I used to think good notes meant writing down as much as possible. The more information you have, the better, right? I’d scramble to capture every point and all the slide content, and I’d still forget half of it by the next day.
That’s because recording information doesn’t help you remember it.
The Cornell method fixed that problem for me. It’s a system built around a simple concept: turn your notes into a study guide instead of a big block of text.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through how Cornell notes work, what the 5 R’s are, and how to set up the whole system on your iPad.
Key Takeaways
- The Cornell method splits your page into three sections — notes, a cue column, and a summary — so your notes double as a built-in study guide.
- It works through the 5 R's: Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, and Review.
- It's not just for students; it works well for meetings, research, and any situation where you need to actually retain what you're capturing.
- Most note-taking apps, including Goodnotes and Notability, have a built-in Cornell template, so you can start using it on your iPad in minutes.
- It only works if you follow through on all five steps. Skipping the cue column or summary means you're back to just taking regular notes.
What is the Cornell note-taking method?
The Cornell method is a system for taking, organizing, processing, and reviewing notes.
It was created by a Cornell University professor named Walter Pauk back in the 1950s, and it’s still in use today. The University has a Learning Strategies Center with a module that walks students through the exact system.
Here’s how it works. You’ll divide a page into three sections: a large notes section on the right, a narrow cue column on the left, and a summary section across the bottom.
1. Notes section
It’s pretty obvious, but this is where you’ll take all your notes during your lecture, meeting, or whatever you’re trying to learn from. Write down anything you think is important, but don’t worry about making it perfect. You don’t even need full sentences. Just capture the main ideas.
2. Cue column
This part isn’t something you’d typically see or do in regular note-taking, and it’s what makes Cornell special.
After your class or meeting, come back to your notes and pull out keywords, main ideas, and any questions from what you wrote. These become cues that you can turn into study prompts. Instead of just reading through the entire page, you can quiz yourself from these cues.
3. Summary section
At the bottom of the page, you’ll fill in a short summary of your notes and what you learned. You’ll want to put this in your own words, not just copy sentences from your notes.
This may seem redundant, but it’ll help you start to process the material. The more you interact with your notes, the more you start to learn and remember the information.
Cornell notes vs. regular note-taking
The biggest difference isn’t really in the way you take your notes, but what you do with them afterward.
Regular note-taking is just writing down all the information, and (if you’re studying for a test) reading through them later. With Cornell notes, you’re recording the information, pulling out all the important parts, quizzing yourself, and summarizing everything you’ve learned.
The 5 R's of the Cornell method
The 5 R’s stand for Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, and Review. They were developed alongside Cornell notes because they work so well together, but you could use this technique with any note-taking system to get better results. I didn’t learn the 5 R’s until college, and as soon as I did, I couldn’t believe nobody taught me this in high school.
For Cornell notes, each section of your setup is designed to handle different aspects of the R’s. You’ll Record in the main notes section, Reduce and Recite in the cue column, and Reflect and Review in the summary section.
If you want a good breakdown that you can keep next to you when you take notes, you can download or print this PDF from Cornell, but let’s talk a little more in detail about each step.
1. Record
In this instance, I’m not talking about audio recording (although that works too). I’m talking about writing down any information that you think is important during your lecture, meeting, or textbook read-through.
This doesn’t mean writing everything down word for word. All that will get you is a wall of text and a cramped hand (I know from experience). Focus on the main ideas, supporting details, examples, and definitely include anything the speaker emphasizes. Short phrases and incomplete sentences are totally fine, as long as you understand the full meaning.
2. Reduce
Now that you’ve got your notes, it’s time to reduce them to the key ideas and questions.
Use the cue column to pull out the most important concepts, keywords, and whatever questions that capture what’s in your notes or what you think will be asked on the test (if you’re taking one).
Reducing your notes to a handful of prompts helps you figure out what really matters and also forces you to comprehend the material. If you can’t boil it down, that means you probably don’t understand it well enough.
3. Recite
For this part, you’ll cover your notes and use the cue column to quiz yourself.
This is where digital notes really come in handy because both Goodnotes and Notability for iPad have the Tape tool that lets you cover and uncover information as needed.
You’ll look at each question or keyword and answer or explain it out loud. Yes, out loud. It feels silly talking to yourself, but it works better than just thinking it or reading it. If you don’t have the answer, that’s okay. Actually, that’s the point. Now you know what you know (or don’t know), and you can go back and review the areas where you still need help.
4. Reflect
Reflection is the part most people tend to skip, and for me, it’s the most crucial. You need to think about how the information fits together and why it matters.
Ask yourself: Why does this matter? How does it connect to what I already know? Where would I use this? How would I use this? Answering these kinds of questions takes you from remembering random facts to understanding the bigger picture.
