Handwritten Note-Taking Benefits

Note-taking is very individual. I found out in university that the act of writing lecture notes helps me focus and remember. Otherwise my mind would drift. In fact, I soon realized that I should write my own lecture notes, even if I never look at them afterwards. And only paper is good enough for fast writing of math.

Lets just proceed with the premise that note taking is useful and answer the question.

I think this is key. There are studies that point to handwriting notes helping with the learning process, even if you don't end up using them later. I always found this to be true for myself as well — whether I'm in a lecture or doing some study on my own. I don't often go back to them unless I need to refresh on a single point. If I write them, I don't need them as much. If I don't write them, I'm usually having to study and read more and return to the references.<

Note-taking is a learned skill. When I was in school, they actually taught us several different techniques for taking notes and I am not sure that is a universal part of education. They told us that studies showed people typing notes just write down verbatim what was being said because they can type so fast, which then is useless information as far as later reference is concerned. Writing notes properly actually forces one to distill the important information and take note of particularly conf

For me it's just the act of writing. When preparing for an exam I would write tons of notes on paper, but I hardly read them. The act of writing on paper was enough.I tried skipping the paper but typing notes didn't have close to the same effect, by an order of magnitude or two.I still do this in meetings with customers and similar, keeping a small notebook. I'll write down key points, but I very seldom have to reference it later.

I've always taken handwritten notes in class. It forces you to condense the information being presented quite a bit.I've found that I use arrows, side boxes, lists, and all sorts of visual tricks along with writing to try to grasp the concept.It's only my personal experience but it's always seemed to be more effective than trying to fuss with a laptop.

There's a lot of people here stating that notes help them retain material. Maybe that works for some people, but it doesn't work for me.I find myself more likely to forget things when I write them down, especially in a meeting/lecture/discussion. Maybe it's just because my hand just doesn't go fast enough to get the information down on the page, or maybe I can't concentrate on thinking at the same time I write.

As another data point, I take notes almost almost solely for increased recollection, I've never really studied them. The physical act of writing down a phrase or idea emphasizes it in my memory to such a noticeable degree that if I lack writing utensils I will mime the action; the physical notes themselves are rarely useful once made. I find this also works in settings that are not live, I am able to work through textbooks significantly faster if I take notes while reading in a similar fash

I remember things much better if I write them down during a lecture, rather than just listen. I seldom actually used my notes afterwards beyond a quick recap, except in a few classes where the lecturer had prepared the lecture very well. Still, just writing it down allowed me to remember better by orders of magnitude.

People learn in different ways and my experience is completely different: note taking, on paper, was critical for me to learn. Whether it is a differential geometry lecture (in college) or a test planning meeting having written notes is very important for me -- it allows me to think through the topics again at leisure.The most important thing for me is to keep note taking at the "high secondary" importance level: not preempt thinking or participation in real time but high eno