Strategy #3:
Give Yourself Note Space

Create a big left-hand margin and use it. Some experts recommend using paper that has a margin line down the middle, or close to it, rather than near the left-hand margin of the page. You can also create the same effect, of course, by drawing a line on other kinds of paper. The key is that a split sheet of paper allows you to use the right-hand side for recording purposes, for simply getting the sense of what happens in a given class. The left-hand side allows you to intervene in two ways: you can write your own thoughts or questions, and you can write potential terms or test questions that come up. (This is roughly the “Cornell system” of note-taking devised by Walter Pauk.)