How to Take Notes

By Team GrowthGoal · 4 min read

How to Take Notes

Good notes are short, written in your own words, and reviewed within a day. Use headings and bullet points, try the Cornell method for classes and a mind map for revision, and look at your notes again within 24 hours. Notes that are never reread don't help much, however neat they are.

Why copying everything doesn't work

Many of us were taught to copy the board or the textbook word for word. It feels productive. Pages fill up. But copying lets your hand do the work while your mind wanders.

Notes help when they make you think. Turning a long sentence into four words of your own forces your brain to understand it first. That's where the learning happens.

Rule 1: your own words

Listen or read a paragraph, then write what it means in your words. If you can't, that's useful too: it tells you exactly what you didn't understand.

Textbook: "Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants synthesise food using sunlight, carbon dioxide and water."

Your note: "Plants make food: sunlight + CO2 + water → sugar (+ oxygen out)."

Shorter, and yours.

Rule 2: headings and bullets

Walls of text are hard to reread. Break your notes up.

Leave space. Cramped notes are hard to add to later.

The Cornell method

This is a simple page layout that works well for classes and lectures.

  1. Draw a line down the page, about a third of the way from the left.
  2. Draw another line across the bottom, about five lines up.
  3. During class, write notes in the big right-hand space.
  4. After class, write questions or keywords in the left column, next to the notes they belong to.
  5. At the bottom, write a two-line summary of the whole page in your own words.

To revise, cover the right side and try to answer the questions on the left. It's a built-in self-test.

Mind maps for revision

A mind map starts with the topic in the middle of the page. Branches go out for main ideas, and smaller branches for details. Use colours and little drawings.

Mind maps are great when you want to see a whole chapter on one page, a week before an exam. They're less useful during a fast lecture, where the Cornell layout is quicker.

The 24-hour review

This is the step most people skip, and it matters most. Within a day of taking notes, spend ten minutes going over them.

Then look again after a few days, and once more after a week. Each review takes less time than the one before, and the material stays with you far longer.

Notes for working life

Notes aren't only for students. In a meeting, a shop or a training session, the same ideas work:

A quick checklist

Before During After
Date and topic at the top Your own words Review within 24 hours
Page set up (Cornell lines) Headings and bullets Add questions in the left column
Pen and a second colour Box what's important Two-line summary

Get the free guide

How to Take Notes is one of our free guides, with a ready Cornell page you can print and use straight away. English and Hindi.

Want somewhere to practise? Learn with AI writes a workbook for any skill you pick, with space on every page for your own notes.

Questions people ask

Should I take notes on paper or on a laptop?
Many people remember more from paper, because you can't write as fast as you type, so you have to summarise. If you type, summarise anyway instead of recording every word.

My notes are messy. Does that matter?
Not much, as long as you can read them. Clear headings and space matter more than neat handwriting.

How do I take notes from a video?
Pause after each section and write a few bullets in your own words. Note the time in the video next to each point so you can find it again.

Is highlighting the textbook enough?
Highlighting feels like work but doesn't make you think much. Use it to find the important parts, then write those parts as notes in your own words.

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