[Jemaclus]

Couple of core rules for me:

- If the instructor takes the time to repeat something, write it down.

- If the instructor takes the time to write something on the board, write it down.

- If the instructor takes the time to point out something on a slide in a presentation, write it down.

- Later that evening, rewrite the notes in a more organized fashion.

A lot of note-taking is figuring out what's important and what's not important. Once you can make some educated guesses as to what's important, you can filter out the rest and keep your notes clean and organized.

Honestly, when I follow the above rules, I rarely need to refer back to the notes again. But if I had a big test or something, the solidly organized, high-value notes made it a breeze to study.