The NoteTaker’s Manifesto

1) Prepare before the lecture. Do some pre-reading or watch a YouTube video to get
an idea of what you will take notes on.
2) Arrive early. Spend 5min to prepare on the topic. Breathe, get ready, relax.
3) Sit in the front of the room as close as possible to the lecturer. Don’t make your
life harder. Go distraction-free.
4) Take notes by hand and not laptop for better long-term retention.
5) Use ​Cornell notetaking system​.
6) Don’t take notes word for word. Understand the content and paraphrase in your
own words. Learn in classroom, don’t be a transcribing machine.
7) Abbreviate. Use symbols to save time and record more facts.
8) Leave space on your notes for later comments, additions etc.
9) “Read” your lecturer. Pay attention to body language, voice. Take notes when he
puts emphasis, shows enthusiasm, speaks slowly.
10) Be sensitive to verbal cues that help you organise the information and understand
what’s important (“the main idea here”, “an interesting thing”, “first, second…”, “to sum
up” etc.)
11) After taking notes spend 5 min on them. Complete the Cornell left column with
questions on your notes or details.
12) Compare your notes with your peer’s. Watch out for inconsistencies especially on
charts, equations, formulas. Form a team and do that consistently. Complete each
other’s notes.
13) Review your notes by testing yourself on the them.
14) Interact with your notes. Associate with previous notes, find examples,
counterexamples, compare, interrelate. Don’t just read!
15) Review your notes on the same day.
16) Review your notes on the next day after a good sleep.
17) Review your notes regularly allowing for some forgetting to happen.
18) Don’t cram before the exam. Space the studying of your notes.
19) Use Cal Newport’s active-recall technique. Put the notes aside and pretend to teach
the new material to someone. Spot gaps.
20)Review your notes during summertime or stress/exam-free periods for better
long-term retention.
21) Organize your notes by date and subject. Be consistent.
22) Use ​Tim Ferriss indexing system​ to find anything quickly in your notes.
23) Evaluate your notes. Do you spot important stuff? Are they complete enough? Do
you abbreviate enough? Do they help you to study? Show them to your instructor
and get feedback.
24)Love your notes. :) 

Angelos Georgakis © 2017 - www.livediversified.com