Lecture #11: Taking Notes Effectively - which words should you write down? 

After years of not being a student, I returned to graduate school. My first term I had a professor who was a recognized expert in his field who lectured for 90 minutes at an astounding rate without refering to notes. He referred to the textbook often, but also spent a great deal of time speaking freely about the topic. The amount of information in a single class was overwhelming and as I looked around at each student frantically (and miserably) taking 10 to 20 pages of notes I knew I couldnt keep up using this method of note taking. As you say, often my notes were scribbles that didnt even connect. Then I tried taping a lecture, but that meant listening to 90 minutes of material at least twice - too much time, not practical. I thought to myself "when I have an engaging conversation with someone at a party, and my wife later asks what we talked about, I can recall most of the conversation with no notes at all because I WAS ENGAGED AND ATTENTIVE. So I decided to prepare for the next lecture by doing the assigned reading with margin notes BUT sit in front and maintain eye contact and engage with the professor - ask and answer questions, but only write down a few key words. I ended up with a single page of notes but feeling really connected to the teacher. After a few lectures the professor asked me to remain after class. He noticed I wasnt taking notes but listening intently instead. He said "I look at you and you are looking at me. I feel listened to and appreciated. When I ask a question you are the first to raise your hand and if something is unclear you are the first to ask for clarification. Im curious to see how well you retain the information for the first test using your method." He smiled and nodded at me when he passed back our first essay test of the term and I had a A-, one of the highest grades. I had literally just eight pages of notes for eight lectures, but each word on those pages was a key word, an important idea, or something I didnt understand and spent additional time sorting out later.

What really worked for me back in university was to read the chapter before the lecture. I didn't need to understand everything, but having seen the material just once really helped me.

I am 51 years old, living in Jamaica and I'm going back to school. This will help me. God bless.

Not only is his advice golden for someone is learning how to study, but the comment section is a box of jewels as well. Thank you all for sharing your experiences

Im not a student, just an old man who wants to retain more. This advice has been invaluable, reading has become my passion, im now defacing my books with notes and my own thoughts and its made reading a far more enriching experience. I wish i had this imformation when i was a young man.

What is good about these videos is that the maker is someone who went through the same situation as us and now currently someone who is in charge of people like us.

I also teach. Statistics. And I follow you because I learn from you. I really admire what you do and the effort you spend in doing these videos. I will share your advice with my students.

I took notes for this video: 1. Process and HANDWRITE in your own words what your professor says/writes. 2. Fill in the details from memory within 24 hours preferably that night. 3. If you must use an electronic device to take notes, sit in the front to minimize distractions.

This is the kind of professor is what I think of when I call them a Brofessor. Candid, practical, down to earth, able to convey in clear and memorable ways. A professor with good older brother energy.

Bonjour, Your RU-vid lecture series on 'How to do well in College' has been an invaluable resource for me. As I approach my 45th birthday, I'm preparing to dive into a unique educational journey in 2024 - an accelerated bachelor's degree program in France, tailored for individuals with significant professional work experience. This program condenses two years of college into just six months of intensive university classes. In my relentless pursuit of strategies to excel in this challenging endeavor, I stumbled upon your series. While this video was posted almost two years ago, and it is unlikely you will read this, I want to convey my deep gratitude for your commitment to educating people on RU-vid. Bravo for sharing your expertise! Your advice, particularly on effective note-taking, has left a lasting impact on me. I'm committed to adding 'flesh' to my handwritten notes. Thank you once again!

Summary: How to take notes - No verbatim, *the meaning*. - Never exact phrases, understand first whats has been said. - Expand the notes withing a 24 hours frame with your ideas (what you thought about it). - Write notes by hand (it is scientifically proved to be better). Benefits - Its a record - Absorb more information To learn, to remember something you have studied, it needs to have been processed-mixed with your prior knowledge End summary --- This from me: whats important is to have a record you can refer back so can either solidify those notions or actualize them.

Recently typed my notes before attending class. I was astonished to find when I attended that class ot was like I had not taken notes at all. I recalled NOTHING. Hand writing for me from now on. Thank you Jeffrey 🎉

I wish somebody had explained this stuff to me 40 years ago. However, never too late to learn. Thankyou

Without out a doubt in my mind, you are the most influential teacher I've ever had...Thank you

4:35 Think through the meaning 6:28 7:48 add flesh within 24 hours 9:57 write your notes by hand with a 🖊️🖋️ 13:50 Divided attention reduces long term retention and summarize 9:00

You articulate passionately and strongly believe that what you share will help students. Your students are fortunate to have you as a teacher.

Two years ago and still as relevant as ever. You do an amazing job. I am hooked on your style of videos because they are so engaging and it doesn't feel like you are mindlessly reading from a script. You've convinced me to give up typing my notes!

