what i did: notetaking

1. I attended almost every single class. In my second semester, I missed one because of a traffic problem, one because of a doctor's appointment, and two because I was sick. I didn't miss any first semester. Caveat: I liked attending class, so this wasn't a burden.

2. I took notes on my laptop. Caveat: I can't handwrite at all and find it very distracting when I have to do so. I learned a lot less in class the two days I had to handwrite notes because I forgot my power cable.

3. I created a new file for each day and each class. For example, notes_torts_020404.doc, notes_civpro_041604.doc.

4. I am ashamed to admit this, but I used MS Word and (gasp!) it worked well. At least it was on a Mac.

5. I printed out all my notes every few weeks or so and put them in a binder. I had one binder for each class. I used this binder when outlining.

6. I wrote down much of what the professor said, organizing it in my head as I went. Caveat: This only worked for me because I am a fast typist, so I could organize and still write down most of what the professor said at the same time.

7. I wrote down the Socratic questions the professors asked other students.

8. I almost never wrote down anything that a fellow student said, unless the professor explicitly endorsed it as correct or asked the student to repeat what he had said for the benefit of the class. If I did write down something from a fellow student because I liked it, I usually wrote it in my notes that it came from a student.

9. If a professor repeated a statement a few times, I always wrote it down, sometimes underlining it.

10. I always brought my casebooks to class. If the professor quoted directly from a case or essay, I highlighted those lines in my casebook. I did not otherwise mark in my books at all. I found this useful when studying for exams as I had a visual record of what the professor considered important enough to quote aloud. Caveat: I hate looking at books with highlights and pencil marks.

11. I briefed all the cases first semester, and about 25% of the cases second semester. Second semester my professors weren't as Socratic, so briefing was less important, and I was also able to read more effectively by then. I'll write more on briefing later, but in terms of notetaking, I didn't take class notes on the case in my brief. I found switching back and forth between my notes and my brief too distracting. I did leave my brief open for reference in case I was called on, but all class notes were in one place, the file I mentioned above.

12. When we started talking about a specific case, I wrote the case name in italic and bold and then continued taking notes beneath that heading.

13. As time went on, I was better at sorting out what the professor considered important. Early on my notes were very long, but later they were shorter because I could figure out sooner what the professor considered important. I probably averaged about three to four typed pages per fifty-minute class, single spaced but with lots of new paragraphs and whitespace because I don't like looking at cluttered pages.

14. My section was a friendly section, and we shared notes freely with each other. I gave mine away regularly, and on the times I missed class, I usually received at least two copies of other people's notes. If I felt that I missed something in class, I asked my friends for their notes on that topic, printed those out, and put them in my binder next to my own notes. I found the notes from my fellow students very useful. I've heard of people hoarding their notes, but I didn't see it happen in my section, and sharing notes made life a lot easier for everybody.

15. I didn't try to study too much in class, reserving studying for later. I used class time primarily to clarify concepts and to discover what the professor thought was important. Getting the law into my head, into my own words, and really understanding it was something I had to do on my own. Caveat: I learn by writing in my own words by myself. People who learn by more aural means and group means probably learned more new concepts in class than I did.

I think that's all for notetaking. I'll update this later if I think of something else.

[Update: It occurred to me when I reread this that you might think I started out doing all this from the beginning and that I was some scary über-efficient beginning 1L. I didn't and I wasn't. This is what I ended up doing, what eventually worked for me, but it took me a while to find the pattern that worked. I don't really feel qualified to give advice, but I wouldn't worry about it if it takes you awhile to figure out your pattern too.]