How to Make Notes: A Step-by-Step Method for Textbooks, Classes and Exam Revision

What good notes are, and what they are not

Many students think making notes means copying the important lines of the textbook into a neat notebook. It feels like work, but it is mostly copying. The University of Reading study advice team calls this passive note-taking: underlining, cutting and pasting, trying to write everything you hear, copying slides, and copying quotes instead of using your own words.

Active note-making is different. The same guide says it means knowing what you want from your reading before you start, looking for answers and links between topics, and writing mostly in your own words. Copy exact words only when they matter, such as a definition, a formula or a law.

A simple test helps. Imagine a friend asks you, so what did this chapter say? The Reading guide suggests writing down your reply to that question. If your notes sound like your answer to a friend, they are notes. If they sound like the book, they are a copy.

Note-taking and note-making

In this guide, note-taking means writing quickly while you listen or watch. Note-making means building better notes later, from class notes and the textbook. Good students do both: rough notes in class, clean notes at home.

What research says about making notes

Put together, the message is clear. Notes help when making them forces you to think, and when you later use them to test yourself again and again over weeks. Notes help much less when they are copied, highlighted and only reread.

One honest point: the Dunlosky review rated summarisation as low utility because it helped only some students in some conditions. So a summary is a starting point, not the end. The method in this guide adds questions and self-testing on top of your summary, which is where the strong evidence is.

Before you write: set up your notebook

Five minutes of setup saves hours later. The UNC Learning Center suggests previewing the reading, checking the syllabus, glancing at your last notes, titling each page with the class name and date, and keeping a separate notebook or section for each subject, in date order.

• One notebook or section per subject.
• On every page: subject, chapter, date and source (book and page numbers, or video name).
• A wide left margin for questions and a few empty lines at the bottom for a summary: the Cornell layout below.
• Space between blocks, so you can add things later, as the Reading guide advises.
• An index page at the front: chapter, page number, date of last review.

Official material is online too. DIKSHA, the platform created by the Department of School Education and Literacy, offers textbooks, videos, interactive content and courses, sorted by subject. Whatever you use, write its name and page or time on your note page so you can go back to it.

How to make notes from a textbook, step by step

This method works for one chapter of any school, college or self-study book. It is slower than copying at first, and faster by the third chapter.

1. Look over the whole chapter first. Read the headings, the summary at the end, the diagrams and the exercise questions. These tell you what the chapter thinks is important. Write the main headings on your page with space under each.
2. Read one section only, from one heading to the next. Do not write while you read it the first time. Just understand it.
3. Close the book. Write the main idea of that section from memory, in your own words, in short phrases. This step is the heart of good notes: it turns reading into recall.
4. Open the book and check. Fix anything wrong. Add any key term, definition, formula, date or diagram you missed. Copy exact words only for definitions and laws that must be exact.
5. Mark what kind of note each line is. The Reading guide suggests a clear system to know which notes are your paraphrase, which are direct quotes, and which are your own ideas. For example: quote marks for exact words, a star for your own idea or doubt.
6. Write the page number next to each block. You will need it when you get stuck before the exam.
7. In the left margin, write one question that each block answers. For example, next to notes on a process, write: What are the steps of this process, in order?
8. At the end of the chapter, write a summary of three to five lines at the bottom of the last page, from memory.

What to leave out

The Reading guide warns that too many notes can double the time you need to go through them. Leave out examples you already understand, introductions, and anything you can answer without notes. Keep definitions, steps, causes and effects, formulas, diagrams, dates, exceptions, and anything you got wrong in a test.

How to make notes in class or from a video lecture

In class you cannot pause the teacher, so the aim is to catch the main points and clues, and fix the rest at home. The UNC Learning Center advises:

• Write the main points, not every word. For ideas you need to understand, focus on the main points. You can fill gaps after class.
• Listen for signal phrases such as there are four main, to sum up, or a major reason why. Words the teacher repeats, points they stress with their voice, and the first and last minutes of class often carry the main points.
• Write keywords, names and dates that you can explain later, and write down any question or confusing point so you can ask it.
• Use short phrases, bullet points, abbreviations and symbols instead of full sentences. Make your own list of short forms, for example: arrow for leads to, b/c for because, w/ for with, eg for example.
• Keep the same structure every day, so your notes look alike and are easy to use later.
• For video lectures, watch once without pausing if you can, then use rewind only to fill the big gaps. Write down the time of any part you want to watch again.

The UNC guide adds one detail: for pure facts, writing most of what is said word for word can help short-answer recall, but only if you study those notes within twenty-four hours.

The same-day rework

The UNC guide suggests going back to class notes ideally within a day or two. Give each class ten to fifteen minutes that evening: fill gaps from the textbook, add margin questions, circle doubts to ask, and write a short summary. That gives you clean notes without a separate copying session.

Choose a note format: which one for which subject

There is no single right format. The UNC Learning Center lists five common ones: Cornell notes, outlines, flowcharts and concept maps, the charting method, and the sentence method. It advises picking one that works for you and sticking with it. The table below shows where each format tends to fit for the subjects most Indian students study. The subject column is a practical suggestion, not a rule.

Many good notebooks mix formats: Cornell pages as the base, with a small concept map or table inside where a topic needs it. In Maths and numericals, real learning comes from solving problems, so keep a formula sheet and a mistakes page rather than long notes.

