Yeah, I've never really understood the note taking thing. I'll be working on simple algorithm problems that require me to hold 3-4 elements in my mind and const

Yeah, I've never really understood the note taking thing. I'll be working on simple algorithm problems that require me to hold 3-4 elements in my mind and constantly have to mentally reference them over and over. "what was the value of x again?" — which distracts from solving the actual problem! Maybe the experience that others have is different.