Use this innovative note-taking technique that simultaneously facilitates understanding, increases readability and creates a framework for easy review.
Table Of Contents
- The Origami Note-Taking System | Use a 3-column foldable note layout that doubles as a self-review system.
- Use Abbreviations | Use abbreviations to cut down on writing time.
- Notebook Indexing | Organize your notes systematically and make use of an index.
- Comments
1. The Origami Note-Taking System
This simple design that not only helps you structure your notes, but transforms them into a powerful review and quizzing tool.
Step 1: Set Up The 3-Column Layout
Draw 2 vertical lines with a ratio of roughly 2-6-2, that is 20%-60%0-20%, like so:
Step 2: Take Notes
Using this layout, your notes will be divided into 3 categories: keywords, notes and review.
- Keywords include names, titles, important dates, etc.
- Notes include explanations, formulas, elaboration, etc.
- Reviews includes questions, key points, unknown/missing pieces of information
Keywords go on the left, notes in the middle and review on the right.
For example, if you need to take notes about “shibas”, a type of dog breed, it might look like this:
Keyword | Notes | Review |
---|---|---|
Shiba |
|
What are the ancient dog breeds? |
Step 3: Review
The genius of this template is that your notes will be pre-made for reviewing and self-quizzing. All you have to do is fold the paper along the vertical lines!

Quiz from keywords by folding the keywords column over and testing your memory of the notes and review.

Quiz from notes by folding both side columns under and testing your memory of the keyword and review.

Quiz from review by folding the review column under and testing your memory of the notes and keywords.
2. Use Abbreviations
Fast note-takers use a wide range of abbreviations that extend beyond the commonly known ones. They may even develop personalized abbreviations specific to their area of study or expertise.
It will take a bit of work to start integrating abbreviations into your note-taking style, but after a short while they will become second nature. Start with the most common and useful ones, then keep adding more into your vocabulary. To get started, here’s a list of some of the most frequently used abbreviations.
Abbreviation | Meaning | Abbreviation | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
eg | for example | Q | question |
ex | example | A | answer |
ie | in other words | pg | page |
etc | and so forth (et cetera) | tho | though |
vs | compared to, against, versus | thru | through |
~ | approximately/around | v | very |
? | questions, what? | st | something |
– | minus, less | so | someone |
+ | plus, and | sb | somebody |
= | equal to | sw | somewhere |
≠ | not equal to | sh | somehow |
# | number | w | with |
excl | excluding | wo | without |
imp | important/importance | wi | within |
incl | including | b4 | before |
info | information | bc | because |
max | maximum | esp | especially |
min | minimum | tf | therefore |
* | important | ** | very important |
Abbreviation | Meaning |
---|---|
eg | for example |
ex | example |
ie | in other words |
etc | and so forth (et cetera) |
vs | compared to, against, versus |
~ | approximately/around |
? | questions, what? |
– | minus, less |
+ | plus, and |
= | equal to |
≠ | not equal to |
# | number |
excl | excluding |
imp | important/importance |
incl | including |
info | information |
max | maximum |
min | minimum |
* | important |
Abbreviation | Meaning |
---|---|
Q | question |
A | answer |
pg | page |
tho | though |
thru | through |
v | very |
st | something |
so | someone |
sb | somebody |
sw | somewhere |
sh | somehow |
w | with |
wo | without |
wi | within |
b4 | before |
bc | because |
esp | especially |
tf | therefore |
** | very important |
3. Notebook Indexing
Categorization
The backbone of an effective notebook index is a well thought out categorization system. Unfortunately, there is no single system that will work for every class. However, all systems are fundamentally similar. See below for an example of 3 different classes with 3 different categorization systems.
Class 1
- Chapter 1
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Chapter 2
- Week 3
- Week 4
Class 2
- Topic 1
- Lesson 1
- Lesson 2
- Topic 2
- Lesson 3
- Lesson 4
Class 3
- Week 1
- Lesson 1
- Lesson 2
- Week 2
- Lesson 3
- Lesson 4
Make sure to use page dividers, tabs or something similar to break up the different chapters, topics or weeks, in order to make it easier to search through your notes.
Reference Sheet
The first page of every notebook should be a reference sheet. This acts as both a course summary and table of contents for the whole notebook. There’s no need to make it fancy, but each entry should have a short description. See the example below.
Business 101
- Chapter 1 – Economics
- Week 1 – Macro-economics
- Week 2 – Micro-economics
- Chapter 2 – Marketing
- Week 3 – Web marketing
- Week 4 – Advertising