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What the Cornell notes template is for

The Cornell method splits a page three ways. A narrow cue column down the left holds the questions and keywords, the wide column takes the notes themselves, and a strip along the bottom is for the summary you write once the lecture is over. The summary is the part that does the work: it makes you say what the page meant while you can still remember, and the cue column turns the same page into a test later, because you can cover the notes and answer your own cues.

How to use it

1. 1.Open the PDF in GoodNotes and import it as a new notebook, or add it to an existing one.
2. 2.Duplicate the page once per lecture — in GoodNotes, hold the page thumbnail and choose Duplicate.
3. 3.Write in the wide column during the lecture. Leave the cue column alone until afterwards.
4. 4.Fill the cues and the summary the same day, while it is fresh. That is the whole method.
5. 5.To revise, cover the notes column and answer your own cues from memory.