Cornell Notes Note-taking strategy that will improve your study skills and your grades!!

Problems with taking notes I can’t write everything down the teacher says because she talks TOO fast! I can’t understand my notes. The notes I take don’t help. I don’t know which parts of my notes are most important.

Note Taking Facts If you don’t take notes…                          you will forget 60% in 2 weeks If you take some notes…                           you will remember about 60% If you take organized notes and do something with them…            you will remember 90-100% indefinitely

Why Take Cornell Notes? It stimulates critical thinking skills It helps you remember what is said in class Good notes will help you on assignments and prepare for tests Good notes will help you organize and process information It helps you recall information by having you process your notes 3 times

How to Take Cornell Notes Set up the paper Add a heading During class…take notes just like you normally would After class…Add key terms & questions to the cue column After class… Summarize the main ideas

Setting up the Paper

Add a Heading At the top of your paper add a) Title of the lecture or powerpoint b) Date

During Class Focus only on the right column of your paper during the lecture Take notes like you normally would Focus on main ideas Underline, star, highlight important information Use bullets, arrows, and indenting to list key ideas Abbreviate…don’t write EVERYTHING on the slide Skip lines between ideas

Cue Column After the lecture, focus on the left column Write down a minimum of 4 cues key vocabulary important ideas any questions you think might be on the test Match up your cue column to the notes on the right

Cue Column Tips It is crucial that this column is completed AFTER the lecture Don’t write a vocab word in the cue column if it is not in your notes on the right if you do this it means you are completing both columns simultaneously and are not really taking Cornell Notes

Summary Summary is added at the very end of your notes It should be added AFTER questions in the cue column are finished Should be 3-5 quality sentences Restate the key information in your own words

Summary Tips Don’t start your summary with any of the following Today we talked about… The notes today were about… Today we learned about… The topic today was…

Review, Review, Review Spend about 10 minutes each week looking over your notes Cover the right side of the notes and use the Cue Column to quiz yourself