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I know this is pretty subjective and has been discussed at length, but I was a STEM major in ug so I never really developed a great note taking technique because it's hard to type notes when half of them are math equations, and also it's hard to keep up with hand written notes when all your professors speak quickly and with heavy accents.

I was thinking that for LS I may just type what the professor says stream-of-consciousness in a big word document and then after class go to the library and hand write out all of the main points neatly and with highlights, underlines, etc. I also thought this would be good for information retention. Does this sound like a good idea or is it way overkill? And if so can anyone suggest other techniques?

Don't do stream of consciousness. That will not be useful to you, and if it is, it will be super inefficient. Also, some professors don't allow laptops, so it may not be possible. Pay attention to what the professor (and your classmates) is/are saying. If it is important, write it down. You should have plenty of time to write down solid notes throughout class, but paying attention to discussion is the most important part so you know what the notes mean.

definitely no stream of consciousness. your brain goes into autopilot when you're just typing everything your professor says and not much is going to stick, it'll take you twice as long as if you parse out the relevant info the first time in class. it really is trial and error, most of your professors will have different things they believe to be important and you have to figure out what they are based on how heavily they emphasize it, how much they repeat themselves, etc. always make sure you jot down the rule/main takeaway from a case but don't spend a page typing out every fact, things like that

You have to figure out what works best for you. Writing down everything the prof isn't a great strategy for most people, but it worked well for me.

Only write down what seems important to the overall course. You'll figure out how to do this within the first two weeks if you're paying attention and doing the work before class.

why not just do what made you successful in the past? don't reinvent the wheel

KMart wrote:why not just do what made you successful in the past? don't reinvent the wheel

See my first sentence re: my undergrad experience.

ETA: I'm going to try to learn onenote. And also, I won't claim to be the best student (not by a long shot) but I've always been good at "learning the professor" so I'll try to focus on that too.

circle.the.wagons wrote:

KMart wrote:why not just do what made you successful in the past? don't reinvent the wheel

See my first sentence re: my undergrad experience.

as a former business major who never reads, i think that manifested nicely in my answer, i apologize.

KMart wrote:

circle.the.wagons wrote:

KMart wrote:why not just do what made you successful in the past? don't reinvent the wheel

See my first sentence re: my undergrad experience.

as a former business major who never reads, i think that manifested nicely in my answer, i apologize.