read and leave space for you to fill in extra information, diagrams, or charts later. I also use the margins of my notes for questions or to note connections between other units or topics covered in the course (or to write down funny things people say in class). Remember, the IB loves to make connections! 

8. Review and revise your notes! Optimize your memory retention skills by reviewing and revising your notes within a few days of taking them. I often use a highlighter or colored pencils and go back over my notes to emphasize key information and details I’m apt to forget.  I’ll also fill in information that I missed or didn’t have time to write down during class. 

9. Learn from your mistakes One of the best ways to learn how to take good notes is to ask for teacher feedback or to critically examine your notes after the first test on that topic. What information is in your notes that wasn’t in the test? What information is not in your notes that was on the test? Could you have phrased this information differently to make more sense to your brain? Sometimes teachers go more in-depth in class than is necessary to give their students a better understanding of the material. 

Now you may be asking, “What if I just really suck at taking notes?” 

Try different methods, practice, and ask your classmates or teachers for tips. The only way you’ll get good at taking notes is by taking lots of notes, so don’t give up! You’ll get better at taking notes over time. And remember, your notes don’t have to look Pinterest worthy or make sense to other people. They just have to contain the information you’ll need to pass the course in a way that you can understand and use. 

Taking good notes is, like any other skill, something you have to learn. But the effort is worth it. Learning to take good notes is an invaluable skill that will help you succeed not only in secondary school but also in college and your career, no matter if you’re writing your notes on a sheet of paper or on a laptop, for a class or for a meeting.