By the time emerging adults reach college and hours of lecture-style courses, many professors take for granted that their students know how to take good notes. However, many college tutoring services now offer workshops and content on how to build this skill (even Ivy League schools like Harvard and Cornell University). Perhaps one reason students arrive at college without a honed system is that note-taking can be highly personalized—not just for recording information but also for understanding and actively engaging with the material.

One college student reports that his first experience with a lecture-style course was his high school history class. His teacher had the class open the text, pick up a highlighter, and mark “anything that might be on the test.” Throughout the hour, as he looked around at his fellow classmates and what they were highlighting, the student grew increasingly nervous. Everybody was underlining different things, so what did he do? He highlighted every line (except for block quotations). At the end of the year, he passed the class—but his history book was a bled-through neon mess, and he was certainly no closer to developing a study technique based off his note-taking system. He didn’t figure out a holistic approach until his freshman year of college, but when he did, his grades improved dramatically. (Incidentally, he still hates the smell of highlighter.)

The good news is that note-taking isn’t a code only college students can crack. High school is the perfect time to experiment with the major systems to find which best aids the study process, and you don’t necessarily need a fancy computer program or app to get good at one of the three following systems.

Before you begin, though, tune your ear for certain clues. Your teacher may use cues such as the following:

-“You’ll want to know this for the quiz.”

-“Make sure that you write this down.”

-“To sum this up . . .”

-“A major reason for this . . .”

-“This is important because . . .”

While the cues may vary subject-to-subject, your response won’t. Star it. Underline it. Draw a unicorn next to it—whatever it takes to make the valuable tidbit look important to you. You’ll probably see it later.

Starting with the Basics

System 1: The Sentence Method  

This system works well for beginners as you’re still finding your pace and learning abbreviations. Try to write down as much as possible, experimenting with how to shorten words. For example, your teacher could say, “You’ll want to remember that this painting represents Queen Victoria’s first meeting with her advisors at Kensington Palace on June 20, 1837.” If all you get down is “QV met w/ advisors at KP hrs. after taking throne on ____,” you’ve still accomplished your goal. You’re abbreviating and then leaving blanks where you need to go back and cross-reference your notes with a classmate’s. (It helps to start labelling each lecture by date for whenever you need to retrace your steps.)

Some common abbreviations are as follows:

• @—at

• +—and

• b/c—because

• b/w—between

• gov.—government

• edu.—education

• esp.—especially

• ex.—example

• w/—with

• w/o—without

You’ll pick up your own style with practice, adding many more to this list. An easy place to start is simply eliminating vowels to shorten words (like “QV’s Prv Cnsl” when referencing Queen Victoria’s Privy Counsel). Any word that you find yourself repeating is a prime candidate for abbreviation.

System 2: The Outline Method

Once you’ve had experience with the Sentence Method, you’ve likely started to pick up on the structure your teacher uses to present material. You’re better at spotting major ideas and the more specific subpoints that fall under those ideas. If so, you’re ready to graduate to the Outline Method. You’ve likely already had some experience writing an outline for English class. Just code switch that writing skill over to the context of the spoken word, starting a new line and indenting as a topic gets more specific. Starting with roman numerals, you’ll then indent to capital letters and indent again for numerals.

A possible example is as follows:

I. Process for planning the devotional speech

A. Intro

1. Start with hook

2. No longer then 1 minute long

3. End with your main point

B. Body

1. Three major points

2. One Bible verse per point

C. Conclusion

1. Restate the main point

2. Provide a brief keyword recap

3. End memorably

II. Practice for the devotional speech

A. Write speech on 3×5 cards

B. Practice at least 3 times

1. Record once and watch

2.Practice in mirror once

Upping Your Game

System 3: The Cornell Method

In the 1950s, Cornell’s education professor Walter Pauk developed this famous three-section method, outlined in this helpful video. You can always adapt the cue, notes, and summary section to a style that works better for you. (For example, some students in term-heavy classes simply swap out the cue column for a key word column.) During class, you’ll still take notes in the largest section, and then after class, you’ll go back to fill in the key words in the left column. All that’s left after that is to fill in the summary section at the bottom. While there are many videos available for how to adapt Cornell Notes for your arsenal, you may also want to check out Pauk’s best-selling book How to Study in College (which is likely available through your local library). You may be interested to find that he discourages the use of long sentences, opting rather for short notes, interspersed with abbreviations and symbols.

The sky’s the limit with how much you personalize your notes. From creating diagrams, charts, and tables to color-coding certain topics, the only goal is that the notes work with your brain. Give it a try—and before you know it, you’ll be the person your classmates turn to when they need some help filling in the blanks.