Excellent information, thank you. I think a lot of students also make the mistake of thinking the classroom is the only place they can get all of their information. Students should be reading material BEFORE a lecture and AFTER a lecture. The lecture is an ADDITION to your knowledge and understanding, not THE source.

Just stumbled across your channel- what a treasure trove. I am one of those neurodivergent types. My notes are all by hand, but consist of numerous drawings and symbols, that allow for a personal shorthand. I went back to college in my 50s. I literally cannot type or spell well, because of my spicy brain, and discovered the ability to make connections with instructors and the material was easier via images. I defended my masters in front of a whiteboard and illustrated and mind mapped my argument visually as well as verbally. The professors were blown away. I have had them stop me and tell me they were still remembering my thesis and using the information in their own teaching. The connections our brains make to other things becomes what scaffolds memory and LEARNING. I worked in the writing center, specializing in non traditional students. I was booked back to back all year long, once word got out about how I taught, wrote, and took notes. Thank you for these videos. So few students are ready for college, and fewer instructors are able, or willing, to help them. Best to you and your community.

I absolutely agree with you. I went to university as a mature student (in my early 50s), so I don’t know if I would have been inclined to take notes this way when I was younger, but fleshing out the material within 24 hours certainly worked for me -- and I did get excellent marks! I'll admit that I was somewhat scared into it because my note-taking was largely illegible, so I found I ‘needed’ to re-write later while the material was still fresh in my mind if I had any hope of retaining it. (Mind you, my initial poor notes were by hand, and I did use a laptop in the final process). The simple act of revisiting the ideas a second time, putting them into my own words -- essentially making meaning for myself in the re-writing -- was invaluable. Those university days are close to 25 years behind me. But I have kept most of my old notebooks, and I would wager that anyone picking them up today would find the material (no matter what the subject) easy to understand.

I've found your lectures on philosophy both instructive and entertaining. There is another benefit to taking notes in longhand that is very useful. The act of writing in longhand embeds the information faster and more durably than using a keyboard. I learned this long ago when I was performing as an actor in stage plays. After a hint from another cast member I started writing out my entire part in longhand (usually including cues) and found that it took considerably less time to memorize my lines. There is something about the hand-eye coordination, the deliberation, perhaps even some kind of muscle-memory that locks the material into one's mind. Thanks so much for your delightful presentations.

Your channel is a gold mine! Thank you for creating it and thanks to the RU-vid algorithm gods for bringing it to my attention! I wished I learned all the study techniques you teach here early on in my life. I think that would've made a big difference in my life. I skimmed to your videos and it's all the subjects I've always wanted to learn. I'll keep coming back to watch your videos and use the techniques you taught on how to retain information. Thanks Prof! 👍👍

Hello professor Jeffrey I am a philosophy student that done quite terrible in my first year. However this year all results will be counting towards my degree. I’ve written notes from 3 of your other videos and intend to implement your methods and advice this year. Will let you know what results I cultivate following your guide. Thank you for these videos!

I really ENJOY LEARNING from teachers such as This amazing Guy!! The exuberant ability to express every word keeps me wanting to listen. All my favorite teachers had this type of teaching style and energy! Makes you love learning!! This kind of teacher in the process of attaining knowledge isn't appreciated like the overrated careers that earn higher salaries.

I learned a technique from a book about anthropology which i hated but chugged through Hoping for any golden pieces of wisdom... In your notebook on the left page Only write on every other line, and leave the other side entirely blank. When you go home flesh out your notes in the empty spaces and on the blank page draw a picture if possible but also feel free to use that side for deeper notes My personal advice is write questions for your own exploration of the topic

I've had the true fortune in life to have had a number of profs and instructors who had similar groundedness, humility and relatability to that exhibited by Kaplan. These are the great ones. These are the ones who motivate and energize you, make you face up to your own nonsense, even on your down days.

This is why the best teachers are 1) engaging in their delivery and 2) either provide notes or provide supplement reading material that support the lecture well, so you don't feel you need to capture every word because there is no way to get the info otherwise. But these are great ideas for taking notes. It's basically how I've approached it throughout my school and professional career. It works well.

Wish I could give this a two thumbs up! Great advice. I am going back to university after being out of college for 23 years. Thanks so much for your gold mine of tips. Now that my prefrontal cortex is more developed, I feel much more confident I can implement your recommendations.

Genuine advice through sound explanation and motivation. I totally agree with the Psychological Science’s research findings. As a former High School Math teacher, I can understand the arguments you made here for beneficial and effective notes taking in College and High School classrooms. Effective notes taking is a good habit to inculcate during our early formal education. I enjoyed all your lectures!

Points 3 & 4 make such a big difference. I taught this to my kid and it’s makes such a difference in taking up and retaining information.

