TAKING LECTURE NOTES
Preparing for class
 Read assigned materials before class. (At the very least, skim the
assigned materials before class.) Having a general sense of the
material to be covered in lecture will make the lecture more
understandable.
 Take the 5 minutes before class starts to skim yesterday’s notes. This
will prepare you for today’s lecture and will serve as a review of
yesterday’s lecture. When you are doing this quick review, imagine
that you are the instructor of the course and think about what
questions you would put on a test from that lecture material. Write
down these questions for later use when you are preparing for your
midterm/final exams. (See split-page method below.)
 If you miss a class, get the notes from a classmate and review them
before the next class.
Taking notes during class
 Use the split-page method for taking notes. See information related to
the split-page method below.
 Be an active listener: Think about the material as it is being presented,
and make sure you understand it before making your notes.
 If you don’t understand a point, ask for clarification right away.
 Summarize the instructor’s points in your own words rather than
writing verbatim what the instructor says. This forces you to think
about and make sense out of the material before making your notes.
 Keep your notes as brief as possible: Write notes in point form and
use abbreviations whenever possible. This will reduce the amount of
time you spend taking notes and will afford you more time to listen to
and think about the material being presented.
 If your instructor puts information on power-point slides, overheads,
and/or boards, it’s usually information your instructor feels is
important. So make sure you take notes on this material.
 Listen for indicators from your instructor that particular lecture
information is important (and likely to be on the exam). If your
instructor repeats information, or intentionally slows down to make
sure you have enough time to write down a particular piece of
information, or makes a comment like “this is important”, it’s likely
material that will show up on the next exam. Make notes on this
material and mark it as potential exam material.
 If you are having trouble keeping up with the instructor, ask him/her
to slow down, or ask if you can tape the lectures.
After class
 Later the same day, take 5 - 10 minutes to skim over your class notes.
Think about what kinds of test questions your instructor might ask
from that day’s lecture materials and write down these questions for
future study purposes. This “second-guessing” your instructor is a
very good way to get you to identify the important information that
was presented in class. This skim through your notes will also serve as
a review of that day’s lecture and will facilitate learning the material.
The Split-page Method
There are a number of different note-taking methods that can facilitate
learning. (For more information on note-taking methods, google “notetaking methods”.) One of the methods, the split-page method, involves
leaving a 2 to 2.5 inch space on the left (or right) side of your page blank
when taking your notes. (Drawing a line down your page will help to
separate the two sections of the page.) This space can then be used for
possible test questions generated from your notes.
As mentioned above, it is important to review your lecture notes and try to
anticipate the kinds of test questions your instructors will create from the
materials they present in class. Students often do this when making up Qcards (questions on one side a card and the answers on the other side) to
study for their exams. The advantage of the split-page method is that it
provides a method for having your study questions right beside the answers
for those questions in your class notes. Later, when you are studying for
your exams, you can cover the side of the page that has your class notes and
quiz yourself from the test questions you wrote down in the margin on the
left (or right) side of the page.
Prepared by the Langara College Counselling Department.