nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Notetaking

pearljam

What's the most effective way you find of taking notes?

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

ITSec14

Mind maps!

Phalanx

I tend to work better from a framework. With that in mind, my notes tend to look like this:

http://i.imgur.com/15cTSvF.jpg

I'm quite bad at creating notes from scratch; my brain seems to take it in better when I see someone else's notes/guide and then extrapolate my own to add to it.

mzx380

Are you referring to note taking during school or during meetings. Can't speak for everyone here but I feel I operate differently depending on those two environments.

Meetings
I usually bullet key points during the meetings and highlight key things I want to talk about prior to the start of the meeting
I also separate action items for myself and others in my team

Hope that helps

blatini

I started using Evernote for my studies and I think I'm going to expand that and use it for anything technical I read.

I generally have two save locations for cert related books. One for when I take the info raw from the book which is usually direct quotes and such which is always messy as hell. The other is a more clean concise understanding of the topics.

My hand written notes are total **** and only make sense to me the day that I've written them. I try not to use hand written notes as much as possible unless they're simple and short.

pearljam

I'm referring to certifications, I tend to end up basically just rewriting the book when taking notes.

rob42

Each to there own, but I like KeepNote. It's a structured note system which is cross-platform (I use both Linux and MS Windows systems). I've tried similar apps, such as Cheerytree, but KeepNote is the one that I prefer and recommend.

screenshot.jpg

Fulcrum45

I typically keep a roaming copy of OneNote handy. Over the years I have broken it down to various technologies I've worked with. My own personal KB.

Danielh22185

So far I love Evernote!

I use it for note taking of any category / reason. I have notes folders for cert studies, work, tracking car maintenance, or just anything day-to-day.

My method for note taking when it comes to reading books and making notes:

1.) I fully read the text to get the 30,000ft overview of the content.
2.) I highlight key areas I want to come back and make notes on.
3.) Come back and read the text again and making notes on the areas I designated as important.

Evernote works great for stylists too (the main reason I now use it). I keep my ipad on me all the time with my Apple pencil for note taking while studying. Physically writing notes out is important to keep the brain engaged in the process. The brain commits things to memory better and longer if you are mentally engaged in writing the notes out by hand as you are reading them. This is great with evernote as I will always have a digital copy of my notes I can add to / edit at anytime. Make my own highlights inside the notes and annotate / copy in pictures, etc.

I basically follow the same process with note taking with video content too. (get the overview and come back and make detailed notes on the 2nd pass.)

joshuamurphy75

I rarely write notes on what I read. Instead, I write notes of questions that come up and subtopics that I find interesting so I can look them up later. It helps me stay focused enough to finish reading instead of constantly being distracted. This works great for concepts that I'm trying to learn, but not so well for things that need to be memorized. If I encounter a chart of well known port numbers or reserved IP addresses, I take a photo of it on my phone, and glance at it at random times throughout the day until I feel like I've learned it.

Hatch1921

rob42 wrote: »

Each to there own, but I like KeepNote. It's a structured note system which is cross-platform (I use both Linux and MS Windows systems). I've tried similar apps, such as Cheerytree, but KeepNote is the one that I prefer and recommend.

Many thanks... just installed the program... I think this will be very useful

Hatch

rob42

Hatch1921 wrote: »

Many thanks... just installed the program... I think this will be very useful

Hatch

You're very welcome

Nerkle

I have composition books that I write down in shorthand some websites, tools, and important steps and codes that I will never remember down. I sometimes bookmark but I realize I never look at my bookmark unless desperate so writing it down is better and labelling the composition notebooks helps me remember which composition has which.

A second way to note take is to have a blog, and screen shot your labs and write down the processes you are doing in the labs and post it on the blog. If ever I do not remember a lab, all I have to do is go to the blog and look it up. I use to save these notes in microsoft word, but the pictures of the screencaps came out too small and useless to read, so having the blog was a better in terms of resolution pictures to look at. Also having the blog is useful for future reference when employers want to see what projects you have worked on.

raji96

I always keep a notepad to note the important things because I can easily forget many things. I think to keep a notepad is the best option for note making.

ITSpectre

rob42 wrote: »

Each to there own, but I like KeepNote. It's a structured note system which is cross-platform (I use both Linux and MS Windows systems). I've tried similar apps, such as Cheerytree, but KeepNote is the one that I prefer and recommend.

Word...
Im going to try Keepnote.

ITSpectre

I take notes in a notebook. I always keep one handy so I can take notes. You never know when you may get an idea or think of something. When studying I just open up a regular notepad on my PC and take notes in there or in Word. But im going to try some different things and see which ones I like the best. I really want something that I can use on my laptop, desktop, and mobile phone.

DatabaseHead

Interesting.....

I'm all over the place in my current role, I would say it's one of my top 3 challenges. Fast talking boss who doesn't have much bandwidth, so you better get those notes down. I do control the conversation from time to time like "hold up a minute, I want to capture this correct". but you only get so many of those.......

kurosaki00

I just use onenote and link it to my drive, then whenever I access it I just need to map it.
Physically, nothing beats pencil and paper.

rob42

ITSpectre wrote: »

Word... Im going to try Keepnote.

I'd be interested to learn how you get along with it.

ITSpectre

rob42 wrote: »

I'd be interested to learn how you get along with it.

I will let you know how I like it.... So far so good.

yoba222

I stopped using KeepNote because of some glitches in the search function not working for me. Unfortunately it looks like nobody has developed KeepNote in over 5 years now. I switched over to Zim. It's basically the same as KeepNote only actively being developed.
Zim - a desktop wiki

UnixGuy

I use Google docs...simple enough and does the job!

ITSpectre

UnixGuy wrote: »

I use Google docs...simple enough and does the job!

Cool the good thing about google docs is you can sync it through all your devices. I used to use google docs for word documents.

CMalon02

This thread is super helpful. I usually just rewrite the book and it kills my motivation to continue because the writing is just too much. Thanks to everyone for the tips.

dontstop

Hand written and very terse notes. I try to keep them around 2-4 pages per chapter and around 1 sentence in my own words about concepts either I think are important or know I wont remember. Make sure you have some type of note structure and keep them neat.