How to Take Notes! Prepping for Finals Part 1, by How to ADHD on YouTube. 5 min 28 s.
- Video length
- 5 min 28 s
- Time to do it
- 15 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Rule your page before class. Draw a vertical line about one third of the way in from the left edge, then a horizontal line a few inches up from the bottom.
Take your class notes in the wide right column. Put ideas in your own words rather than copying the lecturer word for word, because rewording them helps you hold onto them.
Use short phrases, abbreviations and arrows so you can keep up. Start a new line for each new idea and leave a gap between topics.
Leave the narrow left column empty while you write. It is for cues you add later, not for class notes.
Within a day, fill the left column. Write a keyword or a question next to each block of notes, such as "what causes X?" or "three types of Y".
Cover the right column with a sheet of paper and answer each cue out loud. Uncover the notes to check yourself, then repeat until you get them right.
Write a summary of the page in the bottom section. Two or three sentences in your own words is enough.
Before finals, work through the cue column again for each page. The cues turn your notes into a ready-made practice test.
Tips and common mistakes
Trying to write every word makes it harder to follow the lecture, so aim for the main ideas instead.
If you lose focus mid-lecture, mark the topic and fill the gap from a classmate's notes or the slides afterwards.
Add the cues the same day, while you still remember what the notes meant.
Keep one notebook per subject so the cues and summaries stay with the right lecture.
Questions
How wide should the cue column be?
About one third of the page width. The right column needs most of the room for your notes.
Do I have to use paper?
No. Many note apps let you build a two-column table with a summary row at the bottom, which does the same job.
Why write the cues after class instead of during it?
Writing them later makes you go back over the notes and reword them, which is the review that makes the method work.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