5. Review
You should be able to easily review your material if you’ve done your Cornell notes correctly. But reviewing isn’t necessarily just about reading through your summary section. In fact, it’s kind of a combination of steps 3 and 4.
The important thing is that you review a little each day, not just the night before the test. Even taking a quick pass over your notes will help keep everything fresh in your mind. Cornell University recommends at least 10 minutes a week reviewing previous notes. That’s not a lot of time, so it should be completely doable, and it’ll pay off later.
Remember that you can’t really pick and choose from the 5 R’s. It’s a process that’s meant to work together. Do all five steps, and you should have a good handle on whatever you’re trying to learn.
How to use the Cornell note-taking method
Now that you understand the basic concepts of what the Cornell method is and the 5 R’s that help make it effective, let’s put that into practice.
1. Set up your page
The first thing you need to do is divide your page into three sections. You need a narrow column on the left (maybe a third of the page) and a large section on the right. Then block off the bottom to leave space for your summary.
If you’re taking digital notes, you don’t even have to worry about it because you can just download a premade template. Most note-taking apps include a Cornell template, and you can also check out my favorite note-taking template packs if you want to check out a few different layouts to see what you like best.
2. Take notes
This part’s pretty obvious, and I already covered it above in the record section. Write down the most useful information from your lecture/meeting/seminar/whatever. Focus on the main points, anything that supports that, definitions, examples, and anything else that you think you’ll need to know later.
Don’t stress about using complete sentences or making it look nice. (I promise, no one is grading your grammar.)
3. Fill in the cue column
Like I mentioned above, the cue column is where you’ll do your reduce and recite steps of the 5 R’s.
You’ll need to look through your notes and pull out the most important bits. Turn those into questions or short prompts that you can study from later. Pull out keywords and definitions.
For example, if your notes are about photosynthesis, your cue column could have the basic definition and some questions like “What does chlorophyll do?” or “Where does photosynthesis happen?”
Don’t overfill this section. Just come up with the most useful prompts that will help you remember what your notes cover.
4. Write a summary
The summary section should take everything you’ve learned and condense it down into a few sentences in your own words. This goes in that bottom section of your Cornell notes.
It should capture the bigger picture, so you know what your notes are about without having to reread them all.
Why is the Cornell method effective?
Once you’ve filled in your Cornell notes, you’ve got the foundation, but that’s just the beginning. The Cornell method works best when you use the 5 R’s as a whole. If you do that, it becomes the most effective way to study and learn new material, and here’s why:
It makes you process information. The Cornell method forces you to identify the parts that matter to put in the cue column. You’ll have to have at least a basic understanding of the concepts to turn the ideas into questions and to summarize everything in your own words, so you’re forced to process the information instead of just copying it all down.
It gives you a study guide. If you do it correctly, just filling out Cornell notes is enough to create a study guide. Your cue column has questions, your notes should have the answers, and your summary should give you a recap. Put it all together, and you have an effective way to study.
It encourages active recall. You can cover your notes or parts of your notes and use the questions in the cue column to test yourself. If you can’t remember an answer, you know what you need to study.
It keeps things organized. A page full of bullet points won’t help you sift through your notes for what you need to know. Cornell notes give you a place for the information, another for the questions and key concepts, and a third for the takeaways.
It’s flexible. The Cornell method is great for students, but it also works really well for research, conferences, and even meetings. You can use the cue column for whatever makes the most sense, whether that’s questions and keywords (the standard) or possibly who’s assigned to what task (for meeting minutes).
The three sections aren’t what make Cornell notes so effective. It’s the whole system, which helps you absorb and understand the information you’re trying to learn.
Who is the Cornell method best for?
Most people think of Cornell notes as something that only students use, but that’s not necessarily true. The structure lends itself to taking in and making sense of information, and the type of information doesn’t really matter.
Students
I know I just said it can be used elsewhere, but I’ll get to that. Students are still the ones who will get the most out of the Cornell method. Whether you’re learning material from a lecture or a textbook, taking Cornell notes sets you up for success.
Like I mentioned in a previous section, when done right, taking Cornell notes builds a study guide. In high school, I spent way too many nights rereading pages of notes before a test. In college, once I learned how to take Cornell notes, all I had to do was use the cue column to test myself.
Professionals
Just because they’re great for students doesn’t mean that Cornell notes don’t work well outside the classroom. You can use them for research, training sessions, meetings, conferences, and much more.
I particularly like them for meetings, because I can put the task assignments or who’s doing what in the cue column, and the summary helps me to remember the takeaways and the decisions that were made without having to go through the whole page (or more) of meeting minutes.
Beginners
If you’re brand new to note-taking, or even if you’ve just taken notes without using a note-taking technique and think it’s time to try one, the Cornell method is a good place to start.