Felt so good to get all of my hunches confirmed! I always was anxious about missing out on all the knowledge-gains these tech-kids would collect while I was stuck with my unpractical paper notes. But the understanding turned out so much better with the pen and paper. Typing was too fast and it took me a whole workday going over these notes and completing them, and they turned out verbatim reports

In a word : thank you very much ! This content is very likely to be one of the most useful that I've found in RU-vid. Pure gold ! Wish I could have capitalised on it back then when I was a student. May God bless you Sir Jeffrey Kaplan !

Love your enthusiasm! I always wished they taught something like this when I was in school. It would have saved me YEARS of frustration, angst & anxiety!!! Never too late to learn how to learn....comprehensively!

It also helps to have 'read ahead' of the likely study areas so that you at least have a flavour of the topics that will come up and a thirst for extra knowledge about the 'new ideas' you know will be coming up. It's easier to surf the front of the wave. It carries you forward. In terms of reading ahead, skim the book/work from the back of the book working back forward, you get to see the usage of the 'answers' that that the earlier sections are developing,. It means you aren't surprised by the results. You see the value of ideas being developed. It makes note-taking so much easier as you can more easily identify the key point(s) YOU found educational (even if the lecturer thought they were obvious and passed over those points without any real comment). Head up; Sit at the front; Listen; then make relevant notes! (50yrs of tertiary ed, and still learning!)

What a wonderful teacher you are….I’m studying to become a non-attorney representative and feel lucky to have found you

Advice you can implement right away. Your presentation of this subject is refreshing and educational thanks for helping me to get that much better than I was yesterday with this approach 👍🏽

15 years of studying, I realize my note taking was miserable.. Thanks a million!

Another good thing about taking notes in a physical notebook rather than typing: not all your notes will lend themselves to the straightforward text formatting in a word processor. Most of my notes will, sure; but when I take notes, I invariably add arrows, diagrams, floating sub-notes, and so on.

Thank you so much for your channel, specially for this series! Really great advice for me to put to practice! 🤗🌷

I usually avoid channels that say "do this to top your class", "get good marks easily", etc because most of them are pretty fake. But you are really different. Not a single thing you say sounds incoherent to my intuitions. Thank you!

I love your channel; specifically, the way you demonstrate taking notes and how to surmise what you have read. In addition, I enjoy learning about philosophy too. I’m attending Rutgers in the spring, however, I have been recently diagnosed with glioblastoma, a brain tumor. The videos are extremely helpful .

I'm 47, have a brain injury, can't walk, and have problems with my hearing, speech, and sight. I'm currently getting my undergraduate degree. I'm enrolled with The Open University which involves distance learning. The first two years I had the problem you mentioned of getting distracted and going off looking at unrelated things on the internet. Now I use the Pomodoro Technique to keep focused, it works wonders.

I can't binge watch TV shows without multitasking. I look up actors, see where else I know them from.... A couple tangents, and I've missed a half hour of the show. The good news, I can watch a series again, a few months later, and it's new to me.

You are so passionate in what you are speaking.. thanks so much for this.. God Bless you sir!!!

After long busy university schedule watching your video sir. Amazing channel.

As a student, I had crappy note-taking and even in my professional life, I could rarely translate what I had written three days ago into actual information that would be useful in the future. I've been retired for a couple of decades and just now am discovering the Cornell method for taking notes. What you have stated in this video is all well and good, but I am convinced that you could improve it with an actual method that makes note-taking into a discipline. The fact that note-taking is not taught (except in the special needs classes) is a serious problem in modern education. BTW: While listening to your lecture, I paused the video to see if I could add to an Amazon order I had placed earlier in the day.

This is the greatest teaching I have ever received

How efficient and powerful your expressions are . Admirable ❤❤❤

I would read text, out line chapter on word, save on word, take outline to class, different color ink pen for note, cross out what teacher did not go over, after class do back and delete what not covered in class. Also record the lecture.

This. This actually makes me excited about now taking! I can't wait to put it into practice.

And here you get one subscriber. Your explanation is really really good and helpful and in the end your your research is indeed amazing. You are amazing.

Thanks Jeffrey, that was helpful! Thanks for including many research papers and their findings.

Ty, sounds like a good thing to try and it can't hurt. Enjoy your videos.

Thank you! We each can learn no matter our age & stage in life. I wish I was taught by Dr. Kaplan in elementary and middle school, this note- taking method. Note-taking in high school, college, at times, was painful trying to capture every word.

I agree with your #4, it improves my retention hugely and I openly recommend it to everyone. Even when learning names, write them down. However there is a condition called dysgraphia that prevents some people from taking effective notes. They are taught the techniques you are describing but on a typing device with no internet connectivity.

drooling over his teaching skills.

I won't lie, this reminds me of the video you did about studying, very similar in technique. I almost want to take notes on your video taking notes, almost. Thanks for the video!!

OMG, this stuff is pure Gold, thank you, I am preparing for a major professional 4 part exam, I will be using these techniques to retain notes.

