The three regions, and which two matter
The notes region — the big one — is where you write during the lecture. It is the least important part of the system, and it is the only part most people use.
The cue column on the left is filled in *after* the lecture, and it holds questions — not keywords. "Why does the sign flip at the boundary?" not "boundary conditions". Questions, because a question is a retrieval prompt and a keyword is a reminder to re-read.
The summary strip at the bottom is written last, from memory, with the notes covered. If you cannot summarise the lecture without looking, you did not understand the lecture, and you have just found that out for the price of two minutes rather than six weeks.
The actual method, in one sentence
Within a day, turn your notes into questions, then cover the notes and answer them. Everything else — the lines, the margins, the ruler — is packaging around that sentence. It works because it is retrieval practice with an enforcement mechanism.
How to actually keep it up
- Do the cue column the same day. Tomorrow you will no longer remember what was unclear, which is the information you are trying to preserve.
- Write questions you can fail. "Explain X" is a good cue. "X" is not.
- Cover and answer, out loud. Recognition is not recall.
- Then card the ones you keep failing. A cue you fail three times is a flashcard trying to be born.