Note taking advice please -- sometimes it seems mindless

[Mathscienceknowledge]

Often when I take notes it seems mindless. I put down an equation and there is all this text. There is often all this text which I can't tell what is useful or useless. Can someone give me some advice?

 

[Choppy]

Some general note-taking tips for STEM classes:

• Read Ahead
  How prepared are you for your lectures? Ideally your professor should be following a syllabus and/or giving you some guidance on what will be covered in the coming lectures. Take time prior to your lectures to read up on at least the basics of what's going to be covered. Very little, if anything in a lecture should be brand new to you. Reading ahead will help you identify what's important as you go.
  
  
• You Don't Need to Copy Everything
  See the note above about reading ahead. If something is in the book, or easy to look up online, you don't need to copy it out verbatim. Get the core concepts down. Get the tips, tricks, insights, discussion, etc. But if you're crunched for time, avoid writing out stuff you can look up later as needed.
  
  
• Review As Needed
  By reviewing pre-requisite material in preparation for the course, you won't have to waste time writing out basic stuff that you should already know.
  
  
• Talk to Your Colleagues and Professor
  If the lecture pace is too fast, perhaps you can talk to others and find out if you're all struggling. If everyone in the class is having a hard time keeping up, be sure to bring this to the attention of the professor. They aren't always aware of what pace students are comfortable with.
  
  
• Ask Questions in Lectures
  If you don't understand something, ask. In most cases, you won't be the only one with that same question. And it's better to get questions out of the way early, rather than avoiding them only to find the entire lecture is based on a single fact that you didn't understand in the first 5 minutes.
  
  
• Learn and Develop Your Own Shorthand
  Maximize your efficiency. Use point form. Shorten wording. Learn the Greek alphabet and other symbols commonly used by your professors and what they mean.
  
  
• Notes from Previous Years
  One thing I've seen some students do is get a copy of lecture notes from previous years, often from more senior students. Provided the course isn't too different, this gives you another set of reference material and helps you to focus on the details. Be careful not to copy out someone else's mistakes though.
  
• Don't Be Too Proud To Try a Note-taking or Study-Skills Workshop
  Most universities have resources like this for students. They're not always oriented toward STEM students, but sometimes they can help you find your groove.

 

[Drakkith]

In addition to what @Choppy posted, remember that you're not really supposed to understand your notes right after your write them down. That's what studying is for. Join study groups, go talk to your instructors during their office hours, ask questions in class, see your TA, etc. Use every possible source of help if you need it.

As for note taking, try to keep your notes organized in some way and not just an ongoing incoherent paragraph of words. Use different colored pens/pencils for different things. Underline important information.

 

[Mondayman]

Keep rough notes and good notes. When I first study something, I'll take notes with pencil, following along and writing down anything important, trying to do it in my own words but not always, not a big deal. Then I'll solve problems.

After sleeping on it, I'll try to draw up a set of notes on the material from memory. I'll ask myself, "What did I learn last session? What do I know about this topic?", and try to draw my notes like I'm teaching it to a class. Only after exhausting my memory will I identify gaps and weak spots, and fill those in from my previous notes or the text. Then, I'll solve more problems.

I'll repeat this process until I know the material by heart and can solve all the easy problems, most of the medium problems, and some of the hard problems. When I feel I'm comfortable with the material, I'll draw up a good set of notes in pen, using multiple colors and highlighters. This is one of my favorite parts of studying, its so satisfying having a pretty set of notes.

I find this method works well for me, because it's like having a quiz before every study session. Challenging your memory is proven to work better than just rereading material.

 

[hutchphd]

I agree with everything that has been said. What works best for you is a personal matter.
Having now been on both sides of the lectern, I think the most important part is preparation for the lecture. You paid a lot of money to listen to this fool!
If your fellow student asks you before the lecture "what is this about?" you should be able to outline the upcoming lecture and highlight the difficult parts. You should then be able to recognize the parts that expand on the textbook or public notes, and be certain to take notes on that stuff...it will be on the test. If you can, immediately after review the lecture in your head with the book in hand and annotate the notes a little. Don't expect your lecture notes to save you at some future study session.

 

[Vanadium 50]

remember that you're not really supposed to understand your notes right after your write them down

I agree with much of what is written, but this, not so much. You should be writing down what you understand. If you don't understand what is being said, raise your hand and ask. Don't just write something down and hope you can figure it out later.

