Making the move from sixth form to university is a huge change in terms of your academia,  and many students can feel very overwhelmed by the significant ‘step up’ from working towards A-Levels to then studying in a far more independent way for their undergraduate degree. 

Thankfully, there are so many tools available to students, both at your university and online, that can help with ensuring you perfect those all-important revision techniques and study tips. Always remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed by the workload when you get to university, or feel like you’re falling behind, it’s always a good idea to speak directly with your tutor to get help and advice. 

To help with your transition from sixth form to university, we have put together seven of the most effective note taking strategies for university students. If you aren’t a university student yet, then this is still a great opportunity to practice some note taking techniques in preparation for your GCSE or A-Level exams!

7 Effective Note Taking Strategies for University Students

When it comes to learning how to take notes, an important thing to remember is that everyone revises and learns in different ways.

So, if some note taking techniques don’t work for you then that’s okay but don’t feel disheartened - keep looking for one that suits you! Equally, don’t just find one technique and stick to that one; have a try at different strategies to give some variation to your studying and revision. 

Strategy #1 - The Cornell Method

Our first method for you to practice your note taking skill is the Cornell Method. A bonus for using this type of note taking technique is that it requires very little preparation which makes it ideal for you to use during your class or tutorials! 

The process behind this strategy is; start by dividing your page into four different sections which are two vertical columns (one taking up about 70% of the page and the other taking about 30% of the page), with a small section horizontally across the top of the page and a larger horizontal section at the bottom of the page. 

After you have done the separating of the pages, use the bigger section on the right side of the page to make notes from the content you are consuming or lesson you are listening to. Use the smaller section on the left hand side of the page to put in any definitions of keywords or questions you have about the content to follow up with later. On the top of the page write a title for the notes, this can be as simple as using the name of the lesson, for example, “introduction to cell biology.” 

In the space you have left at the bottom of the page, write a summary of the content you have learned that day - this can be used to come back to for revision which makes this a great method to use when preparing for exams.  

Strategy #2 - Mind Mapping Method

You may be more familiar with this method of note taking; mind mapping. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has used this method before while at school or doing homework. You can use this method to highlight important facts about the subject you are studying, key-words and definitions, and points of interest for you to come back to. You can design your mind map by writing a key word in the middle of the page, the topic title or subject matter, like “cell biology.” After drawing a circle around this, use arrows coming out of the title to make your notes and write down your thoughts. 

You might find it even more useful to use coloured pens when doing this; whether it's by colour-coding the different subsections of your notes or just making it more visually appealing and engaging for you to look at. 

Putting all your ideas into a mind map feature can help you visualise your thoughts and form links between ideas. This can be particularly useful if you’re revising for a creative subject like English or Philosophy; you can see links that you will be able to use in your exam answers. This technique can be really useful for you to break down a topic you’re struggling to understand or give an overview of the key points around a subject. Definitely use this one when revising for an exam!

Strategy #3 - The Charting Method

The charting method of note taking uses charts to condense and organise notes. To start, you will need to use a ruler and pencil to separate your page into a table with columns and headings. The different headings can be specific topics covered in your lecture, for example, if you are doing a lecture on cell biology, you could separate your page into the subtopics of this; cell division, cell signalling and cell adhesion. As the lecture goes on, put key words or notes of interest in the relevant columns on your page.

This method of note taking is often used by students who have very ‘information heavy’ lectures; if there is a lot of facts and data to consume, the charting method can be a helpful tool to get all the information in the right place on your page. This then proves useful to come back to and revise from as you have all the relevant information for specific topics in one place!

A disadvantage of this method is that you will need to know what specific content is going to be covered at the beginning of your lecture so you can make the columns and table. It would not be ideal for you to have made your table at the beginning of the lecture and then your tutor introduces another topic you didn’t know about!

Strategy #4 - The Sentence Method

The sentence method for note taking might be perfect for you if you are more comfortable writing and memorising  full sentences and longer forms of copy, rather than just taking brief notes. 

To be able to do this method effectively, you will need to start with some lined paper. The idea behind this strategy is that every new thought and idea is written on a new line of your page. This will result in your page being full of writing and (hopefully) each line will be an individual thought or keyword or point of interest. 

