>>1458030
People taking notes say it helps them remember. If this doesn't work for you, then there is no point in taking notes. People are different.

To get the most out of a lecture, study the material the professor is going to cover beforehand. You learn the most when you can mostly guess what s/he's gonna say next.

For memorization, it depends on the subject, but you can use a flashcard program like Anki or SuperMemo to memorize basic facts. Keep the queries simple and unambiguous.

Memorizing facts isn't enough, but it forms a basis on which understanding is built. Once you understand things thoroughly, you don't need to review those flashcards.

Anyway, get enough sleep. If you're tired during a lecture, everything is so much more difficult. Take care of your health generally. Exercise is also important for good mental clarity.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSuwqsAnJMtyQzhF69JHd34HYJUWKIYDR

This worked for me in college. Before class, if you have access to class slides, copy the notes (by hand, not typed, the act of writing helps you remember things). Skip every other line in your notebook so you can add context/things you hear in class. If any questions pop up in the process, write them down so you can ask during class. You won't be in a rush, and you will be primed for learning in upcoming lectures because you already went over the material once.

To study, go through your notes and copy anything you don't feel like you know onto new pages. Just going through and re writing will make some of those things stick. Then go through those pages and do the same again. The notes of things you don't know should get smaller and smaller every time you copy. Eventually you will know it all. It sounds like a lot of work, but the notes really do get much smaller every pass through.