To this day I still take pretty good notes. For me the most important point was to fresh them out. I did best doing this within one hour, although I knew of one person who could put it off for 2 weeks. I was less brilliant. I was good with pencil but also iPad using a writing program which did not stumble over misspellings. Yes with paper and pencil I did slightly better, however the rattling of paper during a lecture sometimes was a bother to other participants. In one hour I could jot down lots mostly due to my huge handwriting style. Using iPad also did not worry participants during "sensative" information briefings because they thought, "no way can he get it all down." But as you mention in points 1 and 2, I did not need to get every word or phrase written. It was during fleshing out periods that I would look up specialty words or acronyms just to be sure I got them right, or the spellings of middle-eastern terrorist. I learned this technique by trial and error. I wish I had heard this note taking lecture back in my early school days.

Oh man - just started a playlist of what my kids have to review each school year. Thanks!

Am currently studying. Thanks professor I will implement this technique to achieve success. Thanks a ton

Thank You, university just started, was really struggling with note-taking.

Thank you, Professor Kaplan, for teaching us how to achieve at the University or college. I believe that taking notes is crucial to be a successful student.

This video is straight HEAT! 🔥

This is great information. I usually type notes - every word - and could tell it was a lot of work with very little payoff.

I took notes for this video... and will it on them first:) Great techniques as usual - you're AMAZING !

Excellent! Well explained, well sourced, and very direct. Bravo sir!

Hi Jeffrey! Fellow Bergen County resident here! Happened upon this video. First saw you on a documentary... Subscribing to your channel now. I'm a seasoned professional, but your content is great for me too.

This is useful for taking Minutes too. Very useful and it’s the method I use at work.

Thanks for the invaluable lesson on effective note taking at this crucial time for me for I am returning to study law after 10 years and at the age of 38 years old. I have subscribed to your channel and liked the video at least to return an iota of the help you offered. This is the second time finished watching this video from start to finish. Thank you.

You really are a gift, thank you . . .

I’ve learned as a manager when scheduling a meeting to schedule follow up time immediately after. A 1 hour meeting is scheduled as 1.5 hours. I take hand written notes and I take notes on my tablet. During follow up time i transfer handwritten to my tablet. All notes are filled in notes on with more information so it makes sense later. And so I can easily find them using search. I check off each note I followed up on. I only take notes i need.

I love this man. Im not afraid to say it

The editing and research with content creation is awesome 🔥🗣️💯

Great lecture... lov it so much..to the points

I would also give an extra advice as a student that revolves around writing structure for learning, read, read a lot of different types of texts, researchs, lectures, books, articles, not complete, maybe 10 pages a day, it will improve your writing, story telling, orthography and attention skills.

I am so glad you have given some references to my prejudices which advocate longhand. And, I am a gold star Aspie. :)

Great video! I saw the title and decided to take notes on everything you said, verbatim ;) .

I feel like that point related to typing notes all goes down to purpose and sacrifice. I type my notes in almost all classes, sometimes I don't even take notes. Whenever I find myself about to click away I just remind myself why am I here and that I am willing to sacrifice my time on social media for this lecture.

Thank you Jeffrey. I am taking your advice.

I really enjoy your content. Thank you for sharing

thank you so much for freely sharing your knowledge proffesor

loving these vids 🙌

This methodology works for SO many situations, not just classroom lectures. The set of all situations that require active listening and understanding. Cultivation of good habits is terrifically important. They will serve you throughout your career. If you use this method, you will develop a habit of active listening that is triggered by the physical act of picking up your pencil and putting a header onto a notebook page. You'll be tuning in when other people are fighting the urge to tune out.

I wish they had these videos years ago when I was in college. It would made my college experience more meaningful. Unfortunately in high school they dont teach you things like this and you wander around trying to find things that work

Excellent way of explaining, you can write a whole book on these lectures

Wow thank you, this is gold

This is the best most aware professor ive ever seen lol Awrsome content

Thank You For this super Lesson Your are a great teacher I ever seen in my life

Absolutely love your videos!!! Starting my 1st Semester majoring in Philosophy in 10 days!!! I’ll be using your advice! Thanks!

"who do you think you are?!" "No one is powerful enough" Love your style. I take notes efficiently, but I still enjoyed watching this

Thank you very much! You are awesome!

I'm about to start graduate school. I always felt like I'm taking notes wrong during undergrad. This will help tremendously.

Thanks and love from India🇮🇳

45s in, I already got the juiciest bit. Great lesson on writing, presentation or communication skill in general. Start with the juice

You are making easier you r great

This guy deserves 10000 times more subscribers, and 3500000 people are missing out...

I started multi-tasking during the bit about multi-tasking. I think it was the power of suggestion.

Salute to you, sir

Thanks! for the workout. No nonsense or vague comments.