The Cornell method, step by step

The Cornell note-taking system was developed by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University, in his book How to Study in College. Cornell's Learning Strategies Center gives this layout and five steps.

The page layout

• A cue column on the left, two and a half inches wide (about 6.4 cm). This is for questions and keywords.
• A note-taking column on the right, six inches wide (about 15 cm). This is for your main notes.
• A summary area at the bottom, two inches high (about 5 cm). After class, you summarise the page here.
• On an Indian A4 or long notebook page, you do not need exact sizes. Rule a left margin about a quarter of the page wide, enough for a short question, and leave the last five or six lines empty for the summary.

The five steps

1. Record. During class or reading, write in the notes column using short, telegraphic sentences.
2. Questions. As soon after class as you can, write questions in the cue column based on your notes. The Cornell handout says writing questions helps make meanings clear, shows relationships and strengthens memory, and sets you up for exam study.
3. Recite. Cover the notes column with a sheet of paper. Looking only at the questions or cue words, say the answers aloud in your own words.
4. Reflect. Ask yourself bigger questions: why does this matter, what principle is behind it, how can I use it, how does it fit with what I already know?
5. Review. The handout says to spend at least ten minutes every week reviewing all your earlier notes.

The recite step is what makes Cornell notes stronger than a plain summary. Covering the notes and answering from the cue column is self-testing, the same habit the Roediger and Karpicke study found improves memory after days and weeks. If you already follow our guide to active recall, the Cornell cue column is a ready place to keep your recall questions.

Worked example and a copy-ready notes template

Here is a complete Cornell page made from one short reading: the published summary of the 2006 study by Roediger and Karpicke on testing and memory. It shows the kind of reading a college student or a self-learner might get. Look at how short the notes are, and how each question in the left column points to one block.

Summary box at the bottom: Testing yourself feels harder and less sure than rereading, but after a few days you remember much more. Rereading only helps for a few minutes. So I should use my notes to quiz myself, spaced over days.

Notice: every block is a phrase, exact words appear only for the definition, the student marked their own idea separately, and the cue column turns the page into a two-minute quiz.

The template

Use this layout on every page, on paper or in a two-column table on screen.

How to make short notes for revision

Short notes are what you read in the last weeks before the exam. Make them from your full notes, not the textbook: one or two pages per chapter that you can go through in a few minutes.

1. Test before you cut. Cover your full notes and answer the cue questions. Mark each question: got it, shaky, or missed.
2. Drop what you know cold. If you answered it fast and right twice, it does not need to be in the short notes.
3. Keep the shaky and missed points, in the fewest words that still make sense to you.
4. Add every formula, definition, date and diagram label that must be exact.
5. Add your mistakes. A small box called my mistakes, with the wrong idea and the right one, is often the most useful part of short notes.
6. Fit it on one page. If it does not fit, you have not cut enough, or the chapter needs two pages. Never more than two.
7. Make it a quiz. Write questions on the left of the short notes too, so you can still test yourself on them.

Short notes should shrink each time you revise. The points you still miss after a month may fit on half a page, and that half page is gold before an exam.

Turn your notes into a revision plan

The research points to two habits: test yourself, and space your reviews. Cepeda and others found the best gap between sessions grows as the test gets further away. Cornell asks for at least ten minutes a week on all earlier notes, and UNC advises going back to class notes within a day or two. The schedule below is built on those ideas; the exact days are a practical start, not a rule from the studies.

To fit these reviews into your week, put them into a fixed slot in your study timetable. If you find yourself reading the same page five times without anything going in, our guide on how to concentrate on studies has a plan for distraction-free sessions.

Handwritten or digital notes?

This is the question students ask most, and the honest answer is: either can work. Cornell's Learning Strategies Center says the physical act of writing can help you remember better. But the 2021 repeat of the famous laptop study did not find that handwriting gave better quiz results, and it found that more words in your notes went with better scores. What both studies agree on is that copying word for word without thinking does not help.

The UNC Learning Center says handwritten notes make diagrams easier, give more focus to students distracted by devices, and can be better for conceptual ideas. Digital notes are faster, easier to edit, can be backed up, shared and searched, and can be better for factual information.

Common mistakes, and how to fix them

When making notes is not the best use of your time

Notes are a tool, not a goal. Sometimes they are the wrong tool.

• When the teacher's printed notes are already good. Do not copy them. Add cue questions and a summary box, and use the saved time for practice.
• In Maths and numerical subjects. A formula sheet and a mistakes page are enough; spend the rest of the time solving problems.
• Two or three days before an exam. Do not start fresh notes. Use short notes, past papers and self-testing.
• When note-making makes you anxious. The Reading guide notes it can stress people who do not write naturally and distract from listening. Listen fully, then write a short summary straight after.
• If a learning difficulty or disability makes writing hard. Ask your teacher or institution about printed notes or recordings, where allowed.

Read, share and test notes on Sikhami

Sikhami is a social network in India for every kind of learning. You can read free study notes shared by teachers and learners, which helps you check your own notes for gaps. The Notes help page explains how to find and download them. If you have made good notes, you can share your notes for free so other learners can use them.

• Test your cue questions against other learners in quiz battles.
• Join a live study room to explain your notes aloud and ask doubts.
• Find people learning the same subject, and join clubs and meetups. Start on the page for learners.