Note Format

t. graduate student

seriously though, why do you go to class?

Must be a grad student in lib arts if you can get by w/o ever taking notes, or a liar.

I went to class to learn, why else?

Diff user here, used to take notes in class, ended up missing a lot of what the prof said. Now I sit and just sort of think about what he says, and then I'll go back read relevant chapters, look at slides, and just sort of mull it over

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I felt like I remembered more when I took notes while listening. Later, when I needed to remember something I could visualize my notes in my head. It was also handy for remember all the topics that were covered when you get to Finals.

The trick is to write the main points, and things to investigate after class. If you're trying to write down everything the proffesor says, you're doing it wrong.

To answer OP's question: I would take notes in composition books, that way they would stay in order, and I have them to refer back to years after I graduate. If I were still in school I'd probably get a tablet with a stylus and keyboard to take notes with. Typing is faster than writing, and the styls is handy for diagrams. You can also bring up the presentation slides and take your notes directly on them.

This. I generally give the professor a chance for a week before giving up and just reading the book.

The professors at my school are fucking terrible.

Out of curiosity, do any of you use OneNote?

I keep trying to like it. Definitely found it convenient for tables that you need to reference a lot, since it saves to a cloud that you can access on your phone. Can't get the hang of it for normal lecture notes though.

I use OneNote with Surface Pro 4, it's replaced all my physical notebooks desu. I make a notebook for each class and divide them per sections. For note-taking I just set the screen to vertical and detach keyboard, and take notes, super comfortable. Also, if a professor hands out PDFs prior to class I'll either write on them or open them side-by-side with OneNote, and use it horizontally. I'll do the same for classes that require books, I'll just get the e-text and have it cover half and half, then if I need something to go on OneNote I'll just double-click the pen allowing for a screenshot. Honestly, it's super comfortable and my notes are way better. My only issue with it is that there's no feature to draw straight lines, I settled with using a rubber ruler that won't scratch the screen, so it's pretty much the same as writing on paper. Another thing I do is set the ruled-lines to make it seem like notebook paper and guide me, and once I'm done with the notes for that section I'll just remove the lines and notes end up looking so clean. Sorry for the run on paragraph, I'm in a rush, if you have any other questions I'll try to get back to you asap. :)

here's what i do

>allocate 30 or so pages at the beginning of a new college ruled notebook
>save this space for the things the professor scribbles on the board
>rest of the notebook is to keep me occupied between the professor's scribblings
>as a result, 90% of my notebook is full of simple arithmetic calculations, proofs, and commutative diagrams which are completely irrelevant to the class
>write on both sides of the paper in the notebook and still have to buy a new one every few weeks

i've got a large pile of (at least 40) completely filled notebooks i've been saving since high school
it also helps you remember and catalog all those "aha!" moments where something first clicked
i distinctly remember that day in a diffEQ class when i finally understood brown representability intuitively
i was so excited about it, i wrote in the scribble pages at the beginning of my book

as far as format goes: write down whatever you're thinking wherever there's room
i rarely ever actually go back and read the notes i've written, i just think that writing them down a lot helps me remember them

I just use lined paper in a folding clipboard. I write down anything relevant the professor writes or says. I don't read the textbook unless I don't understand something. At the end of every week I organize the notes for each course neatly into individual binders, and then never look at them again.

I just write shit. Depending on the class I'll either write everything said or just stuff not on slides or maybe just write enough to guide my train of thought trying to work through the topics myself later.

I have never taken notes or gone to class (apart from 2 lab subjects) since highschool. Already have my bachelors in maths and physics

Damn, I didn't even think about inserting screenshots from e-text, that's pretty brilliant.

Sounds like it works a lot better for tablets. I'm using a laptop, which does have a touch screen, but it can't open past like 120 degrees, so it's awkward to write on. Means I'm stuck using the keyboard most of the time. Unfortunately, it seems to suck for math expressions when you're typing... That's the biggest problem I have with it.

I just write the stuff on the board and the main points of what the prof says in a plain notebook. And when I get home I translate it to latex and next semester I sell it to faggots who are to lazy to go to lectures.

Yeah, taking notes is mostly pointless in the modern day and age when everything can be easily googled.

When I took PDEs I basically sat, paid attention to the derivations and most of it is simple stuff except for a handful of clever tricks that I might jot down as a reminder for when I recreate it on my own or create some similar scenario with modifications later.

I think the main problem with people taking math notes is that there are people who just write everything down which is retarded cause they don't actually listen and end up having to read their notes later and there are the other people who don't take notes and think, "Yeah this makes sense," but they lack the appreciation of the way of thinking that would allow someone to reach that result in as a consequence of their own common sense and so they are incapable of rederiving it later and end up doing poorly on tests.

So you need to find a happy medium and honesty with yourself. If you're just memorizing equations or memorizing definitions but can't produce them from scratch then you are literally just a parrot for someone else's work like a preacher is for jesus.

If you have an actual interest in what you're learning, taking notes is just producing external garbage; google it if you forget some details. You have serendipity to discover new and interesting things on the internet.