dragonbook

26 Mastering the material your professor presents in class, then, is often more important than mastering the assigned texts, and it’s vital to have good notes on this material. So how to you get good lecture notes? Some students solve the problem by simply Xeroxing or borrowing the notes of a student who is better at note taking than they are, and sometimes this works well enough. However, even if you have access to a brilliant student’s notes, it’s important to take notes on your own. One reason for this is that you will remember much better anything you write down in class. For some reason, students who just listen to a lecture, no matter how attentively, forget far more of the material than those who take extensive notes. Also, taking notes is probably the best way to avoid being bored in class. It’s not easy to sit and listen to anyone lecture for 50-75 minutes per class. No matter how interesting the topic and no matter how dynamic the speaker, you’re almost sure to uncomfortable if you do nothing but sit and listen. Take notes, however, and the time goes much more quickly. So how do you take good lecture notes? There is no one “right” way to take notes, but almost all good students have figured out a note-taking method that works for them. Some students succeed just by writing down nearly everything a professor says, but, for most students, that’s an impossible task. I’ll be showing a video in class that illustrates what, for most students, is a better note-taking method than simply becoming a human tape recorder. However, it’s important to find the note-taking method that works best for you. The good news is that, by the end of a semester or two, almost all students do find such a method. For now, some brief suggestions on note taking: 1. Do the assigned readings before class. Getting general overview of the topic the professor is covering really helps you to understand the lecture. Also, professors will often spend class time primarily clarifying particularly difficult aspects of the material. If you already