If there’s an MBTI for note-taking styles, I swear there should be one—because I’ve been all of them: the Pinterest aesthetic note-taker, the “write everything and hope for the best” note-taker, and the minimalist who trusts their brain way too much. In this video, I break down practical, actionable techniques to help you stop passively copying and start making notes you actually understand when you look back. I start with how to prepare before class (this is a game-changer): skim the chapter or slides for 10–15 minutes, check learning objectives, headings/subheadings, key terms, and the summary so you’re not trying to make sense of everything on the spot. Then I show how I stay consistent with a repeatable structure (I personally duplicate a template) so my notes aren’t just a wall of text. I also share the split attention principle—why scattered info makes learning harder—and how to fix it by integrating diagrams + text and merging lecture and textbook notes into one flow. From there, I go into efficiency: using color coding (it’s actually science-backed), symbols and abbreviations to keep up with fast lectures, and my proven 3-step process: record during class, build after class with extra sources, and review later to refine, delete redundancies, and fill gaps. Finally, I talk about using past students’ notes as a guide (not something you blindly copy) and tracking references so you don’t waste time scrambling weeks before exams.