4 ms·

The notes i took in college were almost never looked at again after I took them... they were more of a method to retain the information. I also found that the c

The notes i took in college were almost never looked at again after I took them... they were more of a method to retain the information. I also found that the classes where I was using a laptop to take notes were the ones that I retained the least from. the notes are the process.

rowanajmarshall 4y ago
Exactly. If anything, computer notes distracted me from the lecture. But writing out summaries from slides after the lecture was invaluable, even if I never looked at those summaries again.
throwaway81523 4y ago
One of my professors said his retention method when he was a student was to take light, quick notes during lectures, but then at home the same night, write out their contents in complete sentences in a separate notebook. It sounded like a good system for someone (not me) who is organized enough to keep up with it. I looked at the OP article and it seems too fetishistic for my tastes. What happened to ordinary yellow legal pads, or spiral bound school notebooks? For daily casual jottings, I used to use paperbound pocket notebooks, but they kept falling apart with use. Now I just carry a folded up piece of 8.5"x11" printer paper and transcribe any content needing preservation to a computer when I get around to it. The rest is ephemeral and I can throw away the paper when it gets full. Lately I read on Stephen Wolfram's blog that he does the same thing I do. I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad one.
- neilv 4y ago
  Instead of that folded-up piece of paper, if you have a box of business cards you'll never get through, those double as wallet-sized durable scratch paper. :)
  - throwaway81523 4y ago
    Yeah at one point I carried around 3x5" cards but the regular sheet of paper is more convenient than almost anything, and I can unfold it and use the whole area or half of a side, or whatever. Biz cards are too small for more than jotting down occasional phone numbers etc. The current problem I find is I keep losing pens and rarely have one when I need it. I just happened to be looking into keychain and wallet sized pens a couple of days ago: https://www.jetpens.com/Ohto-Minimo-Ballpoint-Pen-with-Holder-0.5-mm-Black/pd/10899 https://www.jetpens.com/Ohto-Minimo-Ballpoint-Pen-with-Holde... Heh.
rchaud 4y ago
The way I was taught in college was to: a) take lecture notes in class b) as soon as possible after the class, refine those lecture notes by combining it with references from the textbook and other readings or handouts. c) visit your instructor during office hours to clear up things you weren't able to during (b) Unfortunately the advice didn't come with any time management tips so I was almost never able to follow it. The worst of it was revisiting my unrefined notes 3-4 days after I took them. They often seemed to read like gibberish, especially if I had not been studying the reading material in the meantime.
- bornabox 4y ago
  Just taking notes by hand seems to improve my memorization & understanding. (business context, not school for me) But going over my notes again in a timely fashion (<24 to 36 hours) seems to improve them a lot (sometimes just an additional explanation, highlighting, drawing a diagram). Structure helps when you need to go back and look for something.
matwood 4y ago
In college my process was take written notes in class, then studying consisted of transferring those notes to my computer by typing them in/expanding where needed. Never looked at them after that.

rowanajmarshall 4y ago

Exactly. If anything, computer notes distracted me from the lecture. But writing out summaries from slides after the lecture was invaluable, even if I never looked at those summaries again.

throwaway81523 4y ago

One of my professors said his retention method when he was a student was to take light, quick notes during lectures, but then at home the same night, write out their contents in complete sentences in a separate notebook. It sounded like a good system for someone (not me) who is organized enough to keep up with it. I looked at the OP article and it seems too fetishistic for my tastes. What happened to ordinary yellow legal pads, or spiral bound school notebooks? For daily casual jottings, I used to use paperbound pocket notebooks, but they kept falling apart with use. Now I just carry a folded up piece of 8.5"x11" printer paper and transcribe any content needing preservation to a computer when I get around to it. The rest is ephemeral and I can throw away the paper when it gets full. Lately I read on Stephen Wolfram's blog that he does the same thing I do. I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad one.

neilv 4y ago
Instead of that folded-up piece of paper, if you have a box of business cards you'll never get through, those double as wallet-sized durable scratch paper. :)
- throwaway81523 4y ago
  Yeah at one point I carried around 3x5" cards but the regular sheet of paper is more convenient than almost anything, and I can unfold it and use the whole area or half of a side, or whatever. Biz cards are too small for more than jotting down occasional phone numbers etc. The current problem I find is I keep losing pens and rarely have one when I need it. I just happened to be looking into keychain and wallet sized pens a couple of days ago: https://www.jetpens.com/Ohto-Minimo-Ballpoint-Pen-with-Holder-0.5-mm-Black/pd/10899 https://www.jetpens.com/Ohto-Minimo-Ballpoint-Pen-with-Holde... Heh.

rchaud 4y ago

The way I was taught in college was to: a) take lecture notes in class b) as soon as possible after the class, refine those lecture notes by combining it with references from the textbook and other readings or handouts. c) visit your instructor during office hours to clear up things you weren't able to during (b) Unfortunately the advice didn't come with any time management tips so I was almost never able to follow it. The worst of it was revisiting my unrefined notes 3-4 days after I took them. They often seemed to read like gibberish, especially if I had not been studying the reading material in the meantime.

bornabox 4y ago
Just taking notes by hand seems to improve my memorization & understanding. (business context, not school for me) But going over my notes again in a timely fashion (<24 to 36 hours) seems to improve them a lot (sometimes just an additional explanation, highlighting, drawing a diagram). Structure helps when you need to go back and look for something.

matwood 4y ago

In college my process was take written notes in class, then studying consisted of transferring those notes to my computer by typing them in/expanding where needed. Never looked at them after that.