[magicalhippo]

But that's the point, I was paying full attention. By writing things down, I had time to process and think about what I wrote. I had time to fully follow the derivations. And that's in addition to the reinforcement effect that the act of writing has (at least for me).

Merely sitting there passively listening would not be paying full attention.

Of course, this required the lecturers to write in a suitable tempo.