<p>For example, do you use one binder or use separate binders for each class?</p>
<p>I use separate notebooks for every class, or I use sections of the same one if I have more than one class that is similar (like a lecture and a lab). </p>
<p>I found that this works better for me, but I know a lot of people use one or two main notebooks or a binder with dividers in it.</p>
<p>I use composition books for each class so I don’t have tons of loose paper everywhere. It gets too confusing otherwise. I have folders for some classes that don’t have a ton of a paper but other classes I have dozens of handouts and readings and have a binder for those classes.</p>
<p>I don’t! </p>
<p>I realized this in the bookstore when I was going to buy a notebook. So, I bought a legal pad and it is much better for me to just take any kind of notes and then flip through all of the pages. I never ever could just separate what kind of notes I took for one class from the other, I just simply pulled whatever notebook I could from my backpack and started writing. By buying the legal pad I used it for everything and it is the only thing I need to pull out of my backpack that has more pages than a standard 1 subject notebook. </p>
<p>I try to stay organized, but I know I’m just one of these types of people. So, I have embraced my chaotic style of writing wherever and whenever I please by using a legal pad. Binders and separate notebooks were a waste for me.</p>
<p>I use a folder for each class. I write on the backs of printer paper basically from returned assignments such as homework and other old documents. Then I just store my notes in each folder, one for each class and when my folders grow full, I’ll take out the early notes and keep them in my desk but I stay organized and sort by class as well.</p>
<p>More importantly I think is – how do you organise the information in lecture in the notes?</p>
<p>I have to admit…I’ve stopped taking notes. In quantitative courses, my brain organises information differently so it’s pointless for me to copy a derivation for example, when I can just look it up later and actually probe the equation. Part of this is I write and think all over the place and make all sorts of connections I can’t commit to paper.</p>
<p>I write notes as a mental exercise if I’m studying by myself, since your mind remembers what you read if you write it. But you can’t write it under duress, or when you’re listening at the same time. </p>
<p>And in the humanities and social sciences, the lecture is often engaging enough that I get immersed in the lecture and end up not committing that much to paper.</p>
<p>The only time I’ve found note-taking useful is in organic chemistry, and that’s because structures are delightful to draw; I think very vividly in structures so writing them out reinforces them in my mind.</p>