If you are the type of student who will struggle to understand your brief notes when you come back to them in a couple of months to revise from, this method might be the one for you. You have the freedom in this method to write as much as you’d like on one particular thought or idea, you don’t need to limit it to just one line of the paper. And then when you move on to another idea, move on to another line and so forth! 

To help separate your thoughts into a less overwhelming piece of work, you could try leaving a line blank in between your ideas, especially if you have used more than one line for the same idea. Alternatively, you could go back over it with different coloured highlighter pens and separate your ideas into colours which will make it easier to differentiate between your ideas when you come back to this work. 

You might find that having a full page of writing is too overwhelming and disorganised for you to learn from, which is completely fine as everyone learns in different ways. If this isn’t the method for you, try some of our other methods!

Strategy #5 - The Outlining Method

The outlining method for note taking is a bit more complicated than some of our other suggestions, but when done right can be really beneficial to your learning. The focus for this strategy is all about note placement on the page. You don’t have to draw any tables or graphs on your piece of paper, you will simply listen to the content you are learning about and then put the most important pieces of information on the left hand side of the page -  these could be the headings, “cell division” or “structure of a cell” for example. 

As the lecture goes on, indent more specific points that relate to the left hand side of the page. Levels of importance for information you write are demonstrated by how far away they are from the heading on the left hand side. You can implement this by indenting your note taking across the page. 

As with the sentence method, this might be overwhelming to see on your page and could seem a bit disorganised. So why not try using coloured pens or highlighters to separate the sections so you know which information relates to which of your headings? 

Similarly to the charting method, it will also be helpful to know how many specific topics you will be covering in the lesson so you know how much space to spend on your page. Having said that, don’t worry if your note taking goes over a few pages - it’s more important to get all the information down than making it all fit into one space!

Strategy #6 - Flow Notes Method

This note taking strategy is one of the easiest to follow and is very similar to the mind mapping technique. This method focuses on learning while in class, not just transcribing what your tutor is saying. The simplest form of this method is to jot down notes and important aspects of the content, but instead of doing it in a bullet point or numbered list, you use arrows to link the bits of relevant information. The end result is to have it looking like a more open mind map!

There are three key principles to follow when using the flow notes method;

Simplify 

Write down the information that is most important as you hear it from your tutor. It’s important to write this down in your own words so you understand it when you come back to revise. This is also a good opportunity to write down any questions or key words you have. 

Visualise

The next step is to visualise. In this step you can draw diagrams to help you understand the information or use pictures to explain the processes you’re taking notes on. This doesn’t have to be what the tutor has drawn or any diagrams in the textbook (although it can be!) it's important to include whatever will help you understand the information when you use this method to revise from. 

Make Connections 

The final step in the flow notes method is to make connections. Use arrows and boxes to connect ideas backwards, between topics and externally with what you already know. Like with some of the other methods, you could use coloured pens at this point to draw the arrows and make the connections between pieces of information. 

This method is useful for students to use during fast paced lectures and webinars. If the lesson is very information heavy, use this method to link information and write down key points. 

Strategy #7 - Consider Using an App

All of these strategies involve using a pen and paper, and while you can do this on your iPad if you prefer to make notes there, you might find it useful to use a note taking app when in a lecture. There are a number of highly rated note taking apps available here, so if this is something you are interested in, download a few and try them!

The Balance Small Business rated Evernote as the best note taking app of 2022. On this particular app, you are able to view your tasks by assignments, notes or due dates so you get a complete overview of your work - this is really useful for university students who have a lot of different assignments to focus on! You are then able to go into each individual topic section and create a space for each lecture's notes, if you wish. This easy to use platform is what makes it so highly rated by students. 

Summary

When you are getting used to taking notes in lessons or university lectures, it’s important to remember that you might not get it right every time, and it may take a few different techniques to find the one you like best. If you feel like you are missing information or come away from the lecture feeling like you didn’t understand the content, it’s always best to check in with your tutor and get some help and advice if you need it. 

At Melio, our main goal is to help students prepare for their next academic step, whether that be GCSEs, A-Levels or university. Our courses are designed to give you a head-start while working with world class tutors. 

For more top tips and information on how you can prepare for university and get the most out of your academic experience, visit our website or contact our admissions team.