Take notes, not dictation. That means being able to develop your own form of notehand.

Some common forms of notehand include spelling every day words phonetically eg. says = saz, days = daz.

Another notehand technique is to develop abbreviations for words that are used frequently in the course.

• eg. Real Numbers - R
• Natural Numbers - N

As long as you have the word spelled out correctly somewhere in your notes, you can refer back.

Leave out the "the's, a's", etc.

Use symbols when you can

• & for and
• B for but
• X for except
• etc.

Leave out vowels.

• between =btwn
• among = amng
• patient =ptnt

If there is a simple symbol, use it

• 1° = primary
• 2° = secondary
• = heart
• = for each
  
• = therefore
• = there exists
• = such that
• = is an element of