The famous Cornell note-taking layout: cue column, main notes and summary band.

Free Cornell Notes template. Pre-formatted cue, notes and summary sections in Letter and A4 PDF.

Cornell Notes Template | Free Printable PDF

Cornell Notes Paper

The cue column stays empty live. Filling it is a separate step done within 24 hours. Trying to keyword in real time slows your note-taking and produces worse cues than you'd write with the benefit of a few hours' distance.

Write only in the right column during class

'Photosynthesis' is a topic; 'What three inputs does photosynthesis require?' is a quiz prompt. Question-form cues force you to actively recall when you cover the notes, which is the entire learning mechanism behind the method.

Phrase cues as questions, not just keywords

The bottom band is for the single sentence you would tell someone if you had five seconds. If you can't compress the lecture to one sentence, your notes haven't been processed enough yet, and that's the signal to go back and process more.

Summarise in one sentence, not a paragraph

Spaced repetition research suggests reviewing within 24 hours, again within a week, and again within a month catches most decay. Cornell pages are designed for this, cover, quiz, check, repeat.