 

[Drakkith]

I agree with much of what is written, but this, not so much. You should be writing down what you understand. If you don't understand what is being said, raise your hand and ask. Don't just write something down and hope you can figure it out later.

To be clearer, I don't mean that you should be utterly lost about what you right down. Only that, in my experience, you're not going to fully understand what's in your notes until you study them. Some confusion is likely, but if you are absolutely and utterly lost when you look back at your notes then you definitely have a problem that needs to be looked into.

 

[mpresic3]

In physics, engineering and the sciences, chances are good that if the professor wrote it down on the board, it is important enough to write down in your notes. If the notes seem useless, that is a good reason to visit your professor or your TA during office hours or by appointment. As you progress, you will probably see reasons why some notes you took were important and useful, and expect to see your TA or professor less and less often.
I can see reasons why you should take notes even if at the present you do not understand them, at the time you take them. I remember one time, I did not recognize the "handwriting" of the professor. I dizerew the symbol just as the professor wrote it on the blackboard. Later on in looking at my notes, I recognized the symbol he wrote down as the letter "z".

 

[Lnewqban]

Often when I take notes it seems mindless. I put down an equation and there is all this text. There is often all this text which I can't tell what is useful or useless. Can someone give me some advice?

At least for me, it was always very hard to do both things at once:
1) Pay devoted attention to the professor and trying to understand his/her explanations.
2) Take notes.
Therefore, the solution I found worked for me was:
Intense #1 followed by limited #2 (really condensate summary of what I had understood).

You must learn the way your mind operates first, then engineer a method that effectively works for you during lectures.

There is much more work to do before and after lectures, in order to fully understand subjects.
Self-studying books, completing homeworks, questions to professors, group study, labs, etc.

 

[Mayhem]

Controversial take: I think notetaking is extremely overrated. Often times, you are better off simply focusing on what the lecturer is telling you. True understanding comes through solving problems and asking questions.

 

[etotheipi]

Controversial take: I think notetaking is extremely overrated. Often times, you are better off simply focusing on what the lecturer is telling you. True understanding comes through solving problems and asking questions.

I used to think that too, but last term I found I started switching off in lectures even before the infamous 20 minute mark. So in a way, following along on paper is a decent way to keep yourself awake, and make things a little more interactive.

 

[atyy]

I inadvertently took only classes where the lecturers either gave superb notes or detailed textbook references, so I never had to take notes.

 

[lurflurf]

You should be writing down what you understand. If you don't understand what is being said, raise your hand and ask. Don't just write something down and hope you can figure it out later.

This is some kind of fantasy. You ask "what if x=6" get a round of applause and a noble prize. Many of my instructors had a no questions asked or answered policy. I don't agree with that, but I can see why they did it. Most questions and answers in lecture are a waste of time for most students. A class of 50 can waste much time and a class of 500 even more.

Figure it out later is a good strategy. Most of the time one can figure it out later. Even if you cannot figure it out later the effort is valuable and you will be able to formulate a good clear question you can ask later. I had a notebook of points of confusion I had and frequently I would figure it out later or find the right person to ask.

The more common situation is to believe you under stand only to realize later you do not. Most lectures are filled with "as you can easily verify.." statements that you will only realize are confusing later when you cannot easily verify them.

I feel like the advice to slow down the lecture because you don't understand is rude as there are many students that do not care about your question, but want all the material they need to know explained. I think that could only work in a small class that should maybe not be mostly lecture or a class covering mostly trivial things not requiring deep thought.

 

[lurflurf]

Controversial take: I think notetaking is extremely overrated. Often times, you are better off simply focusing on what the lecturer is telling you. True understanding comes through solving problems and asking questions.

I will grant that sometimes excessive focus on note taking can be distracting. If you do not take notes you will forget all the things you focused on. The act of taking notes can help you remember. You can look at the notes later. Often the most valuable notes one takes are their own thoughts and questions which you cannot lookup later when you forget them.

As far as your question asking and problem solving goes that will not work without notes. You try to solve the exercise "Shew that a wub is daz if and only if it is duz." You cannot so you ask your instructor to help you. She asks you "What was confusing? What did you try?" You say it was confusing because you do not know what wub, daz, or duz are because you don't believe in writing.