<p>Hey guys, I'll be a freshman in the fall and I'm wondering based on your experience, what are the best ways to take notes? </p>
<p>Type them in a notes section on a laptop, or record if allowed to? </p>
<p>Or maybe good old pen and paper is the answer? I'm going to a rather small school so I don't think there will be any huge lectures, just small classroom meetings. Thanks!</p>
<p>What classes are they for? I started the year typing on my computer, but in second semester I found handwritten notes a LOT nicer.</p>
<p>I was the opposite of DeutschArzt. I started off handwriting notes, and then in later years switched almost entirely to using a laptop/tablet.</p>
<p>If either is the same to you, then a good rule of thumb is to handwrite notes for classes like math/science that use a lot of numbers and symbols and to type classes like history/sociology where an outline type format is more useful. If you prefer to handwrite, you could use pen and paper for all of your notes. If you prefer to type, you could probably get away with typing the majority of your notes, except for maybe math classes.</p>
<p>I use pen and paper for all my notes in college. I find it helps to write in one color, but use a different color for important terms or stats I need to remember. It helps studying go a lot more smoothly because I can immediately identify key information and remember it more easily come test day. Also, though this may be overkill, I like to use page protectors for all my notes because it preserves them in an organized manor for finals week.</p>
<p>I prefer pen and paper. I don’t really take a lot of notes, I try to preview the material a little bit so I know what the important parts are, and what I might have trouble with. That way, I can just take down the stuff that I need to take down, and pay closer attention to the lecture the rest of the time.</p>
<p>Sneak up on the person in front of you, and when their backpack is open, take their notes!!</p>
<p>In response to #3: I am a science/math major so that may have had something to do with it. Lots of random diagrams I’d like to draw every so often which would be difficult on OneNote!</p>
<p>^Fair enough. I was a biochemistry major but I still managed to get away with typing pretty much everything. But I did end up getting a tablet/keyboard so I could switch easily between typing and drawing when I needed to.</p>