Also went to Caltech, and my progression was the complete opposite. Started out going to every lecture and trying to write everything down, but things just moved way too fast -- I'd write down every word and figure without ever internalizing it, and at the end of each lecture I'd have a crappy copy of the lecture notes and no memory of the last hour.
By senior year, my strategy was: don't write anything down, just try to follow the main thread of the lecture. Then afterwards, go back and read the textbook and take exhaustive notes then. Empirically I learned way more that way.
Maybe! But sometimes the professor really does just whiz through some proofs without a lot of pause or explanation, and even when I grok the content, rushing to write it all down was mostly counterproductive.
But yeah, I've also seen big gains from reading the textbook ahead of time
I'm glad you found what worked for you! Everybody's different.
I've counselled students headed off to college, and I'd give them my recommendations (these days, I included taking notes by hand as that seems to be far more effective, and leave the laptop at the dorm). None followed it at first, and got poor results, then did, and things improved dramatically.
One thing I wish I had done was get a cheap cassette recorder and record the lectures. My notes were effective at exam time because they'd evoke the lecture memories, but are gibberish today because they completely lack context. I'd also have something special today to donate to the Caltech archives. All those lectures are lost to time.
At Caltech we had separate "wretch" sessions, short for recitation, where a grad student would help us go over the exercises. These were invaluable to me. (Special thanks to Mark Zimmerman, who saved my adze in freshman physics.)
> Doesn't the lecturer give out notes ahead of time?
Sometimes. But the thing about taking the notes by hand is it fixes it in your memory. Glancing over pre-printed notes just does not work (at least for me). I still have the pre-printed handouts on Special Relativity from Ph2, and I never quite understood it.
It's sort of like reading a programming language spec. I think I understand it, but trying to implement it shows I didn't understand squat.
I'm dyslexic, lecturers talk to fast for me to notetske anything other than utter scribbles in the margins. That's why I like have the slides in advance I can add to them as I listen. Actively listening is how I do most of my learning, I didnt really reread notes (much) or do any extra study before exams. (Again, dyslexia put me off reading (for a long time) although I did manage to read some textbooks ok but it took a lot)
By senior year, my strategy was: don't write anything down, just try to follow the main thread of the lecture. Then afterwards, go back and read the textbook and take exhaustive notes then. Empirically I learned way more that way.