Entering lecture for the first time during law school can be quite intimidating. There is a lot of information to retain throughout the class. While many students feel they can soak up and retain all of the information the professor is lecturing on, that is hardly the case. Developing effective note taking skills is essential to surviving law school. Not only will these note taking skills help to keep you on top of your lectures, but they will help prepare you when it is time to study for those exams.

Take the time to choose a method of note taking the works best for you and stick with it. Over time there have been many different types of note taking methods that have developed. Some students choose to use their laptops to keep their notes neatly typed up and organized, while others may choose to take the old fashioned route of pen and paper. At the beginning of the semester, it is important to try each of these approaches to feel which one better fits your learning style.

Study the material before lecture and take notes on what is going to be covered within lecture for that day. It is important that your notes you take before lecture are done in a different color to keep them separate from your lecture notes. It’s important to make sure that the two sets of notes come together and converge with one another. If they are not coming together and matching up it is very likely that you are not picking up on the key concepts in your reading.

The entire purpose of taking effective notes throughout the lecture is to utilize them outside the classroom. Taking the time to review and thoroughly study the material is important because you want to ensure you understand all of the content that was covered in class. If you happen to come across anything that may not make sense or you misunderstand you can then get it cleared up with other classmates or your professor.

Using these concepts to assist in note taking will help to make the law school experience a successful one. Note taking is essential to get the most out of your lectures.