4 ms·

The problem is not whether you take notes on a laptop or a legal pad. The problem resides in TAKING NOTES! This might be just my opinion, but I hate taking note

The problem is not whether you take notes on a laptop or a legal pad. The problem resides in TAKING NOTES! This might be just my opinion, but I hate taking notes, it's completely useful! If I'm going to a class I go to LISTEN to the professor and to ask questions to him/her. Before every class I used to read the contents we were going to cover (superficial read). That way I wouldn't be caught by weird words, references or concepts. At least I knew something. Then I'd "use" the professor to "explain" and "dig" those concepts for me. If you seriously need to take notes, the one failing is the professor. She/he should provide the content covered in the class in the form of pages of books to read, slides, etc. If you're a student. DON'T TAKE NOTES! (again, just my opinion)

graeme 12y ago
I wasn't much of a notetaker in college. But there may be something to it. I was going through old books from university over christmas. I found two notebooks where I took extensive notes during class. They were all familiar. I remembered the content of the class quite well, whereas I've forgotten most other classes. (Of course, one possible bias is that I thought these two teachers were better, so I may have paid more attention)
benplant 12y ago
Personally I find taking notes to aid in my retention of the material. I might never look at the notes again, but just the act of taking notes (hand written or typed) stimulates memory. This is much different than just reading over prepared notes.
greenyoda 12y ago
Different people can have very different ways of processing information, and what works well for you may not work at all for others. I, for example, am not very good at picking up and remembering information from hearing someone speak. Taking notes (or just doodling) helps keep me focused on what the speaker is saying, and my notes give me something that I can read over later to process at my own pace.

graeme 12y ago

I wasn't much of a notetaker in college. But there may be something to it. I was going through old books from university over christmas. I found two notebooks where I took extensive notes during class. They were all familiar. I remembered the content of the class quite well, whereas I've forgotten most other classes. (Of course, one possible bias is that I thought these two teachers were better, so I may have paid more attention)

benplant 12y ago

Personally I find taking notes to aid in my retention of the material. I might never look at the notes again, but just the act of taking notes (hand written or typed) stimulates memory. This is much different than just reading over prepared notes.

greenyoda 12y ago

Different people can have very different ways of processing information, and what works well for you may not work at all for others. I, for example, am not very good at picking up and remembering information from hearing someone speak. Taking notes (or just doodling) helps keep me focused on what the speaker is saying, and my notes give me something that I can read over later to process at my own pace.