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Make it part of your week · Lesson 8 of 11

How to Take Notes and Read So You Remember

Learn why notes help most when you review them, why highlighting alone does little, and how to recall a chapter from memory.

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The video is not out yet. The written lesson below has the same content.
THE WRITTEN LESSONFollow along at your pace

In this lesson you learn to take notes and read in ways that stick. A page full of notes or highlights can feel like progress. What you do afterwards matters more, and a few small changes make your notes far more useful.

Notes pay off when you review them

Writing notes makes you think about what you hear. But in studies of students, taking notes helped only a little on its own. Taking notes and then reviewing them helped much more. Your notes are only as useful as your habit of coming back to them.

An example notepad with a pencil and an arrow labelled Review that loops back to it. Beside it, a chart titled Studies of students shows a short bar for Notes only and a much taller bar with a check mark for Notes plus review.(opens the full-size picture)
Taking notes helps a little. Reviewing them helps much more.

So plan your review when you take the notes: one short look today and another a few days later. When you review, cover the page and recall first, then check. Don’t just reread. Rereading makes every line look familiar, but recalling shows you what you really kept.

A week strip with two boxes marked: Today, with a pencil, and In a few days, joined by a dashed arrow. A Reread pill is crossed out in red. An example note has check marks next to three lines, and a pill says Recall first, then check.(opens the full-size picture)
Two short reviews, each one recall first, then check.

Highlighting alone does little

A review of highlighting studies found a small boost to memory, and no clear gain in understanding. Marking a line takes little thought, and a page that is mostly marked has nothing left to stand out. A highlight is a bookmark for later work, not the work itself.

An example page where almost every line is highlighted. Beside it, a chart titled Review of highlighting studies shows a small bar for Memory and almost nothing for Understanding, labelled No clear gain. A pill says Marked is not learned.(opens the full-size picture)
A marked page is not a learned page.

Close the book and write what you remember

What helps more is simple. After a chapter, close the book and write down what you remember. Main ideas and any examples you recall are enough. A rough list is fine.

A closed example book labelled End of chapter, with a pill that says Close it, then write. Beside it, an example note marked From memory, with two lines for Main ideas and two bullet points for Examples.(opens the full-size picture)
Main ideas and a few examples, written from memory.

This works better than it feels. In two experiments, students who read a science text and then recalled it from memory learned more than students who built a diagram of it with the text open. Most students had not expected that.

Two panels about a science text. Left, Diagram, book open: an open book and a diagram of four linked circles, with a short bar and a surprised face next to Expected to win. Right, Recall, book closed: a closed book and a note with a pencil, with a much taller bar and a check mark.(opens the full-size picture)
Recalling with the book closed beat building a diagram with it open.

Check, fix, then recall again

Then open the book, check your page and fix what you missed. Close it and recall once more. Recall feels hard, but it works better than it feels. Your corrected page becomes your note for that chapter.

Three numbered steps: 1 Check, with a closed example book; 2 Fix, with an example note labelled Your note that has small additions; 3 Recall again, with a check mark card. A pill says Feels harder, works better.(opens the full-size picture)
Your corrected page becomes your note.

Add what the page lacks

Good notes add something the page does not say. Write a question the chapter leaves open, or an example from your own life. Copying a sentence adds nothing. Your own example ties the idea to what you already know. For example, after a chapter on saving money, you might write how it applies to your own weekly shopping.

A faded example card with a copied quote, labelled Adds nothing. Beside it, an example note with two added lines, Your question and Your example, linked by a dashed line to three joined circles labelled What you know. A pill says Add what the page lacks.(opens the full-size picture)
A question or an example of your own links the idea to what you know.

If you like highlighting, mark very little

You don’t have to give up highlighting. Mark very little, and only after you understand the section: read it through first, then mark the one line you would quote.

An example page with a check mark labelled Understood and just one highlighted line, with an arrow and the words One line, after reading. A note at the bottom says Most research: students, short texts.(opens the full-size picture)
One line, after you understand the section.

An honest note

Most of this research used students and short texts, not whole books. The habits are simple to try with any book, but treat them as a sensible start, not a promise.

YOUR TURN

Read more

Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you will learn to take notes and read in ways that stick. A page full of notes or highlights can feel like progress. What you do afterwards matters more.

Writing notes makes you think about what you hear. But in studies of students, taking notes helped only a little on its own. Taking notes and then reviewing them helped much more.

So plan your review when you take the notes, one short look today and another a few days later. When you review, cover the page and recall first, then check. Don't just reread.

Highlighting alone does little. A review of highlighting studies found a small boost to memory, and no clear gain in understanding.

What helps more is simple. After a chapter, close the book and write down what you remember. Main ideas and any examples you recall are enough.

In two experiments, students who read a science text and then recalled it from memory learned more than students who built a diagram of it with the text open. Most students had not expected that.

Then open the book, check your page and fix what you missed. Close it and recall once more. Recall feels hard, but it works better than it feels. Your corrected page becomes your note.

Good notes add something the page does not say. Write a question the chapter leaves open, or an example from your own life. Copying a sentence adds nothing. Your own example ties the idea to what you already know.

If you like highlighting, mark very little, and only after you understand the section. Most of this research used students and short texts, not whole books.

So, review your notes by testing yourself, and after each chapter, write what you remember before looking back. Before the next lesson, after a chapter or a video, write three things you remember, then check. Next, you will learn memory tricks that help with lists and names.