Dartmouth Lecture and Class Notes. How to Take Classroom Notes. Gary North, Ph.D. Did you lecture to the wall about the lesson on lecturing to the wall? If not, please give this a try. I am trying to help you. If I did not think this would help you, I would not ask you to do it. Lesson 9 This is the other half of The Overnight Student. Before we begin, let me tell you what your teachers never admit, even though they all know the truth: listening to lectures is not a good substitute for reading when you are learning complex material.
Most people read at 250 words per minute. You can read the same amount of words twice or more in the time that it takes to listen to the same number of words. You can review a book. You can't write fast enough to transcribe a lecture. There is only one significant advantage in a lecture. You can easily misunderstand and write down the wrong thing. Then there is this dirty little secret: nobody sits and listens to lectures, taking notes, except in high school and college. It's still a good tactic to lecture to the wall. MIT Research How To.pdf.