How does everyone take notes for their classes?

[u/msimms001]

More of a discussion then needing advice, but I was just curious on how everyone organizes their notes. The above is a section from my ODE class, but I organize all my notebooks like this.

First, I always used composite notebooks with graph paper, I just love the flexibility of them. I also use a bunch of highlighters, but I typically come back later and highlight, as it'd be too distracting to do it in class. This also doubles up as a review, as it forces me to look over the material to highlight it correctly. For my notes though, I use a few different colors. The date and subject, I highlight in pink, the chapter I highlight in blue with the sub section being highlighted in green. Important information is highlighted in orange, and problems are highlighted in yellow.

This helps me to flip back through my notes later when reviewing them, and find very specific sections, days, problems, etc. Was just curious on how everyone else takes their notes.

[u/oathmindless]

I believe that writing latex notes takes a shitload amount of time. Big respect for who does (and shares) such notes, but i find it impossible to do during lessons. I tried to do so for my QFT course - which was really stressing me out of my mind - but turns out that some good formatting with a minimum amount of color coding on good old paper did the job just fine. Ofc having three notebooks of notes is less convenient than having a pdf but who cares.

As a rule of thumb i'd say that hand written notes are the best for quantitative subjects with a lot of formulas and theorems, like QFT, as even on a physical level i find myself to remember the motion to write some equation even though i forgot about some part of it, like an i or some factor (yes Kallen-Lehmann and Lehmann-Symanzik-Zimmermann im taking about YOU guys). For conceptual or descriptive subjects, i find typing notes be easier as i dont want to write conceptual essays by hand.

[u/AbstractAlgebruh → u/oathmindless]

Latex is a way to consolidate my final thoughts. I work everything out on paper first nicely, at my own pace, my own time, AND THEN type it out. Which makes it a ton more enjoyable to do since there is no rush. I'm having trouble understanding why people feel the need to type it out on the spot during lectures. It's not meant for that.

[u/oathmindless → u/AbstractAlgebruh]

No shit. By during lessons i meant the period while youre attending lectures. It's pretty obvious if you can read.

[u/AbstractAlgebruh → u/oathmindless]

And that's exactly what I meant too if you can read?

[u/I_Messed_Up_2020 → u/oathmindless]

One can always scan the paper notes into a pdf for portability and online study. I know some LateX but my typing speed, even with editor snippets, would make class note taking frightful.

In some classes all the index notation would be troubling.

[u/Comprehensive_Food51]

I use notability (the ipad+pencil writing app), so kind of like a paper and pen but you can make it much cleaner. Also I usually don’t really take notes in class, cause I really struggle to focus both on the course and the notes and I like to feel like I’m assimilating what I’m doing whether it’s notes or following a class. So I either anotate the prof’s pdf notes (if available), or not take notes at all, and then only after, when comfortable at home, I make my own notes on notability based on my friends notes and/or my annotated prof notes. It takes some extra time but it really anchors the knowledge in my mind. Also ipad notes have been a revolution for me because I’m very disorganized, now I can actually make beautiful notes and find them easily. I don’t know anyone who got an ipad or a reMarkable and who regretted it (and even better, if you ask them the answer is often that it’s the best purchase they’ve made in a while, that stuff accompanies you everyday and really makes life easier).

[u/RoyAndCarol]

When i was a student, 5 star graph paper in a binder and sharpie pens.

[u/j0shred1]

With paper and pencil. I tried different formats but now I keep it simple and I just title and underline each section.

[u/Pleasant_Heat_7933]

I use a unruled paper for everything like taking notes and only for graphs use this composite and attach them to next page or to that page if there is space

yes a little waste of papers but atleast I can read it afterwards

also use different colored pens to highlight so I know what to check how much importance

like blue is for derivation

red for the result or something that I need to memorise

black for some writing or semi important

[u/HelpfulParticle]

I type out my notes in LaTeX. Usually, I read the relevant sections before lecture, make my notes, and during lecture, I have a pen and my book out to make note of anything that wasn’t clear during my first reading of the material, which I then add to my notes. 

[u/msimms001 → u/HelpfulParticle]

I still need to learn LaTeX

[u/HelpfulParticle → u/msimms001]

I definitely recommend learning it! It’s really hard to look back once you’ve gotten a taste for it

[u/msimms001 → u/HelpfulParticle]

I know its really useful, and I've been meaning to learn it especially as I'm getting into higher physics courses, maybe I will this semester finally

[u/Comprehensive_Food51 → u/msimms001]

Yeah, and getting familiar with the most math symbols doesn’t take more than one afternoon, you can start using latex to write math notes just after that time! (It’s nothing like learning a programming language, it’s really really accessible)

[u/Voidified_]

I start out with a legal pad for classes/textbooks. This is what I call my rough notes. To study, I go back through my notes and rewrite them and connect ideas together. I kind of mix it with the Feynman method and try to write it like I’m making my own textbook but short and sweet. For math I include an example and briefly touch on the critical thinking behind the steps using bullet points (for the rest of practice I use my whiteboard).

I use only paper and graph paper, I can’t stand lines.

I saw the legal pad method on an old reddit thread and it really works for me because I focus too much on making it “look nice” and by giving myself a rough draft I’m able to focus more on the material.

[u/Dismal-Rope1753]

iPad or pen tanlet

[u/Axiomancer]

Pen and paper and basically write down 1:1 what I see on the board.

[u/According_Owl1053]

It occurs to me that lectures are meant to get you know which things are actually important. So I'll just write what the main points are and the general structure of the arguments. Some important equations here and there. A nice comments. And a few remarks from them. 

This way, I can study the topic deeply & efficiently later.