The structure helps a lot because it makes you look for important questions and ideas, instead of just writing down whatever caught your attention. Plus, it guides you through the process of pulling out the most significant information for the cue column and summary, so even if you take too many notes or write down stuff that’s not relevant, you’ll end up sorting it into something more usable by the time you’re done.
People who struggle with focus (ADD/ADHD)
The Cornell method provides structure, which is so important when you struggle with focus. Each section of your notes page has a specific job, and that gives you clear guidelines on what to do, instead of just trying to copy everything down.
Even so, that doesn’t mean Cornell notes are going to fix your focus or keep you from getting distracted. It’s not a replacement for whichever strategies you typically use to help you stay on task. But it does give you a framework that is flexible enough to fit however you already work.
Is Cornell good for everyone?
It really depends on context. If you need a quick capture, it’s probably not going to work well. If you’re doing math or something that’s a little more hands-on, the structure isn’t going to help you. And if you already know you won’t go back and fill in the cue column or summary, then there’s really no point in using them.
But if you’re learning material and you need to be able to comprehend the content, and you’re willing to put in the time and review, Cornell notes provide a study guide that’ll stick with you.
Examples of the Cornell method in use
Want to see some examples of what your notes would look like for different uses?
Here you go.
Taking notes in class
For this example, pretend you’re in a biology class learning about photosynthesis.
Check the image above, and you’ll see that the notes section is filled with what photosynthesis is, including the inputs and outputs, the equation, the role of chlorophyll, the two main stages, and why it matters.
The cue column takes that information and turns it into questions that you can use to quiz yourself later. At the bottom, the summary pulls everything together in a few sentences. This makes it easy to review and understand the concept.
Taking notes in a meeting
This example shows how I used Cornell notes to capture the details and the action items during a meeting about this very blog. (Fun, yeah?)
The notes section includes the purpose, key points discussed, content decisions, and other important notes. The cue column lists who’s doing what, along with deadline dates. The summary is just telling me the main takeaways that I needed to know to write this blog.
Taking notes from a textbook
I have a whole blog post on how to take notes from a textbook, but (spoiler alert) using the Cornell method is a great way to understand what you’re reading.
In this example, the notes section includes the main ideas and supporting details from each section of one chapter about sleep. (This isn’t actually a textbook, just a book that I read recently and found fascinating, but the concept is the same.)
The cue column highlights the key concepts and questions that I wanted to know the answer to. I used the summary to condense the chapter into the most important points, so I could get a quick refresher anytime I want.
Setting up Cornell notes on your iPad
We talked a little bit about setting up the Cornell method in the how to use Cornell notes section, but let’s talk more in depth about how to set them up in a note-taking app.
Goodnotes and Notability (and most other note-taking apps) have a built-in Cornell template. That’s the easiest thing to use to get started. For Goodnotes, the first step is to create a new notebook. That will pop up a menu where you can input the name, choose a cover, background color, and the paper template that you want to use. Scroll down until you see “Writing Papers,” and you’ll find the Cornell template as the very first option.
Choosing that will make it the default template for every new page in that notebook. Easy peasy. From there, the process of taking Cornell notes doesn’t change; you’ll just fill in each section right on your iPad.
Make handwriting feel natural
The hardest part of taking notes on the iPad is the slippery feeling of trying to write on the glass screen with your Apple Pencil. When you’re trying to quickly fill in your Cornell notes section, and even when you’re writing questions and your summary later, you don’t want to have to take extra time to make sure your handwriting isn’t wonky because of that.
That’s why we created the Paperlike Screen Protector. It adds the perfect amount of friction and resistance to make your screen feel more like paper. And if you want to make the experience even more comfortable, take a look at our Notetaking Collection for other accessories that will help to improve it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented the Cornell method of note-taking?
A: The Cornell note-taking method was developed by Walter Pauk, a professor of education at Cornell University. He introduced the system in his book How to Study in College, which made the method widely known.
What are the 5 R's of the Cornell method?
A: The 5 R’s of the Cornell method are Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, and Review. Together, they turn note-taking into a process of understanding and remembering information. Record the important information, reduce it to key ideas, recite it from memory, reflect on what it means, and review your notes regularly.
Is the Cornell method good for ADHD or beginners?
A: Yes, it’s great for both. It’s a good starting point and perfect for those who struggle to focus, specifically because it creates a structure that tells you exactly where to put different types of information. The cue column also gives you a more active way to engage with your notes.
Can I use the Cornell method digitally on an iPad?
A: Yes, and it’s actually easier! Apps like Goodnotes and Notability have a built-in template, so you don’t have to create your own, and the portability of your iPad and Apple Pencil makes it easy to take with you to every class or meeting.
How is the Cornell method different from regular note-taking?
A: The biggest difference is in what you do with your notes after you take them. The Cornell method helps you process that information into questions and key ideas, essentially creating a study guide that you can use to review before an exam.
