Note about your lecture notes

Your lecture notes will be your most valuable resource. You will refer to them when you do homework, or prepare for a test or an exam. So:

* during a lecture, take notes

* later, read the notes; make sure that you have correct statements of all definitions, theorems, and other important facts; make sure that all formulas and algorithms are correct, and illustrated by examples

* fill in the gaps in your notes, fix mistakes; supplement with additional examples, if needed

* add your comments, interpret definitions in your own words; restate theorems in your own words and pick exercises that illustrate their use

* write down your questions, and attempts at answering them; discuss your questions with your colleague, lecturer or teaching assistant, write down the answers

It is a waste of time to try again and yet again to understand the same concept. so, when you are sure that you understand a particular definition, theorem, algorithm, etc., write it down correctly, in a way that you will be able to understand later. This way, studying for an exam consists of re-calling and not re-learning; re-calling takes less time, and is easier than re-learning.

Keep your notes for future reference: you might need to recall a formula, an algorithm or a definition in another mathematics course.