[scottmsul]

I was physics/CS undergrad and did very well academically. I didn't really take notes much though. The strategy that worked for me was to read the book ahead of time, then the lectures were more to help digest material I was already familiar with. And for those giant auditorium-sized lecture classes, I just skipped class completely and only read the book. In fact I found taking notes to be distracting - how can I pay attention when I'm trying to copy everything down?

[alexgmcm]

I was pure Physics and did the same.

I'd summarise the relevant sections for the exams in LaTeX documents as well. The pain of having to put it into LaTeX made me absorb it better I think...

[bradstewart]

"Copying everything down" is not what I would consider taking notes. I write down those little "aha" moments, or interesting tricks, new ways of framing the problem, etc. Reading the book ahead of time is awesome, but sometimes a presenter explains something in a slightly different way that makes it click. That's what (my) notes are for.